On Thursday, March 18, 2024, the Culinary Union and UNITE HERE called for a boycott and invited visitors not to patronize the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin in Nevada. The main reason for the boycott is a labor dispute that currently exists between the owner of the casino, the Lalji family, and the workers at its Sheraton Vancouver Airport hotel.
Problems with the Lalji family:
The Vancouver property is owned by Larco Hospitality, the Lalji family’s company. The Union’s Secretary-treasurer, Ted Pappageorge, said: “For decades the Culinary Union has fought and won higher standards in the Las Vegas hospitality industry, from the Las Vegas Strip to Downtown to the locals market and our International Union of guest room attendants, cocktail servers, restaurant workers, bartenders, laundry and food service workers has a long history of protecting and advancing these standards through organizing, bargaining, strikes, and boycotts. We are concerned that a Lalji family business is engaged in a labor dispute in Vancouver totally at odds with these standards, and we fully support the strikers of UNITE HERE Local 40.”
One of the questions the union has for the Nevada Gaming Control Board is why Shirazalli Jafferali Lalji has been the owner of Rampart’s license, since he died back in 2020. He was also listed on the Board’s location details, as well as an active beneficiary and director in the casino’s ownership structure, until March 21, 2024.