Video / 2018: We Fight. We Win!

2018: We Fight. We Win!

Culinary Union celebrates 84 Years of fighting for working families in Nevada Growth: Now representing 60,000 workers Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary Union, a UNITE HERE local affiliate, was chartered on November 1, 1935. 2019 marks the 84th anniversary of an organization that has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Nevada hospitality workers and their families with union wages and benefits. In eight decades, the Culinary Union has become an essential economic institution and a strong political force in the Battle Born State. The Culinary Union has won a middle-class standard of living for over 770,000 hospitality workers in 84 years through rank-and-file organizing and mass actions. Worker membership has risen from 18,000 in 1987 to 60,000 members today. “Working families can succeed because of the strength and sacrifices made by generations of Nevadans,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “When the workers who make Las Vegas run have good jobs with fair wages, job security, and good health benefits, our entire community benefits.” The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest immigrant organization with members who come from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. The Culinary Union has a diverse membership -- approximately 55% women, 54% Latinx, 19% White, 15% Asian, 10% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples — and consists of guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers.