Binding Arbitration, Sooner the Better
Labor unions have been a real force for good in the life of my family, and in so many other families like mine. I am who I am, and who I have been able to become, in large part because of the strength and resources my parents and aunts were able to gather from their unions.
That is why I have used my celebrity to support unions and organizing drives, pro-union political candidates and Employee Free Choice. I will always be a union activist, and I am proud of that.
What I am not proud of is what the fight between UNITE HERE and Workers United/SEIU is doing to this movement I care so much about. I stood side by side with UNITE HERE throughout the merger, but it was obvious even from the outside that that organization was not reaching its potential. I supported Workers United members when they decided to go their own way. But now, even after the formation of that new union the fighting has not stopped.
I was just in Niagara Falls, Canada with workers who finally won their union, but now can't get a contract because their employer has gotten wrapped up in this intra-union battle. That is unacceptable and I raise my voice and add to the others that are calling for a quick and fair end to the UNITE HERE merger which ends all this infighting. The stakes for folks like these hotel workers in Canada are too high to let this drag on.
I call on President Wilhelm to accept President Raynor and President Stern's offer to enter into binding arbitration. The sooner the better.
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Now can you two gentlemen PLEASE backoff and STOP the RAID on OUR union so we can Get our Lives Back?
I AM PROUD
I AM UNION PROUD
I AM PROUD UNITE HERE MEMBER!
If you are wondering on how I know this and/or where is my proof... Well, I AM YOUR PROOF! I'm one of the 300 members of the property. I am NOT a steward or anything (I've worked here a long time and know most the members), I've talked to over half of the members and this is what I KNOW TO BE TRUE! (I will not tell you the name of the property or where we are located because of fear, not for me but my fellow members)
For those of you who don't believe me, then YOU need to take a BIG step back. Look at the facts, talk to (not threathen them) members, (THE REAL MEMBERS) and you'll know I'm telling you the truth!
Mr Glover, you must be Mr. Raynor's good friend (or is it Mr. Stern's?) to turn such a blind eye. I always thought of you as a smart and fair man. I just hope you rethink what you've stated and take a better look at what your friends have done to us UNITE HERE union members.
And speak of Mr. Raynor and Mr. Stern...I just to say from all of us at my work place, "Thanks for giving our employers the right to do whatever they please to us. And Thanks for making our lives HELL! THIS IS OUR LIVES YOU ARE MESSING WITH!!!"
I truely believe Mr. Glover, that you meant well. But I must say, You haven't hear both sides of this story!
Remember there is ALWAYS 2 sides of a story!
You could not possibly heard the UNITE HERE's MEMBERS speak out about the way they were treated and the "vote" was RUSHED, PUSHED, THREATHEN and PROMISED on them!
I'm not going into the small details, but I will tell you this...
Some members were confused on the name of the "NEWLY UNWANTED" union. It went from UNITE HERE (wanted) to "Workers United-SEI
On some properties only 50+ (not 50%) Members knew about the vote and voted. There is a total of about 300 members (possibly more) on that property! And most of the 50 (that voted), voted NO, But it was still past as the "new" union! How is that FAIR? They DIDN'T WANT or need a "new" union or even treated unfairly from the "new" union upper members. (There's a lot more things, but I'll just leave it at this for now. Short.)
I already see the problem at the end of the article, 3 Presidents? Too many egos at the bargaining table.
Did you know that in California ...
Prop 8
Union Members 56% Yes 44% No
Non Union Members 49.91% Yes 50.09% No
Without Union Members ... same sex marriage would still occur in California.
Union Members as a constituency has the highest rate of membership in the NRA.
Union Members as a constituency has the 3rd highest rate of regular church attendance ( after African Americans and Latinos )
Union Members as a constiuency has the highest percentage of Military service.
Union Members as a constituency have been the most consistent voters for LIMITING abortion rights ( i.e. parental notification ).
In fact, straight down the line. Union Members vote with the "values voters" of the Republican party.
Now if the republican Party could just get off their asses and actually support "collective bargaining" ... do you realize how devestated the Democratic Party would be when all those Union members vote their values which pretty much straight down the line ... are completely ANTI-progressive?
Hell for every oil well in the U.S. 18 Union members are employed, but for every oil well outside of the U.S. only four are employed ... republicans could convince union members that the ANWAR drilling ban can be considered the intentional unemployment of Union members.
(Standard Union members already believe that Environmentalists are their biggest threat. Everything the Environmentalists want to protect seems to come at the cost of UNION jobs! ).
Proud member IATSE ( yep I work with Mr. Glover )
Can you site a source for those statistics?
As a union organizer I know most unions are committed to equal rights for all. My union has negotiated benefits for same-sex domestic partners that are exactly the same as those offered to spouses.
Where I live in New York state labor is fighting for same-sex marriage in the state legislature.
http://www
I know union leadership in California was against Prop. 8
http://www
I know union members certainly don't vote "with the "values voters" of the Republican party"
http://www
I know both Gore and Kerry received 59% of union votes.
http://www
So I would really like to know where you got your informatio
http://en.
Scroll down a tiny bit.
And if you think the rank and file trade union members vote with their leadership? *laughs* You are not talking to us.
Take a look at Gore's speech to the union members in PA in 2000. He had them going and cheering and tossing their hats in the air. And going with the moment he said something along the lines of "And I will get the guns out of the hands of all those kooks and make America safe again!"
And all the sudden you could hear crickets chirping.
In that one moment, he lost PA and the presidency.
And 59% support means 41% do not agree. Furthermore, a significant portion of the 59% is from Teachers Union members, which are significantly higher. Although, Police and Fire Union members probably trend more conservative than that and balance it out.
