LAS VEGAS UNITE HERE, a union representing some 450,000 foodservice and hotel workers nationwide, has endorsed Barack Obama for president.
“Our organization and our members will do everything in our power to see that he reaches the White House this fall, because we know he will bring working Americans with him,” union president Bruce Raynor said in a statement posted Wednesday on the group’s website.
Unions and other advocacy groups often provide crucial logistical support to favored candidates, from posting fliers to knocking on doors and encouraging residents to vote.
The announcement lauded Obama for supporting such union-favored measures as an increase in the minimum wage, the adoption of universal health insurance for all workers, and the replacement of secret unionization voting with public balloting. All of the measures have been opposed by the restaurant industry.
UNITE HERE noted that Obama spoke at the meeting at which the union was formed in 2004, and cited his support for Local 226 of the Culinary Workers Union, the Las Vegas-based chapter that represents some 60,000 people employed in Nevada’s casinos.
In addressing supporters after his second-place finish Tuesday night in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Obama reiterated his support for higher wages for workers.
