At UNITE HERE, we’re proud every day of our LGBTQ sisters and brothers who make up and lead our union, and we’re proud to continue our work as the premier labor union fighting for and winning civil and LGBTQ rights for our workers. It’s with pride that UNITE HERE has been a pioneer in securing equal protections for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters—protections that exist in places where no state or federal laws afford gay or trans Americans equal rights at work. We are proud that over 200,000 UNITE HERE members have contracts that prohibit employers from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We’re proud to have had openly LGBTQ leaders serving our union at the national level, and we’re proud of the groundbreaking healthcare work we’ve done for our workers around HIV AIDS. This month, and every month, we have pride.
Join UNITE HERE at Pride 2017 celebrations throughout the US and Canada.
June 10, New Orleans, LA, Local 2262
June 10, Pittsburgh, PA, Local 57
June 11, Los Angeles, CA, Local 11
June 11, Indianapolis, IN, Local 23 Indy
June 11, Detroit, MI, Local 24
June 11, San Diego, CA, Local 30
June 16, Montana, Local 23 MT
June 18, Baltimore, MD, Local 7
June 18, Denver, CO, Local 23 Denver
June 18, Providence, RI, Local 26
June 18, Philadelphia, PA, Local 274
June 18, Portland, OR, Local 8
June 18, Anchorage , Local 878
June 19, Houston, TX, Local 23 Houston
June 20, New York, Local 100
June 24, St. Louis, MO, Local 74
June 25, Chicago, IL, Local 1
June 25, Minneapolis, MN, Local 17
June 25, San Francisco, CA, Local 2
June 25, Forest Park, Local 450
June 26, Seattle, WA, Local 8
July 02, San Antonio, TX, Local 23 SA
July 03, Toronto, Canada, Local 75
August 06, Vancouver, Canada, Local 40
August 27, Austin, TX, Local 23 SA
August 28, San Jose, CA, Local 19
September 11, Oakland, CA, Local 2850
October 14, Orlando, FL, Local 362
October 21, Las Vegas, NV, Local 226
October 21, Honolulu, HI, Local 5
International Workers’ Day Press Conference on the Status of Haitian Workers in South Florida and Renewal of Temporary Protected Status
MIAMI – Hospitality workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 355, Haitian Women of Miami (FANM), and allies are gathering in front of the Fontainebleau Resort (44th Street & Collins Avenue, Miami Beach) for a May Day press conference calling on the Trump Administration to renew the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of over 50,000 Haitian nationals in the U.S.
The May Day press conference will take place on Monday, May 1st, 8am.
In light of the EEOC lawsuit filed against the SLS Hotel for the discriminatory firing of Haitian kitchen workers, we are calling on the hospitality industry to acknowledge the contribution made by Haitian workers in South Florida.
“I have been in the U.S. for 8 ½ years. TPS has allowed me to work legally and support my five children, two of which are still back home in Haiti. Immigrant workers like me are the engine of the hospitality industry in South Florida,” says Gerdine Verssagne, housekeeper at the Fontainebleau Resort on Miami Beach.
“Failure to renew TPS would not only break apart families and further devastate a country still recovering from natural disasters, but it would also negatively affect the hospitality industry in South Florida which depends on the labor of many Haitian workers currently on TPS,” says Rose Metellus-Denis, President of UNITE HERE Local 355. “We are calling on South Florida employers to urge President Trump to renew TPS.”
Speakers will include Marleine Bastien, (Executive Director of Haitian Women of Miami-FANM), Rose Metellus-Denis (President of UNITE HERE Local 355), and Miami Beach hotel workers.
UNITE HERE Local 355 represents 7,000 South Florida hospitality workers at hotels, casinos, airport food service, and Marlins Park.
On April 12, more than 100 workers and their allies marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. to demand pay equity for airline catering workers. The march anchored a series of actions nationwide, as workers from 16 airports rallied for dignity and equality. Watch the video:
“My work helps the airlines make so much money, yet I can barely scrape by. To me, that is not right. That is why my co-workers and I are coming together to demand one simple thing: equality.”
—Nelson Robinson, airline catering worker in Washington, D.C.
