President Joe Biden visited Las Vegas on Monday and expressed his gratitude and admiration for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents hospitality workers in the city. The union announced that it had reached tentative agreements with several hotel-casinos, avoiding a potential strike during the Super Bowl week.
Biden: “You are the backbone of this country”
Biden met with the union members at Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas and thanked them for their support and their faith in the union. He said that he was proud to be the most pro-union president in America, and that he believed that unions were essential for the middle class and the economy.
Biden also praised the union for its diversity and its resilience, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the hospitality industry hard. He said that the union members were the backbone of the country, and that they deserved fair wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Culinary Union reaches tentative agreements with several hotel-casinos
The Culinary Union, which is the largest in Nevada with about 60,000 members statewide, negotiates on behalf of its members for five-year contracts. The union had been in talks with several hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, but some of them had stalled over issues such as wages, health care, and pensions.
Last week, the union announced that it would go on strike if tentative contracts were not in place by early Monday for downtown casino workers at properties that had not reached agreements. The union said that the strike would affect about 10,000 workers and 14 properties.
However, on Monday, the union said that it had reached tentative agreements with six more downtown hotel-casinos, and that it had called off the strike deadline for another. The union said that the agreements included wage increases, health care benefits, pension contributions, and job security.
The union also said that it had ratified contracts with 18 other properties in the past few months, covering about 40,000 workers. The union said that it would continue to negotiate with the remaining hotel-casinos until all of its members had new contracts.
Las Vegas prepares for Super Bowl week
The tentative agreements between the union and the hotel-casinos came just in time for the Super Bowl week, which is expected to bring 330,000 people to Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will face off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events for the hospitality industry in Las Vegas, which generates millions of dollars in revenue and taxes for the city and the state. The event also showcases the city’s attractions, entertainment, and culture to a global audience.
Biden, who is running for reelection in November to a second term, said that he was looking forward to the Super Bowl, and that he hoped that the union members would enjoy the game and celebrate their achievements.
