Culinary Union says Lombardo sides with Fertitta brothers over workers
After Lombardo vetoed 87 bills, the Culinary Union says his ties to the Fertitta brothers raise the stakes for Nevada workers fighting over pay, leave and bargaining rights.
A Culinary Union clip posted June 24 framed Gov. Joe Lombardo as siding with Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta over Nevada hospitality workers, turning a political fight into a workplace question for cooks, servers, bartenders and hotel-side restaurant staff. The union is asking whether the governor’s relationship with the brothers has shaped decisions that affect wages, leave, schedules and bargaining power on the Strip.
The dispute sharpened after Lombardo vetoed 87 bills in the 2025 session, a new Nevada record that topped his own 75-veto mark from 2023. One of the biggest labor flashpoints was AB388, which would have expanded paid family and medical leave to private employers with more than 50 workers and provided 12 weeks of leave. In his veto message, Lombardo said broad leave mandates could pressure employers already dealing with high turnover, tight margins and staffing shortages.
Battle Born Progress blasted the veto and said it would keep fighting for workers.
The Culinary Union’s criticism also comes in the middle of a years-long fight with Station Casinos, the Fertittas’ casino company. UNITE HERE said Fiesta Rancho workers voted 85% yes to unionize on June 14, 2019, and Sunset Station workers voted 83% yes on June 13, 2019. Federal labor authorities later found Station Casinos violated the National Labor Relations Act by interfering with organizing, including by rolling out benefits before the December 17, 2019 election in a way meant to damage the union in workers’ eyes. In a June 17, 2024 decision affirming a 2022 administrative ruling, the board said, “the most important unfair labor practices were planned and executed by Red Rock Casino and Station Casinos’ top management and owners,” and ordered the company to bargain with Culinary Union-represented workers.
Frank Fertitta, Lorenzo Fertitta and Station Casinos contributed $4.75 million to a Lombardo-affiliated PAC, with each brother giving $1.75 million and the company giving $1.25 million. The Fertitta family had already been among Lombardo’s major backers in his 2022 fundraising, and Culinary secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge said Lombardo has been a “huge disappointment” to the union.
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