Dear Colleagues,
Before COVID-19, UNITE HERE was the fastest growing private sector union in the nation. Today, as a result of the pandemic, 98% of its 300,000 members are unemployed and face an uncertain future. No other union is experiencing this level of displacement. As the coronavirus decimates the hospitality, food service, and gaming industries, workers around the country are struggling to survive while hotel owners and investors are reaping relief benefits. ( read the full Forbes article)
UNITE HERE knows how to fight when the odds are against them, and the union is already rising to this challenge. But they need our help to emerge stronger than ever.
Please donate to the UNITE HERE Education and Support Fund to support hospitality workers hardest hit by the sudden loss of income. Contributions will be directed to: Paying for food, rent, and utilities; maintaining family health insurance; and supplementing income to those most in need.
UNITE HERE has raised wage and benefit standards for union and non-union workers across the hospitality sector. Its largest local, the Culinary Union Local 226 in Las Vegas, developed innovative programs of labor management cooperation in recruitment, training, and health care that are models for the nation. Their rank and file leaders play a critical role in election campaigns and have led fights to reign in health care and drug prices in states across the country.
And it is a leading union in the fight for immigrant worker rights, from the 2003 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride to the ongoing battle to protect workers with DACA and Temporary Protected Status from deportation.
Our solidarity now will help the labor movement come out of this pandemic stronger and ready to face the challenges of the future. Please consider donating to the UNITE HERE Education and Support Fund.
Sincerely,
- Bill Shields, Chair, Labor and Community Studies, City College of San Francisco, Past Board Member, United Association for Labor Education, Member, Labor and Working Class History Association
- Ruben J. Garcia, Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Workplace Law Program, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Boyd School of Law
- Ken Jacobs, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
- Rick Hurd, Professor Emeritus of Labor Studies, Cornell University
--Kent Wong, Director of UCLA Labor Center
-Julie Farb , Director of Growth Strategies, AFL-CIO
-Patricia Campos-Medina Co-Director New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute The Worker Institute at Cornell University, ILR School
-Joshua B. Freeman, Distinguished Professor of History, Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York
-Anneta Argyres, Labor Extension Director, UMass Boston
-Steve Striffler, Director, Labor Resource Center, UMass Boston
-Gordon Lafer, Professor Labor Education and Research Center, University of Oregon
-Rebecca Kolins Givan, Associate Professor, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University Labor Education Center
-Stephanie Luce, Professor, School of Labor and Urban Studies/CUNY
-Elizabeth Pellerito, Director, Labor Education Program University of Massachusetts Lowell
-Eve Weinbaum, Associate professor at the Labor Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
-Erik Gellman, Associate Professor of History, UNC
- Jessica Wilkerson, PhD
Professor of History and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi
-Ruth Needleman, Professor Emeritus Labor Studies at Indiana University
-Erin Johansson, Research Director, Jobs With Justice
-Marilyn Sneiderman, Executive Director, Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations
-Janice Fine, Associate Professor , Research and Strategy Director at the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO) at the School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University
-Clare Hammonds, Professor of Practice, UMass Amherst Labor Center
-Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology and Labor Studies, CUNY
-Cathy Feingold, Director of the International Department AFL- CIO
- Helena Worthen, Professor Emerita, Labor Education Program, School of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Illinois, Member, UALE
- Joe T. Berry, Ph.D., Retired, City College of San Francisco and U of Illinois, Labor Studies and Labor Education, UALE member.
P.S. Want more evidence of Unite Here’s fighting spirit? Check out this short video from President D. Taylor.