The four-year fight by Sands Casino security guards trying to become the first union in the Las Vegas Sands Corp. global empire may likely take several years longer.
The 147-guard force announced this week it has broken from the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association to join the Security Police Fire Professionals of America. SPFPA is a bigger, more powerful bargaining unit, but the change means guards will have to restart their process of fighting the casino to become a union, said George Bonser, a senior guard who has been leading the effort to unionize.
It’s a process Sands has fought against every step of the way. Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Sands’ parent company is well-known for building the world’s largest casino company, while avoiding having any of his 50,000 employees from joining unions.
“It does mean we have to start over from scratch,” Bonser said. “We’re probably going to have to go through all the appeals again, but in the long run, we’ll be stronger.”
Officials from Sands Casino and LEEBA did not return messages Friday.
The next step comes in the coming days when guards meet to vote on whether they want to organize under SPFPA.
They know the process well. Sands guards voted to unionize in 2011, but the casino has appealed several times. In one appeal Sands attorneys argued that guards were already affiliated with United Steelworkers and later argued that guard leadership intimidated members into voting to unionize.
The case was held up for a year because President Barack Obama’s 2012 appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Then last year, the NLRB panel in Washington, D.C., upheld a 2012 state ruling ordering Sands to recognize the guard union and to enter into bargaining sessions. That was to take the case into its final stage — the courtroom. That would rack up legal fees, and Bonser said they worried that LEEBA, a small organization with just a few hundred members and a small legal budget, could not sustain the fight.
LEEBA granted the Sands guards’ request to be released from their deal, and guards are now reorganizing with SPFPA. Bonser said they had a card-signing event last week in which enough guards expressed interest in unionizing, carrying the matter to an Oct. 16 vote.
Most of the 147 Sands guards are full time, making $12 to $14 an hour with health care benefits. They’re unionizing to fight for higher pay and a grievance process that would allow them to help craft workplace rules, Bonser said.
“[SPFPA is] the oldest, largest and fastest-growing security, police union in the United States today,” Bonser said. “The Sands Casino security officers will continue their fight for officers who work round-the-clock to provide for the safety and protection of guests, team members and company property, hoping that a fair contract for both sides can be negotiated.”
Bonser said he expects a majority of guards to vote to unionize.
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