Thousands of subcontracted cafeteria workers, janitors, security officers, shuttle drivers, groundskeepers, and other service workers — predominantly immigrants, people of color, and women— are employed in Google offices across the U.S. They have acutely felt the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on them and their friends and families. For these individuals, calls to take action on May Day resonate with growing urgency.
As detailed in an April 13 BuzzFeed article, Google has supported its direct employees’ right to protest. Now, these tech workers are joining with low-wage subcontracted workers to call on industry leaders to protect all tech workers by taking strong positions against anti-immigrant and anti-worker federal policies.
In addition, delegations are taking place throughout the week of April 10 to Google offices across the U.S., including Boston, Atlanta, Ann Arbor, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
On April 5, Space Needle workers who cook and serve food, run the elevators, and staff private banquet events ratified a new Union contract with their employer. The new contract received unanimous support from the bargaining committee and from all of the workers who turned out to the ratification vote, following a 5+ year campaign.
Highlights of the new agreement include enhanced job security; pension and a paid lunch break for the elevator operators; and $.50 raises per year for non-tipped workers.
“One of our biggest concerns with the previous offers was that they did not include enough job-security protections for our members,” said Erik Van Rossum, President of UNITE HERE Local 8. “This agreement includes strong job safeguards during the upcoming Century Project renovations. And with this agreement, our members won’t have to worry about construction length impacting their rights to return to their jobs.”
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing with striking sanitation workers. 49 years later, airport food workers in Philadelphia joined faith leaders, community groups and other workers to honor King’s struggle and rally for economic and racial justice.
In Philadelphia, workers who cater flights for American Airlines and other carriers are paid $4.20 less per hour than the airport living wage, amounting to annual losses of more than $8,700 for full-time employees.
Sky Chefs worker Avery Austin addressed the crowd, which numbered in the hundreds. “Everybody here is ready to fight. Nobody is backing down. Nobody is scared. All we want is equal rights.”
Following the rally, airline and airport food workers led a march through the streets around City Hall, chanting, “If we don’t get it? Shut it down!” and “Treat your workers with respect!” At the end of the march, attendees flowed into the Arch Street United Methodist Church for a teach-in about the intersections of racial and economic justice.
“We have to understand that they are scared because we are waking up. They thought we’re asleep, but we are not. We are not scared—we are ready.”
SILVER SPRING, Maryland – Union, immigration and religious leaders are honoring D. Taylor, president of the UNITE HERE labor union, for his commitment to immigrant workers at a reception March 23 at the Friars Club in New York.
The fundraising event will benefit the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., known as CLINIC.
“D Taylor represents tens of thousands of immigrant and first generation American hotel and hospitality workers among UNITE HERE’s 250,000 members in the U.S. and Canada,” said event host Vincent Pitta, of the New York law firm Pitta LLP. “His commitment, and that of his UNITE HERE colleagues, to better the wages, hours and working conditions of those immigrant workers, and his personal and his union’s generosity, goes hand in hand with CLINIC’s critically important mission and its critically important place in our society, especially so at this time in our country’s history. We salute our fellow CLINIC board member and congratulate him on the recognition he so justly deserves.”
In a statement of appreciation for the recognition, Mr. Taylor made note of the joint work of his organization and CLINIC.
“CLINIC is an amazing organization that has provided extraordinary service for thousands of immigrant and refugee families since its founding by Catholic bishops decades ago,” he said. “From helping immigrants detained at the borders to empowering workers to become citizens, UNITE HERE and CLINIC have proudly joined hands to help those in need and build a more just society. I am humbled and honored to be recognized by an organization that has done so much good work for so many people, and I look forward to partnering with CLINIC in the years ahead.”
Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of CLINIC, said the event is a welcomed cause for celebration, particularly with one CLINIC board member, Mr. Pitta, hosting this opportunity to recognize the work of another, Mr. Taylor.
“This is a wonderful time to acknowledge and celebrate the great work UNITE HERE and D. Taylor have long done on behalf of immigrant workers,” Ms. Atkinson said. “We are extremely grateful for the chance to thank Mr. Taylor for his commitment protecting immigrants from all walks of life.”
