Biden thanks hospitality workers in Las Vegas ahead of Nevada's Tuesday primary

Mon, February 5, 2024

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday congratulated hospitality workers for reaching a tentative agreement with several Las Vegas hotel-casinos and calling off a strike deadline for another, telling members of the local culinary union, “When you do well, everybody does better.”

"I came to say thank you — not just thank you for the support you’ve given me the last time out and this time, but thank you for having the faith in the union," Biden, who is running for reelection in November to a second term, told Local 226 Culinary hospitality workers who gathered at Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas. “Thank you for continuing to push it because this really matters. It matters, it matters, it matters.”

The president has been in Las Vegas since Sunday for campaign appearances ahead of the state's Democratic primary on Tuesday. He visited with the union members on Monday and later visited a boba tea shop before flying back to Washington.

The Culinary Workers Union, which represents hospitality workers, says it has reached a tentative agreement with six more downtown hotel-casinos and called off a strike deadline for another.

The Culinary Union is the largest in Nevada with about 60,000 members statewide. It negotiates on behalf of its members for five-year contracts.

Biden recently was endorsed by the United Auto Workers union. He proudly touts his longstanding support for the men and women of organized labor.

“I make no apologies for being the most pro-union president in America,” he said Sunday night at a reelection campaign rally in a historically Black neighborhood in Las Vegas.

The culinary union's tentative agreements averted a Monday morning walkout threat at several near-Strip and downtown properties as the city kicks off Super Bowl week. The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will face off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday.

After negotiations with some of the remaining casinos hit a snag, the union announced last week it would go on strike if tentative contracts weren’t in place by early Monday for downtown casino workers at properties that hadn’t reached agreements.

The NFL’s 58th Super Bowl is expected to bring 330,000 people to Las Vegas this week, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Darlene Superville, The Associated Press