I love getting in the middle of a union catfight. Red Rock Resorts, formerly Station Casinos, filed for an initial public offering last week with the SEC to sell close to $500M in shares to the public. Blasted all over the paid news wires is a website full of research reports badmouthing the IPO, research funded by UNITE HERE!, a typically annoying and obnoxious name in all caps and exclamation point for a labor union, this one focused on the gaming industry obviously. They represent 270,000 workers, fighting for higher and higher minimum wages so independent workers cannot legally compete with them. I’ll do them a favor and add in some bold, italics and underline in case all caps is not loud enough. And I’ll also add an extra exclamation point free of charge.

UNITE HERE!! doesn’t like Red Rock because Red Rock likes labor unions as much as your local Wal Mart. From the IPO filing:

None of our owned casino properties are currently subject to any collective bargaining agreement or similar arrangement with any union… However, union activists have actively sought to organize employees at certain of our casino properties in the past, and we believe that such efforts are ongoing at this time.

So these union people decided to go on a media blitz, tearing apart the Red Rock IPO limb from limb as a way to leverage Red Rock into hiring its workers. There was probably some back door non-collective bargaining going on with UNITE HERE! before the IPO filing threatening to badmouth the IPO unless Red Rock became more amenable to unions. Red Rock did not oblige. I don’t think Red Rock cares all that much about a union whining about their IPO. But I’ll take their side by coincidence, at least partly, not because I think their motives are pure or anything close to it. If Red Rock had acquiesced to hiring them, they’d be praising the IPO today do doubt.