IAFC board members, members and staff are being harassed and lied to by representatives of a Nevada-based union that is upset that our organization is holding Fire-Rescue Med (FRM) 2016 this May at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nevada. The IAFC urges all members to not allow these underhanded and highly inappropriate bullying tactics to derail our conference.
Late last year, representatives of the Culinary Workers Union of Nevada began calling and emailing anyone they could find associated with the IAFC about an alleged labor-management dispute between the union and Station Casinos, the owner of the Green Valley Ranch, the location of FRM 2016.
In recent days, a new wave of intimidating messages has been received. The union’s methods are relying on repeated emails, phone calls and messages, saying or implying things that are blatantly not true.
The IAFC has spent considerable time and effort investigating the matter. Here are our findings:
- There’s no existing labor dispute between the Green Valley Ranch and the Culinary Workers Union because the property is a nonunion property.
- The people sending the emails and making the phone calls are not employees of the Green Valley Ranch, but are professional organizers who have no ties to the workers.
- The union has been attempting to unionize Station Casinos’ employees, including the Green Valley Ranch, for several years by intimidating hotel clients.
- There were no problems or picket lines last year, as the Culinary Union alleges.
- IAFC members attending FRM 2016 at Green Valley Ranch would not be crossing a picket line or inserting themselves into an ongoing labor dispute.
- The hotel has indicated it’s not opposed to its employees joining a union, but the Culinary Workers Union opposes a secret ballot, a move that is seen as a way to intimidate the dedicated workers of the hotel.
- According to the Green Valley Ranch management, there has never been disruption of a conference or meeting at any of the company’s hotel or resort properties.
The IAFC supports workers’ rights to organize and to make personal decisions that are right for their companies, but we don’t support the misleading and malicious methods being used in this case.
If you receive messages from a Culinary Workers Union representative, please don’t respond or engage them. The IAFC is sorry for any concern these inappropriate messages may have caused you.
So what can you do? Come to Fire-Rescue Med and bring other officers and EMS providers with you. Don’t let the actions of professional organizers acting unprofessionally make FRM anything but a great success. Let’s stand together and show that fear and intimidation do not deter the fire service.