“Today American immigrants saw once again that both major political parties continue to fail them and their families. The Trump administration precipitated the current crisis for both TPS and DACA by ending protections without a plan to pass legislation with his own party, which controls both houses of Congress. Rather than holding the line and forcing a resolution to this humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of American families, Democratic Senate leadership chose today to once again sell out the Dreamers and TPS workers.
“Both Democratic and Republican Senators vowed today to protect Dreamers, yet in missing this opportunity, they clearly failed to do so. UNITE HERE will continue leading the fight to save TPS and lifting up the voices of 270,000 workers – including tens of thousands of TPS residents and other immigrants – to hold politicians accountable to that pledge and the values of our nation. UNITE HERE and the larger American labor movement will not forget the Democrats’ failure today to stand with immigrant workers. Congress must immediately move forward with legislation to protect more than a million immigrants living here legally under DACA and TPS, building their American dream and contributing to our communities, workplaces and nation.”
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UNITE HERE has been a leading force in the American labor movement on immigration, particularly regarding TPS. The union represents tens of thousands of immigrant workers, including thousands of TPS workers who are the backbone of the hospitality industry. In addition to organizing in key battleground swing states across the country around TPS extension throughout 2017 and 2018, UNITE HERE partnered with IUPAT, UFCW, the Bricklayers, and the Ironworkers to form the AFL-CIO backed Working Families United labor campaign for TPS, powered by a nearly $1 Million budget.
SUNNYVALE—This week, 118 food service workers at Yahoo won union representation at its headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. The food service workers, who are employed by Yahoo’s contractor, Bon Appetit, are calling for respect and dignity, affordable health care, and increased wages to compete with increasing rents in the Bay Area.
“I grew up and live in the east side of San Jose,” said Agustina Sanchez, a cafeteria worker at Yahoo. “It is becoming harder and more expensive to stay in San Jose, especially as a single mother. I stood up with my coworkers to fight for a union because we all deserve better standards for the hard work we do. We should be able to stay in the communities where we grew up.”
There are approximately 5,000 food service workers in Silicon Valley—many of them immigrants and people of color—along with hundreds more in various tech hubs like Seattle, Austin, and New York City. Increased housing and rental costs are a major issue affecting cafeteria workers in the Bay Area. Bon Appetit workers are calling on Yahoo to join the movement towards addressing inequality in the tech industry.
Enrique Fernandez, business manager of UNITE HERE Local 19, says “We are very happy that Yahoo cafeteria workers will be joining our union. We look forward to sitting down to negotiate a contract that will help better the lives of these workers and improve standards in the industry.”
Bon Appetit workers at Yahoo will join other subcontracted cafeteria workers who work at Facebook, Intel, Cisco Systems, Agilent and Nvidia as members of UNITE HERE Local 19. Thousands of Silicon Valley food service workers, janitors, security officers, and shuttle drivers have unionized in recent years as part of Silicon Valley Rising, a coordinated campaign of labor, faith and community groups working to inspire the tech industry to build an inclusive middle class in Silicon Valley. Since 2016, UNITE HERE has organized over a thousand tech cafeteria workers nationally.
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UNITE HERE Local 19 works to build the Tech Industry into one that provides good, sustainable jobs for all workers involved in creating and maintaining its success. It represents over 4,500 workers throughout Northern California, including cafeteria workers at Cisco, Nvidia, Agilent and Intel who have become union members and won raises, affordable health insurance, and job security.
“Juana Melara, who has worked as a hotel housekeeper for decades, says she and her fellow housekeepers didn’t complain about guests who exposed themselves or masturbated in front of them for fear of losing the paycheck they needed to support their families. Melara recalls “feeling the pressure of someone’s eyes” on her as she cleaned a guest’s room. When she turned around, she remembers, a man was standing in the doorway, blocked by the cleaning cart, with his erect penis exposed. She yelled at the top of her lungs and scared him into leaving, then locked the door behind him. “Nothing happened to me that time, thank God,” she recalls.”
