Checking it Out
Veteran
- Apr 3, 2003
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UNITE and HERE Union Members Say 'Yes' to Merger
Official Merger Votes Cast in Chicago; Thousands of UNITE HERE Members March
Down Michigan Avenue to Celebrate New Union, New Strength for the 21st Century
CHICAGO, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of rank and file members of
UNITE, the clothing, textiles and laundry union, and of the Hotel Employees
and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE) voted today to merge the
two unions. The new union, called UNITE HERE, will represent more than
440,000 active members and more than 400,000 retirees throughout the U.S. and
Canada. Following the vote, the union members marched down Michigan Avenue for
a historic celebration.
"Today, we made history! We are coming together to be stronger," said
Carlos Maldanado, a cook at the Holiday Inn City Center in Chicago and a UNITE
HERE member. "We do the same kind of work and we want the same things:
dignity and a shot at the American Dream for all of us."
Bruce Raynor of UNITE will serve as General President of the new Union,
and HERE's John Wilhelm will be President/Hospitality Industries. The two
presidents will share executive, budgetary and personnel authority.
"By voting to merge today, UNITE and HERE members did more than just
combine two unions; they showed us a blueprint for the future of the labor
movement," said President Raynor. "In this new global economy, workers need
bigger stronger unions that are capable of taking on giant global employers
when they have to. UNITE HERE is a union for the 21st Century."
"UNITE and HERE represent the same people, mostly women, a majority
immigrants, and substantial numbers of African-Americans. We share the same
priorities: to organize the unorganized and to restore the American Dream for
hundreds of thousands of workers in North America," said President Wilhelm.
"This merger is about organizing and about combining two great Unions to be
able to do so on scale."
UNITE historically represents workers in the apparel and textile
industries, and more recently has organized industrial laundries, and retail
distribution centers. HERE members are in the hospitality and foodservice
industries, working in hotels, airports, casinos, cafeterias, and restaurants.
Both Unions are famous within the labor movement and beyond for
tenaciously fighting for their members when they have to. Between 1963 and
1980, the textile workers fought to successfully organize the Southern textile
giant JP Stevens in a campaign that was made famous by the Oscar winning film,
Norma Rae. From 1991 to 1998, HERE struck the Frontier Casino in Las Vegas
and won one of the longest strikes in US labor history, thereby contributing
to HERE's remarkable success at organizing more than 40,000 new members in Las
Vegas in recent years.
However, UNITE HERE leaders have also participated in groundbreaking
labor-management partnerships, working together with employers to resolve
issues in the workplace and in the relevant industry more broadly. Both
Unions can boast excellent working relationships with a number of national and
multinationals corporations such as Wynn Resorts, MGM-Mirage, Caesar's
Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment and Boyd Gaming in the gaming industry;
Starwood in the hotel industry; retail company TJX; Aramark's food and laundry
services; Xerox, and; Liz Claiborne, Hartmarx, and Levi Strauss in the apparel
industry.
The UNITE HERE Founding Convention, themed "We Belong!" starts Friday,
July 9th, at the Chicago Sheraton. Convention delegates will be addressed by
U.S. Senator John Edwards, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, U.S. Representative Rosa
DeLauro, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois
State Senator Barack Obamaand, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, among others.
UNITE HERE will be headquartered in New York City. The new union will
combine the complete resources and assets of each organization, including the
$3.6 billion Amalgamated Bank, the only union-owned bank in North America.
Please see the rest of the press kit at the union's new website,
http://www.unitehere.org.
Well this is the second merger, Is amfa and the Engineer union going to follow?
Official Merger Votes Cast in Chicago; Thousands of UNITE HERE Members March
Down Michigan Avenue to Celebrate New Union, New Strength for the 21st Century
CHICAGO, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of rank and file members of
UNITE, the clothing, textiles and laundry union, and of the Hotel Employees
and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE) voted today to merge the
two unions. The new union, called UNITE HERE, will represent more than
440,000 active members and more than 400,000 retirees throughout the U.S. and
Canada. Following the vote, the union members marched down Michigan Avenue for
a historic celebration.
"Today, we made history! We are coming together to be stronger," said
Carlos Maldanado, a cook at the Holiday Inn City Center in Chicago and a UNITE
HERE member. "We do the same kind of work and we want the same things:
dignity and a shot at the American Dream for all of us."
Bruce Raynor of UNITE will serve as General President of the new Union,
and HERE's John Wilhelm will be President/Hospitality Industries. The two
presidents will share executive, budgetary and personnel authority.
"By voting to merge today, UNITE and HERE members did more than just
combine two unions; they showed us a blueprint for the future of the labor
movement," said President Raynor. "In this new global economy, workers need
bigger stronger unions that are capable of taking on giant global employers
when they have to. UNITE HERE is a union for the 21st Century."
"UNITE and HERE represent the same people, mostly women, a majority
immigrants, and substantial numbers of African-Americans. We share the same
priorities: to organize the unorganized and to restore the American Dream for
hundreds of thousands of workers in North America," said President Wilhelm.
"This merger is about organizing and about combining two great Unions to be
able to do so on scale."
UNITE historically represents workers in the apparel and textile
industries, and more recently has organized industrial laundries, and retail
distribution centers. HERE members are in the hospitality and foodservice
industries, working in hotels, airports, casinos, cafeterias, and restaurants.
Both Unions are famous within the labor movement and beyond for
tenaciously fighting for their members when they have to. Between 1963 and
1980, the textile workers fought to successfully organize the Southern textile
giant JP Stevens in a campaign that was made famous by the Oscar winning film,
Norma Rae. From 1991 to 1998, HERE struck the Frontier Casino in Las Vegas
and won one of the longest strikes in US labor history, thereby contributing
to HERE's remarkable success at organizing more than 40,000 new members in Las
Vegas in recent years.
However, UNITE HERE leaders have also participated in groundbreaking
labor-management partnerships, working together with employers to resolve
issues in the workplace and in the relevant industry more broadly. Both
Unions can boast excellent working relationships with a number of national and
multinationals corporations such as Wynn Resorts, MGM-Mirage, Caesar's
Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment and Boyd Gaming in the gaming industry;
Starwood in the hotel industry; retail company TJX; Aramark's food and laundry
services; Xerox, and; Liz Claiborne, Hartmarx, and Levi Strauss in the apparel
industry.
The UNITE HERE Founding Convention, themed "We Belong!" starts Friday,
July 9th, at the Chicago Sheraton. Convention delegates will be addressed by
U.S. Senator John Edwards, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, U.S. Representative Rosa
DeLauro, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois
State Senator Barack Obamaand, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, among others.
UNITE HERE will be headquartered in New York City. The new union will
combine the complete resources and assets of each organization, including the
$3.6 billion Amalgamated Bank, the only union-owned bank in North America.
Please see the rest of the press kit at the union's new website,
http://www.unitehere.org.
Well this is the second merger, Is amfa and the Engineer union going to follow?