There is no data that separates out the type of vote from trade and professional.
The leadership ... well ... if you DO know something about union members, leaders are NOT often respected by the rank and file. IN fact disrespect behind the backs of the "point and gaff" leadership is common.
Now WHY do we tend to vote Democrat instead of Republican?
Because the Republicans are so ANTI-collective bargaining.
But if the ISSUE is separated from the PARTY? Rank and file members vote pretty much down the line conservative and anti-progressive.
They are great people. I agree. Now if we could just get them to vote republican.
Because this dispute was caused by SEIU raiding hotels and casinos - UNITE HERE's traditional jurisdiction. If a thief steals my stuff, should I go to binding arbitration to decide how much he gets to keep?
Why didn't SEIU agree to binding arbitration with NUHW?
Mr. Glover, Being a retired US Navy Chief Petty Officer, and never belonging to a Union Shop or business, still have a very strong bond to the Unions. My father was a Teamster all of his adult life.
His Union association provided nicely for my mother when he died suddenly from cancer upon his retirement. His foresight was great enough that he protected Mom for the past 35 years. I only wish that I could have followed in my fathers footsteps. You sir, should be commended for your humanity and ethics. You are someone whom I have admired for years and your demeanor is your armor. Bravo Zulu
Mr. Glover, your honor is to be admired.
Kenneth R. Jackson
CPO USN Ret.
http://mah
LRI IS A UNIONBUSTER:
Revealed: Union Hoax
Know the 7 lies organizers tell? Former organizer "spills the beans"
LRIonline.
http://blo
One of the largest such firms, Labor Relations Institute (LRI), offers a “Guaranteed Winner Package.” If the corporation doesn’t “win”—that is, smash workers’ efforts to form a union—it doesn’t pay. An LRI promo states:
If your organization purchases an LRI Guaranteed Winner Package and the union becomes certified, Labor Relations Institute will refund the full cost of the package.
Some 82 percent of employers hire high-priced union-busting consultants, according to American Rights at Work. Further, when employers are faced with organizing campaigns:
•30 percent fire pro-union workers.
•49 percent threaten to close a worksite when workers try to form a union, but only 2 percent actually do.
•51 percent coerce workers into opposing unions with bribery or favoritism.
•91 percent force employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisors.
What we need is an extension of the National Labor Relations Act. Something to protect workers from employer and governmental intimidation.
You mean like..... I don't know.... The Employee Free Choice Act???
Glover sez: "What I am not proud of is what the fight between UNITE HERE and Workers United/SEIU is doing to this movement I care so much about... I supported Workers United members when they decided to go their own way."
Those members never decided to go their own way. The decision was that of former UNITE president Bruce Raynor and those in the UNITE-HERE leadership loyal to him to leave a union where member-led democracy got in the way of their control, and their designs on the member-owned Amalgamated Bank.
If you are not proud of the fight between UNITE-HERE and SEIU, then you can't support Workers United.
See more at http://one
Mr Glover. Thought you were great in Lonesome Dove. However, unlike most on this site, I do not worship actors nor do i agree with their politics.
Unions are one of the big downfall of the auto industries as well as the steel industry. Unions seem to have been invented by someone who purposely came up with the most horrible way to make companies inefficient.
However, since they are a guaranteed vote for democrats, dems love them.
Have a nice day.
You DO realize that unions are the only thing that kept GM going as long as it did, right???
Oh, wait, you're a rightwingnutjob, so you don't realize anything resembling facts!!!
Do you realize that without union GM would still be general motors not govt motors
You are incorrect again. What kept GM going was:
1) loans, loans, and issuing bonds (never paid back of course)
2) GM's truck division which made money to cover losses by other division
3) GMAC which provided financial cover
The unions ruined GM. It's common knowledge. Next you'll deny global warming?
Could not agree more.
Want to know what unions are for? See the history of the Triangle Factory Fire http://en.
You have no idea just how lucky you are that men and women across this country fought and died on the picket lines to give you that 40 hour work week, paid vacations, health insurance, over time pay, a sanitary workplace and workers compensation.
Go union!!!! Always and forever.
See Daniel Denvir's Profile
I hope there's a solution soon, too...but I would question your assumption that the creation of Workers United has been a thoroughly democratic affair. Hotel workers in Philly told me otherwise: http://lab
The internals with UniteHERE does not surprise me but do find it pathetic. It sd. be remember the role all of these leader played in the decision of a half dozen interanationals do disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO.
The internal pissing contests/d
In addition to the split of the AFL-CIO, this is the labor leadership who are to shepard the American worker out of the economic wasteland through union membership and the employee free choice act.
Card check neutrality agreements were spearheaded by HERE and none of this infighting and ego trips between the IU presidents does anything to advance the agenda of workers in this country.
How is it these "leaders" expect to unify Congress to pass legislation to make it easier to form unions?The NLRB election process is failed but with such open disention and lack of cohesion in leadership, how is it that these guys thing workers and the public would want to, will follow them?
Blame declining density upon unfair labor law practices all they want but it has been obvious for some time that the biggest problem facing the labor movement is the labor movement itself.
Get it together Gentlemen.
Bring back the WOBBLIES.
I know of companies that dont require unions because they are fair to their employees.
unions have their place, but they have also hurt many companies look at steel and autos. Great in the beginning now too powerful and damaged both industries. I have worked for a union and while benefitial if you saw some employees who kept there jobs who should have been fired years ago you would be amazed!
Danny, good to see you're finally on line. Or are you? Well, here's hoping.
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