The Trump administration has determined that the temporary protection status issued to Haitians living in the United States after an earthquake in 2010, is no longer needed. Almost 60,000 Haitians living in the US now have until July 22, 2019 to go home, or change their visa status. Haitian activists say that conditions in Haiti are still poor and the country will not be able to cope with the sudden return of so many people.
The hospitality union UNITE HERE plans demonstrations in 40 cities: “We need protections for the workers who drive this industry.”
The hospitality workers union UNITE HERE was tangling with Donald Trump long before he ever became president. While the business mogul made his run for the Republican nomination last year, the group waged ― and eventually won ― a scrappy battle to unionize the housekeepers and restaurant workers at his hotel on the Las Vegas strip.
Now that Trump occupies the White House, the union’s president, D. Taylor, says the best place to fight his presidency and his policies is still in the workplace.
“Most of these jobs are not good jobs,” Taylor said of the sort of hotel and food service jobs that Trump, as a businessman, was best known for. “The only way those jobs change is if people have good union contracts, decent wages, good healthcare and retirement benefits. As much as we’d all love for manufacturing jobs to come back, we think we need to turn these [hospitality] jobs into good jobs.”
UNITE HERE Local 26 dining hall workers ratify agreement, win $35,000 and affordable health care in “incredible victory”
Boston, MA—On October 10, UNITE HERE Local 26 members on Northeastern University’s campus ratified a 5-year agreement just hours before they were scheduled to begin a strike.
Workers voted 316 to 2 to authorize a strike on October 4 over a set of demands that was inspired in part by the 22-day strike at Harvard University. A key issue was workers’ low incomes, leading many to rely on public assistance to survive, even if they worked full-time. Health care was the other main rallying point, as workers demanded affordability, citing lack of funds to seek medical care, or reliance on government health care.
The agreement includes wage increases that will bring full-time workers to $35,000 annually by 2019, and a dramatic increase to the number of full-time schedules available. The new contract will provide a total of $5.65 in hourly wage increases to all workers, across-the-board.
On health care, the agreement now provides an insurance plan that is paid for by the employer at 97 percent. In addition, workers were able to maintain access to a platinum level plan with no takeaways.
The new contract provides enhanced protections for immigrant workers, strengthened non-discrimination language including the addition of gender identity and expression, and additional sick days.
A new “snow days” provision elicited cheers; workers will now be able to use personal or vacation time if they are unable to come into work on days the state closes offices due to a blizzard or snow storm. Workers who are able to brave the elements to serve the campus will be paid time-and-a-half.
And, importantly, workers at Northeastern University will join the UNITE HERE Local 26 pension plan, allowing them to begin to accrue retirement benefits.
UNITE HERE Local 26 Lead Negotiation Michael Kramer said:
“With the determination and leadership of the workers and students we have won an agreement that will be life-changing for our members and impactful in their communities. It raises the standard for campus food service workers across Boston whose value and importance in the university community is often forgotten.”
Northeastern dining worker and bargaining committee member Angela Bello said:
“I am so proud of what we accomplished. It’s amazing to feel the power that workers have when we get together and are well organized. The ways this contract will impact our lives is almost hard to believe. Thank you to everyone who supported us and believed in us.”
Second year Northeastern Law student Keally Cieslik said:
“Hearing the news that the workers negotiated a contract they are satisfied with is simply thrilling. Organizing alongside Northeastern’s food service workers and Local 26 has been one of the best experiences of my life.”
UNITE HERE Local 26 President Brian Lang said:
“Our union fights so that our members can have their fair share of the wealth they create. Last year that meant we struck Harvard University for 22 days. This week we threatened to do the same at Northeastern. Next on the list are the 34 Boston hotels where contracts expire in 2018. We commend the Northeastern administration for agreeing to a new standard for dining hall workers in the Boston area that includes $35,000 annual income, affordable health care, and retirement.”
