I wrote yesterday about the failed merger of UNITE and HERE, and the calls for an amicable divorce of UNITE and HERE by the leaders of the UAW, Teamsters, Steelworkers and Commercial Foodworkers unions.
Things are moving really fast. Many former UNITE/HERE workers are forming a new union tomorrow in Philadephia!
We’re forming our new union because we want stronger contracts and better representation. We want honesty and openness. We want to raise standards in our industries and in our lives.
Workers United
Danny Glover speaks about the new union, and then there is a history of what led up to this. The history is excellent and we all know Danny Glover's lifetime of progressive activism:
More, after the fold
From my diary yesterday, some background for those who have not been following this issue:
In 2004, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees merged with the Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees. Things have not worked out and now the internal dissension is threatening the entire labor movement. Today, five international union Presidents, from both Change to Win and AFL-CIO allied unions, have joined 150,000 workers and shown support for dissolution of the merger that created UNITE HERE.
"When a merger doesn't work it is in the best interests of the membership to break it up. The continuing public escalation of your internal battle, when there are reasonable alternatives, threatens members' interests and reforms that would benefit the entire labor movement."
-- United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, letter dated 3/13/09
Labor Leaders Call for UNITE/HERE Union Divorce
Tomorrow, hundreds of former UNITE HERE members representing 150,000 workers, including 40,000 from the former HERE, will meet in Philadelphia to hold a founding convention and form a new union.
In early March, rank and file leaders of UNITE HERE Joint Boards voted overwhelmingly to disaffiliate from the union. Since then, more than 75,000 workers have signed petitions voicing support for the disaffiliation.
UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union) merged in 2004 forming UNITE HERE. For many reasons, the merger just did not work. Spending went up. Membership went down. The grouped lacked agreement on priorities, strategies to win for members, and a shared vision of the future. Eventually, these leaders and members realized the only way to rise up was to get out of UNITE HERE.
Workers are coming to Philadelphia on Saturday because they want to get back to the basics - more organizing, better benefits, and a more secure future.
FORMER UNITE HERE MEMBERS HOLD FOUNDING CONVENTION TO FORM NEW UNION
Many workers are disaffiliating from UNITE/HERE and joining Workers United. Here are a few:
Tony Santos
Aramark, Philadelphia Joint Board, union member 25 years
The reason I am signing the petition to disaffiliate is we have a different vision for our union. We don't feel like we have had the opportunity to do the things we want to do and we are tired of waiting. We want to build this union, grow this union, but that doesn't seem to be the plan that they have for us. In order to do what we feel is best for our future, we need to disassociate from them.
Caroline Booth
Hyatt Hotel, Philidelphia Joint Board, union member for 8 years
I am signing the petition strongly, from the bottom of my heart to disaffiliate. It's our union, our decision. I don't want to go back again to the old local. The Philadelphia Joint Board will give us a better future for our family, for our brother and sister union members
Isabel M. Peña
Laundry worker, Western States Regional Joint Board member of 20 years
I think we must sign the disaffiliation petition because the purposes of the merger have not been met, and the money of us laundry workers has been wasted.
It's important to be part of a union because we get better benefits, to get representation inside our worksite, and so that employers respect us.
Workers want change
This seems necessary. As the labor leaders indicated in my diary yesterday, the UNITE and HERE unions needed a divorce. It is interesting the delegates representing 40,000 HERE workers voted to disaffiliate also.
In any event, both Workers United and HERE can prosper better separately than they have been together. This looks like a win/win for both groups.
And that Danny Glover endorses this new union tells me that it will be a progressive union, an activist union that fights for working people at all times.
Here's Danny Glover speaking to to UNITE HERE union members on Inauguration Day in New York. He could have been in Washington, but chose to be with the workers in New York to celabrate the innauguration:
Danny Glover is one hell of a great activist. Workers United is getting off to a great start.