In the News
Press Contact
Amanda Cooper
acooper@uniteunion.org
UNITE HERE is making news! Read the summaries below, or click on the link to go to the original news stories chronicling our latest activities and victories.
If you are a member of the media, interested in covering UNITE HERE activities or issues, please contact Press Secretary Amanda Cooper by email or phone at 212-332-9376. You can find our past press releases in the Press Center.
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- Union to form committee for Borgata negotiations
1/31/2007. Press of Atlantic City
The area's largest casino union, UNITE-HERE's Local 54, has begun forming a committee which will oversee the union's contract renewal with the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa this September.
The union intends to organize between 120 and 180 workers to help negotiate a contract that is expected to set the standard for the other 11 Atlantic City casinos, who will not renew their contracts until 2009.
Local 54 wants to find at least one committee member for every 20 members, whose responsibility will be to keep those workers informed as negotiations unfold. So far, according to union president Robert McDevitt, the union has signed 54 members for the committee. Union representatives have been scouting the Borgata for workers whom they believe are solid leaders and well-respected among their peers.
- Illinois Company Buys Specialty Filaments
1/30/2007. The Burlington Free Press
An Illinois mop and broom manufacturer bought Specialty Filaments Inc. today, and production could start up again at the Middlebury brush maker as soon as Monday, one month after production lines stopped running.
The Thomas Monahan Co. of Arcola, Ill., submitted the only bid at $3.125 million in U.S. Bankruptcy Court today in Burlington. The operation includes two production facilities in Middlebury. The court-approved deal is expected to close Wednesday.
The deal includes a three-year contract with the company’s union Unite Here Local 2524. The union ratified the contract Monday afternoon.
- Genentech Vendor Draws Union Action
1/30/2007. The San Francisco Chronicle
The union representing hotel workers is asking local high-tech and biotechnology companies to improve working conditions for their contract food service workers.
Unite Here, which represents 440,000 workers in the hospitality industry and other businesses, is pushing the companies to agree to a code of conduct governing contract food service providers. The code includes fair wages, neutrality in organizing efforts and worker retention when contractors take over an account.
The campaign is focusing on some 175 food service employees who work at Genentech Inc.'s campus in South San Francisco and its manufacturing plant in Vacaville.
- High tech firms should hire worker-friendly contractors
1/29/2007. San Jose Mercury News
South Bay biotech and high tech companies make frequent appearances in those "best companies to work for" lists in the media. But for many people who work on these campuses, the bright public relations image conceals a darker picture of unfairness and hardship.
High tech firms commonly contract out service work, from food service and janitorial services to technical support and security. Contracting costs are controlled by keeping the price of labor as low as possible. As a result, many workers lack affordable health care, can't afford to take off when they are sick or injured, and have no job security. By contrast, the scientists and engineers who work in the same buildings receive competitive salaries and benefits and enjoy perks that range from free lunch to stock options.
- Hotel Union Forges New Partnerships
1/27/2007. Providence Business News
In Rhode Island, only 25 percent of workers in the hotel industry are unionized. In Boston, it’s more like 50 percent. But things are looking up from the perspective of UNITE HERE! Local 217.
During the past three years, the union has progressed in its efforts to form partnerships with developers of hotels early in the planning and zoning approval process. Doing so has led hotel operators such as Denver-based Sage Hospitality Resources to sign a legally binding “labor peace agreement” with Local 217.
- Suit Maker Goes 'Lean' to Keep Jobs in U.S.
1/24/2007. NPR Morning Edition
If you check the tag on a men's suit these days, chances are it says "made in China" or Mexico — maybe even Hungary.
But if the suit is a Joseph Abboud, it still says "Made in America." In fact, the company is one of the few that continues to produce suits in the United States. And instead of sending jobs overseas, Abboud is hiring more people here at home.
- Alliance Backs Immigration Overhaul
1/19/2007. Star Telegram
A diverse coalition that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Catholic bishops, Hispanics and labor unions launched an attempt Thursday to push a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws "over the finish line" in the Democratic-controlled Congress.
With President Bush and Democratic congressional leaders pledging bipartisan cooperation to confront one of the country's most volatile issues, leaders of the group said the new Congress offers the best opportunity yet to pass a comprehensive immigration plan that would legalize millions of undocumented workers who are in the country illegally.
- Losing by Winning
12/21/2006. American Prospect Online
What one NLRB case this year tells us about our broken collective bargaining laws. - by Bruce Raynor
- ‘Sweatshop fashion show’ spotlights labor abuses
12/1/2006. Worcester Telegram & Gazette News
The models, Clark University students all, were wearing clothes that are popular with college students today. But the fashion show at Tilton Hall last night was not of the typical variety.
As each student was introduced, the announcer named the country where the item of clothing was made and included details not normally heard at a fashion show.
“Corey is wearing a black Armani Exchange shirt made in Honduras,” the announcer said, and noted that the factory workers who made it earned less than $1 an hour, well below the threshold necessary to meet their basic needs.
- New contract likely to wash: Linen services offer pay hike to metro laundry workers
11/30/2006. New York Newsday
Two Long Island linen-service companies have reached a new contract agreement that raises the wages of their employees to at least $9.50 a hour, from less than $7, in some cases, the union representing the workers said yesterday.
Oceanside Linen Service and Polo Linen Service in Lindenhurst have agreed to the three-year contract, which covers 500 employees, said UNITE HERE, the Manhattan-based union representing the workers.
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