On July 1, Lackmann Culinary Services took over the cafeteria operations from Sodexho at Pace University. While it is common for contractors to change often in the food service industry, this situation was unusual because Lackmann refused to hire current workers and assume the existing union contract with UNITEHERE Local 100. Workers with up to 26 years of service on the Pace campus were suddenly thrown on the street, and Lackmann was threatening to turn decent jobs at Pace into lousy ones.

The sixty workers fought back, spreading their message throughout the Pace Community in lower Manhattan and Westchester by leafleting dozens of events like concerts, forums, and student orientations. They talked to Pace students, faculty, and staff, who were outraged that the long-time workers who had served them for years were being thrown out on the street. Dozens of religious leaders expressed their support by signing an open letter to Lackmann and Pace, and elected officials cancelled events that had been scheduled at Pace and demanded that Lackmann and Pace resolve the situation quickly and fairly. Thanks to the resolve of the Local 100 members and the support of elected officials, clergy, and the university community, Lackmann has agreed with the Union that the cafeteria workers will return to the jobs they have held for years, with their wages and benefits intact, and their union stronger than ever.

Successes of First Year a Model as Labor Debates Future and How to Grow

(New York, NY) -” People in and around the labor movement are wondering how what happens this July at the AFL-CIO convention in Chicago will shape the future of working people. However, labor history was already made in Chicago last July with a merger that has paid real dividends for American workers. In its first year, UNITE HERE has changed to win.

On July 8, 2004, the garment, textile and laundry workers union UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, and formed UNITE HERE, a union of nearly half a million workers with a commitment to action and growth. Since that merger, the new union has won a series of important victories including strikes and lockouts in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlantic City; unprecedented contracts in the laundry and hotel industries; and corporate agreements guaranteeing workers a fair and neutral process by which to decide whether or not to join a union. By the end of 2005, UNITE HERE will have organized more new workers in one year than the two unions had combined in any past years.

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San Francisco hotel workers continue their fight for a fair contract with delegations, picket lines and demonstrations. On June 9, 750 people turned out for a march through the streets of San Francisco stopping along the way to picket at three South of Market hotels: the Four Seasons, the Argent and the Palace.

The MEG hotel boycott continues to grow and gain new allies. Several large conferences have expressed their desire to support the hotel workers. In early June, the 5,000 member strong American Anthropological Association, which has scheduled it’s 2006 conference at the San Francisco Hilton and is expected to spend $1.5 million on hotel rooms, voted to explore alternative venues. In addition, the American Political Science Association and the American Education Research Association are considering having their meetings at non-MEG hotels. UNITE HERE continues to contact a large range of groups including other academic associations, businesses, non-profits and other unions that are likely to support the workers’ cause to ask them to honor the MEG boycott.

San Francisco MEG hotels now face increased competition from Los Angeles where Local 11 members recently settled a new union contract with L.A. hotel operators. The impact of the success of the boycott is evident in hotel occupancy rates. As the hotel industry continues to rebound since the September 11 attacks, neighboring cities in the East Bay and San Jose are seeing much larger hotel occupancy rate increases than San Francisco.

San Francisco, CA-“Earlier this week, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Tom Ammiano held a press conference to introduce anti-sweatshop legislation that, if passed by the board, will become the strongest sweatshop-free legislation and a model that can be adopted by cities throughout the country. Over the past six months, a coalition of 50 labor, faith-based, student and community groups, encouraged and worked with San Francisco government officials to ensure that the hundreds of millions of tax dollars spent annually–whether on fireman’s uniforms, computers for city offices or food in city hospitals–are not supporting sweatshops. –

Philadelphia, PA -" In a unanimous decision, members of UNITE HERE Local 274 ratified their new three-year collective bargaining agreement between the union and the Holiday Inn Stadium on Thursday, June 16, 2005. The union membership was pleased with additions to the contract, including new healthcare benefits for spouses and dependents. The UNITE HERE Philadelphia Joint Board Manager, Lynne Fox, was the union’s chief negotiator. The union and employer bargained for eight months, with health care the focal point for the union. In addition to the expanded health care, the union made significant gains in pension contributions as well as the ability to participate in the union’s 401(k) plan.

Approximately 84 new members will be joining the UNITE HERE Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board, following a hard-fought struggle waged by workers with laundry company Linens of the Week. Card check neutrality had been negotiated into the Linens of the Week contract in Washington, D.C. in 2002-2003. Therefore, when the Company decided to open a new plant in Colonial Heights, VA, the existing contract language and the efforts of the Laundry Division within the Region enabled these new laundry workers to be organized. Workers will form a negotiating committee and bargaining is expected to begin shortly.

