The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) was a
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...
representing workers of the
hospitality industry
The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It includes hotels, tourism agencies, restaurants and bars. ...
, formed in 1890. In 2004, HERE merged with the
Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees
The Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE, often stylized UNITE!) was a labor union in the United States. In 2004, UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) to form UNITE HERE.
Histor ...
(UNITE) to form
UNITE HERE
UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 by ...
. HERE notably organized the staff of
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
in 1984. Other major employers that contracted with this union included
Harrah's
Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...
,
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesar ...
,
Wynn Resorts
Wynn or wyn (; also spelled wen, ƿynn, and ƿen) is a letter of the Old English alphabet, where it is used to represent the sound .
History The letter "W"
While the earliest Old English texts represent this phoneme with the digraph , ...
,
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton.
The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...
,
Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and va ...
, and
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...
. HERE was affiliated with the
AFL–CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...
.
Female participation and leadership
Female membership in HERE grew from 2,000 in 1908 to 181,000 in 1950. The rise in women membership reflected the
feminization of the hotel and restaurant industry and the increase in the performance of waiting work by women. Women's presence in leadership positions of HERE also increased. Waitress activists sat on the General Executive Board (GEB) from 1909 on and participated in various conventions, though as a
minority status. Participation was highest in the 1920s. Though female participation in HERE dipped in the 1930s and 1940s, it was still disproportionately higher than in other unions.
Women also enjoyed leadership positions at the local level. A national estimation written in 1926 held that 43 culinary locals had female secretaries; in 1944 California, 21 out of 75 locals had female secretaries, a prominent position in labor organizing. Women were able to enjoy such success in HERE due to the separation of workers by trade, which provided waitress activists "space apart from male hostility and … the development of female perspectives and leadership skills."
[Cobble 1990 p. 542.]
Archives
The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives,
Martin P. Catherwood Library at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
holds numerous collections of archival material generated by HERE at a national level.
The
Walter P. Reuther Library at
Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
in Detroit, Michigan house
an archival collectiondetailing the history of HERE Local 24 from 1914 to 1976, including numerous photographs.
The
UCLA Library
The library system of the University of California, Los Angeles, is one of the largest academic research libraries in North America, with a collection of over twelve million books and 100,000 serials. The UCLA Library System is spread over 12 libr ...
Department of Special Collections holds the records o
UNITE HERE Local 11 which includes records of HERE locals in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Long Beach, California.
Presidents
:1911: Edward Flore
:1945: Hugo Ernst
:1954: Ed Miller
:1973:
Edward T. Hanley
:1998:
John W. Wilhelm
Footnotes
Further reading
* Shaun Richman, "Ideology vs. 'Rule or Ruin' Politics in the Downfall of the Communists in the NYC Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, 1934-1952," ''American Communist History,'' vol. 11, no. 3 (Dec. 2012), pp. 243–264.
* Matthew Josephson, ''Union house, union bar; the history of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union'', AFL–CIO (New York: Random House, 1956).
* Dorothy Sue Cobble, "Organizing the Postindustrial Work Force: Lessons from the History of Waitress Unionism," ''Industrial and Labor Relations Review'' (April 1991): 419–436.
UNITE HERE
Defunct trade unions in the United States
Canadian Labour Congress
Women's occupational organizations
Hospitality industry trade unions
1891 establishments in the United States
Trade unions established in 1891
Trade unions disestablished in 2004
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