Union Launches Unfair Attacks Against Progressive Stalwart, HERERandy Shawbyline‚ Apr. 07‚ 2009UNITE President Bruce Raynor is using his union treasury to wage a destructive campaign of character assassination and disinformation against one of San Francisco’s -- and the nation’s -- most progressive institutions, the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE). These attacks, part of UNITE’s effort to disaffiliate from UNITEHERE, are being framed as part of an internal union split but are actually designed to destroy one of the most progressive, successful and activist unions in the United States. Although Raynor’s dismal record of organizing new workers over the past decade makes him the union equivalent of the recently deposed General Motors head Rick Waggoner, he and his consultants are attacking HERE’s organizing success despite the massive increase in unionized hotel and gaming workers over the past decade. It’s time to expose the truth about Raynor’s efforts to destroy hotel worker organizing, and to rally behind a union that has consistently backed economic justice, immigrant rights, and the progressive movement. |