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UNITE HERE Local 26 represents nearly 10,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, and airport industries in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. UNITE HERE Local 26 members went on strike for 22-days at Harvard University in October 2016 to win sustainable annual income and affordable health care. More at www.local26.org.
In an astounding vote of 316 to 2, Northeastern dining hall workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, ready to walk out on October 11.
Local 26 is happy to announce that they reached a Tentative Agreement for Local 26 members at Northeastern University that will avert a strike. Members will have a chance to review the details today and vote.
Thank you to everyone who played a role in this incredible victory. We are proud of our community, and our union!
Hotel workers in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York have been gathering for training sessions recently on how to handle visits from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The sessions, organized by the labor union UNITE HERE, teach workers how to effectively stonewall ICE agents, emphasizing employees’ right to refuse to answer questions or show identification.
On July 31, our union sister TeeTee Dangerfield was senselessly murdered. TeeTee was a server at the Atlanta Airport, a very proud member of Local 23, and a trans woman. Her murder is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
We are horrified and saddened by TeeTee’s unconscionable murder, a crime that took away a shining star in her community, her workplace, and in her union. TeeTee was not only a skilled server whose warm and friendly service led some passengers to seek her out specifically when they flew out of or through ATL—she was also a leader in her union, seeking to become “the best shop steward our union had ever seen.”
While we mourn the fact that her life was taken so soon and so violently, we are also angry. Angry that transphobia and hate continue to manifest in our communities, where all individuals have the right to live their lives as whomever they are. TeeTee is the 16th known transgender person to be killed in the United States in 2017. This is an epidemic that can and must be stopped.
For our part, we will continue to fight for workplace protections for our LGBTQ sisters and brothers, which is but one piece of the larger movement to end the discrimination and violence often directed at the trans- and broader LGBTQ community. We will honor TeeTee’s memory by lending our collective strength and voices to say: Enough is enough! Not one more.
Justice for TeeTee. Rest in Power, sister.
Local 23 – Atlanta is partnering with Jobs with Justice Atlanta, the GA AFL-CIO, the Transgender Law Center, SONG, SNAPCO and members of the City of Atlanta, Pre-Arrest Diversion Program to organize two memorial events for TeeTee.
Friday – August 12, 2017 Community Memorial & Healing Cypher for TeeTee & Our Gurlz
7:00-10:00pm
The Blue House – 2861 East Point St, East Point, GA 30344 https://www.facebook.com/events/336147176797611/
UNITE HERE members from hotels across North America kick off next round of continent-wide contract negotiations, beginning in Toronto
(Toronto) Hundreds of hotel and hospitality workers kicked off contract negotiations at a rally in front of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel Thursday, June 22, followed by a march down Front Street to the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, where newly-unionized members are fighting for a first contract. The hotel workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 75, are busy preparing for their next round of contract negotiations, which will affect more than forty properties across the GTA.
The hotel workers were joined by fellow UNITE HERE union members from several other North American cities, who shared messages of solidarity and support as they enter into contract negotiations of their own. A decade ago, UNITE HERE launched Hotel Workers Rising, a continent-wide campaign to empower and improve the lives of hotel workers. Since then, tens of thousands of hotel workers have won improved wages and benefits, job security, and workload protections.
The march ended at the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel in the Rogers Centre, where workers voted to join the union last year. Since then, they have been fighting for a first contract, refusing to settle for anything less than the same standard contract agreed to by dozens of other hotels across the city.
“Today American immigrants saw once again that both major political parties continue to fail them and their families. The Trump administration precipitated the current crisis for both TPS and DACA by ending protections without a plan to pass legislation with his own party, which controls both houses of Congress. Rather than holding the line and forcing a resolution to this humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of American families, Democratic Senate leadership chose today to once again sell out the Dreamers and TPS workers.
