1,000 hotel workers rally on eve
of merger to form UNITE HERE
By Steven Ceci
Washington, D.C.
In a display of solidarity and determination,
over 1,000 hotel workers and their supporters marched and
rallied in downtown Washington, D.C., on June 24.
"Without you, the hotels are nothing but a pile of bricks
and mortar," said Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile
Employees President Bruce Raynor, addressing the festive rally
in Farragut Square.
UNITE and the Hotel and Restaurant Employees union will
merge into one of the nation's biggest unions next month,
bringing increased clout to contract negotiations in San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and elsewhere. "Today's
rally is just the beginning!" promised Local 25
Secretary-Treasurer John Boardman.
The Washington contract expires on Sept. 15. Local 25 will
need to build a broad coalition of labor, community and
religious support for the hotel workers' struggle to guarantee
better wages and benefits, and respect and dignity on the
job.
Several other unions were there to show solidarity. They
included the State, County and Municipal Workers; Food and
Commercial Workers; Service Employees; Operating Engineers;
Electrical Workers; as well as the D.C. Building Trades
Council.
The march and rally was notable for the strong partici
pation of women immigrants from countries of Latin America,
Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. They held picket signs in over
10 different languages expressing the need for a just and fair
contract.
Reprinted from the July 8, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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