“Our lives begin and end the day we became silent about things that matter.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” – Gandhi
This past week we were faced with horrific murders of innocent young black men and police officers in Dallas. We condemn murder of innocents and extend our heartfelt prayers for all of their families and community.
Dr. King repeatedly condemned violence and knew the power of a nonviolent movement. His insight and vision was not based on weakness but on strength and courage.
We have traveled a ways down the road, but this week reminds us how far we need to go.
Two years ago our Nation was confronted by events in Ferguson, Missouri that clearly demonstrated the lingering legacy of racism and unequal justice in American society. Since that time sadly we have witnessed incidents of police violence against black young men again and again. There have been endless dialogues and policy proposals, but this week we are confronted with the tragic deaths in Baton Rouge and Minnesota.
There can be no possible justification for violence against law enforcement, like what occurred in Dallas. Many of us have relatives and friends who serve in all forms of law enforcement. A thirst for violence only begets more violence.
The UNITE HERE family was recently affected by the tragic death of a member’s daughter in Orlando. Our member in Orlando, Francisca Flores, buried her daughter who was the victim of the massacre at Pulse nightclub.
In UNITE HERE we confront power and forces of oppression with collective action. Young black men getting killed is an affront to everything we stand for.
We fight everyday as a union for the dignity and fundamental rights of workers. We believe every man and woman has value and rights. We live in our communities and as a union, we must stand with our black community today. We also must condemn violence as a means for change.
As a Union we will confront and take on racism whenever we see it. If we see it in our union, we will fight it. If we see it in the workplace, we will fight it. If we see it in our cities, we will fight it.
Please get involved, in your cities and towns to make sure significant changes happen in the justice system, to guarantee the blood must stop. Dignity for all people, should not be a mirage but a reality.
Let us pray for the families who are burying their loved ones and dedicate ourselves for a more perfect and just society.
This statement courtesy of our coalition partners in Orlando.
As we approach one month since the massacre at Pulse Nightclub and continue to be plagued with violence, it is clear that our elected leaders have failed us. Today, residents of Orlando begin a #SitInForThe49 to demand action of Sen. Marco Rubio and all elected officials who have contributed to the discrimination and violence that plagues our communities and nation.
Sen. Rubio claims he is “deeply impacted” by last month’s Pulse Nightclub Shooting, yet he continues to terrorize Orlando’s LGBTQ+ communities of color by adhering to a platform of so-called “conservative values” which discriminates, dehumanizes, and denies access to the American dream.
Opportunist political leaders have offered meaningless platitudes and political pandering in response to unspeakable violence. At best, politicians propose “No Fly No Buy” legislation that employs racial profiling and fails to address the most urgent needs of marginalized communities. We demand a comprehensive platform to address gun safety, equality, and community violence:
Gun Safety:
Gun manufacturers and the gun lobby generate profits from tragedies. Lawmakers must reject financial contributions from the NRA, implement universal background checks to close jarring loopholes, enact legislation making it a crime to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon or large capacity ammunition-feeding device, and allow federal research on gun violence.
Equality:
LGBTQ+ people of color are more likely to be the victims of hate crimes than any other minority group. The Pulse Nightclub massacre impacted those who suffer from discrimination, poverty wages, and an unjust immigration system. We demand not only an end to hateful rhetoric and policies that perpetuate racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and xenophobia; but the passage of a fully-inclusive national LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination law and comprehensive immigration reform.
Community Violence:
It is time to end the senseless and systematic murder of unarmed black and brown people at the hands of law enforcement. Lawmakers must end police brutality, develop a transparent database of law enforcement activity, repeal mandatory-minimums for nonviolent drug offenses, and institute after-school programs, living-wage jobs, and accessible higher education to cultivate brighter futures in our communities.
In honor of the lives lost here in Orlando, and all victims of institutional discrimination and rampant gun violence, we are staging a 49-hour sit-in to demand action from Sen. Marco Rubio and all local, state, and federal officials. We urge you to join us here in Orlando or stage your own sit in.
