Culinary parent rejoins AFL-CIO

Four years after departing the AFL-CIO, the parent union of Las Vegas labor giant Culinary Workers Local 226 announced this morning it was rejoining the national organization.

In a statement at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, UNITE-HERE International President John Wilhelm said his organization’s 265,000 members “belong in the House of Labor.”

Wilhelm credited the election of President Barack Obama last year with unifying divisions within the organized labor movement.

“We are at a turning point in American history with the most pro-worker President in our lifetimes who, with labor’s help, is attempting against great odds to rebalance an economy unfairly weighted in favor of the rich and powerful,” Wilhelm said.

Culinary Local 226 represents some 60,000 restaurant and hotel workers in Las Vegas and is the union’s largest affiliate.

“While every union will make its own decision, we hope the labor movement continues to move towards total unity,” Wilhelm said.