“In the summer of 2014, D called wanting to know what CLINIC was doing about large numbers of Central American children then coming across the border,” Ms. Atkinson added. “More importantly, he asked what he and UNITE HERE could do to support the unaccompanied children who were being picked up. Under D’s leadership, UNITE HERE has been a partner in our efforts to serve the children and the families, devoting both time and financial resources to the efforts, since that call.”
Press interested in covering the event or in further comment from Mr. Pitta, Mr. Taylor or Ms. Atkinson, should contact CLINIC Communications Director Pat Zapor at 301-537-6512 or via email at [email protected].
March 25, 2017, is the 106th 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.
At UNITE HERE’s headquarters in New York, staff and members will gather to remember the victims with a reading of their names and testimony from one of the survivors. The ceremony will be accompanied by a special display in the union building lobby at 275 7th Avenue, located in the heart of New York’s Garment District.
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.
“It is by remembering our past that we prepare to fight for our future. We are measured by how we protect the most vulnerable and ensure their health and safety to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that is our guiding light.”
—D. Taylor, President, UNITE HERE
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:
Airline catering and airport workers from Dulles and National Airports joined protesters at Dulles International Airport today to rally against President Trump’s second immigration order, also known as Muslim Ban 2.0. The majority of airline catering and airport workers at Dulles and National Airports are immigrants, including many refugees.
Workers and allies also called on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to expand its living wage policy to ensure immigrant and refugee workers can support their families.
“Most of the workers at the D.C. airports are immigrants,” said Aschalew Asabie, a utility worker at the airport. “Many of the food, retail, and airline catering workers at the airport work 2 or even 3 jobs, all at the airport, just to make ends meet.”
“We are the Union of hospitality workers, including thousands of workers at airports across the U.S., who everyday welcome travelers and refugees from all over the globe.
“The Trump Administration is fooling nobody; today’s order is another Muslim and refugee ban, despite a few surface tweaks. This administration has been adamant about targeting a group of individuals based on their faith, including some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees. These orders are reckless, dangerous and fuel anti-American sentiment to make us less safe.
“But since inauguration day, we’ve seen what we can do when we resist this kind of ugliness together. Our members – immigrant, refugee, and native-born – will continue to build power and defend our sisters and brothers against attacks in their workplaces, homes or communities.
“We are inspired to be part of the growing coalition of ordinary people working to realize the American dream: equality and opportunity for all.”
—Maria Elena Durazo, UNITE HERE General Vice-President
“These executive orders are troubling, and hurt those of us with families overseas in the countries targeted by this ban. I have my mother in Yemen who we’ve been trying to get here. And even though I’m a U.S. citizen, I’m too scared to risk visiting her because who knows what Trump might try to change before I would be able to return home.
“But Trump thinks the changes to this travel ban mean people won’t respond with protests like we did the last time. But he’s wrong. We’re not going to back down. We’re just going to grow stronger. Because if these attacks can happen to our Muslim communities, they can happen to anyone. So, we have to stick together and fight.”
—Ali Shohatee, MGM Detroit Shop Steward/UNITE HERE Local 24 Executive Board Member
At UNITE HERE, we’re proud every day of our LGBTQ sisters and brothers who make up and lead our union, and we’re proud to continue our work as the premier labor union fighting for and winning civil and LGBTQ rights for our workers. It’s with pride that UNITE HERE has been a pioneer in securing equal protections for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters—protections that exist in places where no state or federal laws afford gay or trans Americans equal rights at work. We are proud that over 200,000 UNITE HERE members have contracts that prohibit employers from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We’re proud to have had openly LGBTQ leaders serving our union at the national level, and we’re proud of the groundbreaking healthcare work we’ve done for our workers around HIV AIDS. This month, and every month, we have pride.
Thousands of subcontracted cafeteria workers, janitors, security officers, shuttle drivers, groundskeepers, and other service workers — predominantly immigrants, people of color, and women— are employed in Google offices across the U.S. They have acutely felt the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on them and their friends and families. For these individuals, calls to take action on May Day resonate with growing urgency.