Washington, DC-“On Monday, June 20th, Patricia Campos, UNITEHERE’s Legislative Director, participated as a guest in the popular show Washington Journal, hosted by the cable network C-SPAN. Campos discussed the union’s opposition to the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and responded to questions by callers from all over the United States. Others guests on the show were Christopher Padilla, Assistant US Trade Representative and Tomas Duenas, Costa Rican Ambassador to the US. DR-CAFTA is another bad trade agreement that will destroy more US jobs and do nothing to improve the lives of Central American workers. Congress is expected to vote on the agreement sometime before the 4th of July recess. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

Philadelphia, PA -" In a unanimous decision, members of UNITE HERE Local 274 ratified their new three-year collective bargaining agreement between the union and the Holiday Inn Stadium on Thursday, June 16, 2005. The union membership was pleased with additions to the contract, including new healthcare benefits for spouses and dependents. The UNITE HERE Philadelphia Joint Board Manager, Lynne Fox, was the union’s chief negotiator. The union and employer bargained for eight months, with health care the focal point for the union. In addition to the expanded health care, the union made significant gains in pension contributions as well as the ability to participate in the union’s 401(k) plan.

(Los Angeles) -" Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa, UNITE HERE! Local 11 President Maria Elena Durazo, Mark Liberman of LA INC., hotel workers and general managers conducted a news conference to announce the results of a ratification vote on a new collective bargaining agreement and to end the hotel boycott and invite businesses, conventioneers and tourists to come to Los Angeles.

With help and mediation from Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa, a tentative contract deal was reached last Saturday, morning at 4:55 a.m., five minutes before a scheduled lock-out, ending 14 months of labor turmoil.

Hotel workers voted at the seven luxury hotels yesterday and overwhelmingly ratified the contract with a 98 percent vote in favor of a 2006 contract. Under the deal, "non-tipped" hotel employees will get wage increases totaling 65 cents per hour over a 31-month period ending on Nov. 30, 2006, with some raises retroactive. Housekeepers, bellhops, servers, pbx operators, among other workers will keep current employee benefits and free healthcare will be maintained under the agreement.

The contract will end in the same year as contracts with hotels in other major cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, Sacramento, Monterey, and Honolulu.

"The workers fought very hard for the past 14 months, because they understood the value of aligning their contract with those of other major cities, as they understood the value of keeping free health care for them and their families," said Durazo.

In the meantime, the $1 million dollar settlement of unfair labor practices includes:

– Repayment of the $40 monthly co-pays, which workers were forced to pay to keep their health benefits, (with 10 percent interest).

– Payment to the workers health and welfare fund (More than half a million dollars)

– Covering the expenses of the workers who lost health care coverage and currently owe medical bills

However, the settlement does not cover the unfair labor practices of four employees that were discharged as a result of the labor dispute, -�we will allow the NLRB to decide on those cases,-� said Tom Walsh Secretary-"Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 11. The cases are still under investigation.

As a result of the agreement, the union has called-off the boycott and joined the mayor and the hotel employers council in inviting meeting planers and tourist back to Los Angeles.

The contract covers 2500 housekeepers, bellmen, front desk workers, banquet servers, cooks and other workers at these hotels: Hyatt West Hollywood, Westin Bonaventure, Sheraton Universal, Regent Beverly Wilshire, the Westin Century Plaza, the Wilshire Grand, and the Millennium Biltmore.

For more than a year, Angelica and UNITE HERE have been engaged in a dispute over the best way to provide free choice to Angelica’s non-union employees in deciding whether they wish to join the union. But under a new agreement with the company announced on June 14, employees at Angelica’s non-union facilities will have a fair selection process through which they may choose whether they wish to have UNITE HERE as their exclusive bargaining representative. The union is expected to soon initiate organizing efforts at the company’s non-union facilities under the terms of this agreement.

In connection with this agreement, the company and the union have negotiated new, tentative collective bargaining agreements covering those facilities where existing bargaining agreements had expired. These facilities include the company’s laundry plants in Antioch, Fresno and Sacramento, California; Batavia, New York; Tampa, Florida; and Dallas and Wichita Falls, Texas.

The settlement agreement is subject to employees at each of these plants voting to ratify the collective bargaining agreements.