Workers cheered. The press swarmed. The Secret Service yelled at people to get on the sidewalk.
After her rally in front of the closed Trump Plaza on Wednesday afternoon, Hillary Clinton made a quick stop at the entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal to greet striking workers. Clinton shook hands for about five minutes.
“Workers are on strike at the Trump Taj Mahal,” Clinton said. “And we should all support them.”
Statement from Bob McDevitt, President, UNITEHERE Local 54:
“Today thousands of workers from Tropicana, Caesars, Bally’s and Harrah’s voted to authorize a strike on July 1 if they don’t have a fair contract. The vote was 96% in favor. We have told the companies that we are available days, evenings, and weekends to negotiate. The balls in their court. They need to offer these workers a fair contract. We gave up a lot when times were bad, now that they are making money, they need to give back to us.”
The murderous attack that took place in Orlando over this past week-end shakes all of us to the core. Once again an easily purchased assault weapon brings death and misery to so many. Once again innocent men and women have their lives cut short. Once again our hearts are broken. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by these terrible events. Our resolve goes out once again to put our political leaders on notice that we will not stand by and do nothing. The guns laws in this nation must change. The intolerance and marginalization of LGBTQ men and women must end.
I must add a special word of condolence and commitment to our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community. Grief and horror can only be matched today by righteous anger at this assault on the gay community. So much heartbreak is borne again in the face of bigotry and intolerance. Our members want the entire LGBTQ community to know that we are with you. We stand with you. We want you to know that UNITE HERE members all across both countries stand with you. We stand with you now in the face of such loss. We stand with you in the ongoing struggle for tolerance and full equality. We stand with you as you stand with our members in the ongoing struggle for human dignity and justice.
I ask all of our local unions to act today. This is Gay Pride month. I urge every local to be engaged in the special programs of the LGBTQ community. Let us show our solidarity. It is needed now more than ever.
ATLANTIC CITY — The Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel is now closed, its windows clouded over by sea salt. Only a faint outline of the gold letters spelling out T-R-U-M-P remains visible on the exterior of what was once this city’s premier casino.
Not far away, the long-failing Trump Marina Hotel Casino was sold at a major loss five years ago and is now known as the Golden Nugget.
At the nearly deserted eastern end of the boardwalk, the Trump Taj Mahal, now under new ownership, is all that remains of the casino empire Donald J. Trump assembled here more than a quarter-century ago. Years of neglect show: The carpets are frayed and dust-coated chandeliers dangle above the few customers there to play the penny slot machines.
This November, millions of Americans will head to the polls to decide who their next president will be. In Nevada, one of seven key swing states, thousands of newly-naturalized immigrant voters will join them.
Thanks to UNITE HERE’s Culinary Union, over 1,700 Nevada immigrants have applied for U.S. citizenship so that they can vote in the 2016 Presidential Election. These brave women and men are rising up and exercising their right to help elect the best candidate to lead our nation.
From March to May, the Union hosted four citizenship fairs in Clark County to assist these new immigrant voters with their applications. It was the largest naturalization drive of its kind nationwide executed in a three-month period this year.
Dozens of housekeepers, cooks and servers from across the country travelled to Nevada to assist the Culinary Union in recruiting legal residents to attend the fairs and apply for citizenship. Workers came from cities as far away as Washington, D.C., New York and Boston and spoke to over 13,000 casino and hotel employees about the benefits of naturalization.
Having completed this historic citizenship drive, the Union now kicks off a new program to register an additional 10,000 new immigrant voters.
Special thanks to:
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN)
National Partnerships for New Americans (NPNA)
The Citizenship Project of Nevada
American Immigration Lawyers Association – Nevada Chapter
Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL)
Aramark dining and catering workers at Loyola University of Chicago won their second contract since joining the union in 2010. The members of UNITE HERE Local 1 will now gain access to affordable Union healthcare, 40-hour-per-week contract language, protections for immigrant workers and much more. The agreement averted a strike.
