Nevada narrowly avoided a huge walkout from hospitality employees ahead of a Super Bowl weekend that would see hundreds of thousands of tourists flood the Las Vegas strip. Biden used the deal to fulfill his promise to become the “most pro-union President.”
Deadline Looms for Agreement
Hospitality workers and their employers had until early Monday to broker a pay deal, or workers would initiate a strike.
Superbowl Week Saved
The Culinary Workers’ Union agreed a deal just in time for an important week in the state of Nevada, with the SuperBowl commencing over the weekend.
Biden Looks to Reinforce Ties
Biden is hoping to reinforce ties with a crucial group of workers in a battleground state for the 2024 election.
Nevada’s Key Role in Elections
Nevada is identified as a “battleground” for its role in shifting voter sentiment for the future Presidential election.
Narrow Victory in 2020
In 2020, Biden narrowly won Nevada by less than 3%, showing just how divided the state is, meaning every vote counts for President Biden and his potential contester.
Biden’s Pledge on the Picket Line
President Joe Biden pledged to stand in solidarity with Las Vegas hotel employees in the event of a strike.
Biden’s Commitment to Workers
Biden, committing to join striking workers if a walkout occurred, showed strong support for organized labor and worker rights while attempting to reel in voters ahead of the election.
Potential Symbolism of Biden’s Move
Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer, saw Biden’s willingness to participate as a symbolic move, linking the president directly with the working class.
Significance of Super Bowl
With the state set to host the Super Bowl this weekend, an estimated 330,000 football fans will be flooding the city’s hotels and bars.
Biden’s Vegas Visit
Scheduled to be in Las Vegas on Monday for political events and not football, Biden’s presence would have been perfectly timed in order to join the strike.
Avoiding a Huge Blow
If the strikes were to happen, major disruption would have been caused as the hotels and bars on Vegas’s famous strip were in jeopardy of being understaffed.
Previous Agreements by Culinary Union
The Culinary Union already secured over 30 agreements covering 50,000 workers across various Vegas hotel and casino properties before the deadline.
Narrowly Avoiding Strikes
Las Vegas’s biggest employers, MGM Resorts International, Caesar Entertainment, and Wynn Resorts, narrowly avoided strikes last year that would have seen 40,000 employers take to the streets.
A President Standing With Workers
If Biden joined the picket line, it would mark his second instance of standing with striking workers, following a similar move in Michigan last September.
Trump Also Shows Commitment
To compete with Biden’s status as a President who supports workers, former president Donald Trump also has tricks up his sleeve.
Trump’s Trump Card
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has some 1.3 million members, and Trump met with them the week before Biden’s scheduled strike.
Biden’s 2021 Pro-Union Intentions
In 2021, Biden announced to the world, “I intend to be the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history.”
Biden’s Economic Plan
In a conference with the United Auto Workers in January, Biden said, “Our plan is delivering for the American people, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.”
Nevada’s Narrow Escape
Now that the deal has been done and Nevada’s scheduled Super Bowl weekend can go on as usual, Biden’s proposed support may still have a significant impact on his voting percentage ahead of the election.
The post Nevada Averts Super Bowl Nightmare as Pro-Union Pledge Prevents Worker Strike first appeared on Swift Feed.
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