In twin victories hailed as "an inspiration to working people everywhere," hotel workers in DC won the right to organize while those in Las Vegas won a 4-year contract. The UNITE HERE union workers "have proven we can take on the powerful and win, even when the boss is running for President of the United States," said AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka. UNITE HERE Local 25 and Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. announced on Wednesday that they have reached an agreement to permit an organizing campaign for workers at the recently-opened Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue. “The agreement speaks volumes about the hotel’s commitment to its employees and the value they place on their relationship with our organization," said John Boardman, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 25. “It satisfies the union's goal to represent and ensure strong working conditions for hospitality workers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area." Also on Wednesday, UNITE HERE Culinary Workers Union Local 226, Bartenders Union Local 165, and the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas announced a new first time union contract covering the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas’ Food and Beverage and Housekeeping employees. The four-year contract will provide the employees with annual wage increases, a pension, family health care, and job security. The Culinary Union had been certified as the bargaining representative of workers at Trump Hotel Las Vegas last March, but Trump had refused to recognize and bargain with the union. Related posts: UNITE HERE 226 press release; Trump Organization Moves to Avoid Possible Labor Conflicts (New York Times) photo: UNITE HERE 226 members at contract ratification vote United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai (right) received the 2016 AFL-CIO George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award last week, with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka describing Kiai as “an effective watchdog against crackdowns of freedom of association and assembly.” Kiai in October presented the landmark “Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association report to the UN General Assembly. The report forcefully conveys how the vast majority of the world’s workers are disenfranchised from their rights to assembly and association—rights that are fundamental to all other human rights—either by exclusion or outright oppression. Find out more at the Solidarity Center. Carl Goldman and Kurt Stand say that "Socialists must work with all levels of the labor movement," in Talking Union. Goldman is Executive Director of AFSCME Council 26 and Stand works for Politics and Prose and Busboys and Poets; both are active members of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America local. |