Below is a letter emailed last night from Bruce Raynor to the members of UNITE HERE announcing his resignation as UNITE HERE's General President effective at midnight May 29, 2009:
May 29, 2009
To the Members of UNITE HERE:
It is with great sadness and regret that I am submitting my resignation as General President.
When UNITE and HERE came together in Chicago nearly five years ago, we had high hopes that we would become more than the sum of our parts. I thought we shared a vision for serving the workers who most need union representation in today's economy, and that it would be realized due to the combined determination and resources that a merged union would bring to the table. Unfortunately, current events make it clear that we failed to mesh our two cultures in a way that allowed us to manifest the bold vision we set out to achieve, and history will judge us harshly for it.
At our founding convention, John Wilhelm and I both publicly asserted that the test of success for the merger would be whether this new union organized more members together than we had separately in the past. By all accounts we have failed in this goal. The merged union would actually be smaller today than it was at the time of the merger.
What's worse is that the failure of the merger has taken our attention and resources away from the most important work we do as a union. I had every intention of fulfilling my obligation to the members who elected me and to serve out my term, first with hopes of keeping this union together and later with hopes of negotiating a reasonable dissolution of the merger. The situation has deteriorated to the point where I no longer feel I am effectively serving working people as the General President of UNITE HERE. I am therefore resigning as President of UNITE HERE effective at midnight May 29, 2009. I do so not of my own volition but because I have been forced out of office by the same people that ruined the merger of our two unions. I will continue my fight to demonstrate that their actions have been unconstitutional and illegal.
Vast amounts of resources are being wasted, and the talents of our staff and members are being diverted from the critical work they usually do. While UNITE HERE staff are busy attacking Workers United and SEIU, members suffer. Contracts don't get bargained, grievances don't get filed, and organizing campaigns are stalled. And the attacks on Workers United and SEIU are denying workers access to their representatives, putting their dues money in escrow accounts, and derailing their organizing and bargaining efforts. For example, in Los Angeles, 3500 UNITE HERE members at the Disney hotels have been without a contract or the raise that would come with it for more than a year and a half. Meanwhile, their organizers are busy raiding Workers United laundry locals throughout California and Arizona.
At 4:00 a.m. last Friday, UNITE HERE staff loyal to Wilhelm, accompanied by nearly a dozen non-union security officers, broke into my office and stole many of my files, including personal files from the mediation sessions with UFCW President Joe Hansen. Some of the documents that were stolen from my office are now being spread across the Internet, with no regard for the privacy of our members. This sort of behavior is outlandish and heartbreaking. I simply refuse to be party to it anymore.
During more than 36 years working on behalf of low wage workers, I have seen many highs and lows. I helped 7000 Cannon Mills workers win their union after a 25 year fight. I celebrated with JP Stevens workers when they signed their first contract after 17 years of struggle. And I have watched as whole Southern communities are devastated by textile plant closures brought on by globalization and years of bad U.S. trade policy. But this is the lowest point I have seen.
For more than a year, I have attempted to resolve issues with John Wilhelm and his allies in UNITE HERE. We engaged two different mediators and put in place internal committees to try and solve problems. After mediators recommended "divorce," I made repeated offers aimed at developing a framework for a settlement. Unfortunately, those remedies were never adopted or even actively discussed.
Last month, I joined with Workers United President Edgar Romney and SEIU President Andy Stern and publicly endorsed a unilateral cessation of hostilities and supported the idea that we submit all outstanding issues in our civil war to a binding arbitration process. What I had hoped would be understood as an overture for complete resolution was hastily rejected.
Since extending that olive branch, the situation at UNITE HERE has devolved from sporadic hostile actions to a sustained attack that represents a direct threat to the welfare of our members. Our union is in total chaos.
The one bright spot in all of this is the formation of Workers United, SEIU. Despite the fact that it broke my heart to not be in the same union with the members and colleagues I have fought side by side with for more than 30 years, I congratulated the members of Workers United for their courage as they made their exodus out of a union that did not serve them and failed to advance our movement. Since that time, they have fought for and saved American manufacturing and hotel jobs, marched for immigrants' rights, bargained new contracts and, most importantly, organized hundreds of new members.
Workers United has a motto: "Putting Workers First," and that is exactly what they are doing now and that is what I want to do. During this time, the darkest for me in my career, they are giving me hope. They are emerging out of this troubled time with renewed energy, commitment, and focus. I can only hope to do the same.
Fraternally,
Bruce Raynor
