Dive Brief:
- Vice President Kamala Harris joined the Culinary and Bartenders Unions, known collectively as the Culinary Union, for an event on Wednesday celebrating recent contract victories for hospitality workers at Las Vegas resorts.
- The event comes two months after the Culinary Union negotiated the largest wage increases ever for 40,000 union employees at resorts operated by Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts.
- At the event, Culinary Union representatives committed to further organizing efforts, and Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge hinted at future strike deadlines elsewhere on the Las Vegas Strip.
Dive Insight:
In a statement at the Culinary Union’s headquarters, Harris said the local was “setting a new standard for workers everywhere.”
“[Y]ou in the larger movement for workers in America are setting new standards and it is making a difference," she said.
In addition to praising Harris and President Joe Biden’s support of union workers, Pappageorge hinted at future actions.
“We will be setting strike deadlines very soon for nearly 8,000 hospitality workers so that they and their families aren’t left behind from the economic recovery companies are enjoying,” he said.
The Culinary Union did not share which properties will see strike deadlines set.
The union’s strike vote, held in September, included workers under 23 other contracts that were not negotiated in November talks.
“We will need support from everyone to win these remaining 23 contracts and having President Biden and Vice President Harris’ support definitely makes a difference,” said food server and union worker Linda Hunt, in a statement.
The Culinary Union is an affiliate of Unite Here, the hotel workers’ union currently staging multi-property strikes in Southern California. In Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, the Culinary Union represents 60,000 workers.