Aramark at Loyola workers speak over a dozen languages, and the effort brought this diverse group closer together. A Mexican immigrant consoled an Iraqi refugee, pledging that everyone would stand together. Black workers led the cheers when it was announced that following the contract win workers, mostly Chinese, would have new rights to speak their non-English languages on the job.
A core group of dedicated Loyola students, the Students for Worker Justice, a USAS affiliate, stepped to the plate to back the workers. Students participated in rallies and encouraged workers in the dining halls. When the students themselves faced challenges in the campaigns, the workers returned the solidarity, flowers in hand.
In addition to students and the workers, local Catholic clergy came together to sign a letter of support that was distributed directly to workers in the shops. UNITE HERE Locals 11, 19, 23, 75, 100, 217, 274, 2850 and the New England Joint Board showed their solidarity as well.
This team effort has created a new standard for food service contracts in Chicago, a standard our Union will take forward in the struggles to come.
“The basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are under attack across the United States. In the past two years almost 200 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in over 30 states. Many of these bills have been defeated. Some passed but were vetoed. However, in 2016, three very dangerous pieces of legislation have already been passed and signed into law in Kansas, North Carolina and Mississippi.
We call on the business community and all corporations doing business in or with these states to publicly renounce and demand repeal of laws that sanction and encourage discrimination and division and to actively participate in the efforts to repeal them.
Often described as “religious freedom” legislation, these bills have nothing to do with religion or freedom. They are, in fact, nothing more than licenses to discriminate and persecute LGBT people and those who support equality and fairness. These assaults on constitutional rights are part of a larger effort to undermine the rights of all workers by weakening or removing state and local ordinances against all forms of workplace discrimination.
UNITE HERE International Union opposes all forms of discrimination and supports full equality. Many of our members are part of the LGBT community or have family members who are LGBT. We understand the urgent need for solidarity in the face of these political attacks and the hateful rhetoric and physical violence that they encourage. We stand with our LGBT brothers and sisters in calling for these laws to be repealed and we will continue to negotiate binding non-discrimination language in our collective bargaining agreements throughout the US and Canada.”
March 25, 2016, is the 105th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York’s Greenwich Village. This tragedy took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers and galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers.
This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected. To many, its horrors epitomize the extremes of industrialism.
The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The victims of the tragedy are still celebrated as martyrs at the hands of industrial greed.
The fire at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City is one of the worst disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The Asch Building was one of the new “fireproof” buildings, but the blaze on March 25th was not their first. It was also not the only unsafe building in the city.
On the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, fire fighters struggle to save workers and control the blaze. The tallest fire truck ladders reached only to the sixth floor, 30 feet below those standing on window ledges waiting for rescue. Many men and women jumped from the windows to their deaths. Photographer: unknown, March 25, 1911.
An officer stands at the Asch Building’s 9th floor window after the Triangle Fire. Sewing machines, drive shafts, and other wreckage of the factory fire are piled in the center of the room. Photographer: Brown Brothers, 1911.
In the April 5th funeral procession for the seven unidentified fire victims, members of the United Hebrew Trades of New York and the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers Union Local 25, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the local that organized Triangle Waist Company workers, carry banners proclaiming “We Mourn Our Loss.” Photographer: unknown, April 5, 1911.
The Triangle Fire Memorial to the six unidentified victims in the Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, was created in 1912 by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The six bodies were all recently identified by Michael Hirsch, who worked tirelessly to recognize the names of the unidentified victims.
The victims names:
“Our lives begin and end the day we became silent about things that matter.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Aramark dining and catering workers at Loyola University of Chicago won their second contract since joining the union in 2010. The members of UNITE HERE Local 1 will now gain access to affordable Union healthcare, 40-hour-per-week contract language, protections for immigrant workers and much more. The agreement averted a strike.
“The basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are under attack across the United States. In the past two years almost 200 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in over 30 states. Many of these bills have been defeated. Some passed but were vetoed. However, in 2016, three very dangerous pieces of legislation have already been passed and signed into law in Kansas, North Carolina and Mississippi.
