![]() Raynor also accused Wilhelm and his allies of attempting to impose their will on the executive board and the majority of members. In late 2008, General President Bruce Raynor and 15 local and regional UNITE HERE affiliates in the laundry and garment industries filed lawsuits against Hospitality Division President John Wilhelm, accusing him and his division of fraud, theft, gross mismanagement of $61 million in funds committed to union organizing drives, and failing to resolve members' grievances. The union had 366,958 members at the end of 2008. Significant conflict within the union emerged in early 2009. The British Columbia Labour Relations Board conducted a vote to find the employees' preferred affiliation with the Christian Labour Association of Canada. ![]() In 2007 the union lost its bargaining certificate at Vancouver's General Motors Place. Raynor allegedly began talking about a "divorce" of the two merged unions in order to precipitate just such an outcome. According to at least one account, Raynor was unhappy that the HERE faction had a majority on the board, which permitted Wilhelm and his supporters to veto his proposals. ![]() Raynor's critics also said the union president often agreed to " sweetheart deals" that hurt workers but which added new members and avoided protracted organizing battles. By 2007, Raynor was accusing Wilhelm of stifling change, and Wilhelm was angry at Raynor's "heavy-handed" managerial style. The merger of UNITE and HERE faced initial difficulties due to disagreements between its leaders. UNITE HERE Vice-President Edgar Romney was elected the first secretary-treasurer of the new labor federation. In 2005, UNITE HERE withdrew from the AFL–CIO and joined the Change to Win Federation, along with several other unions, including the Laborers' International Union of North America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, United Farm Workers, and United Food and Commercial Workers. Raynor was elected general president of the merged union and Wilhelm was named president of the merged union's hospitality division, but the two men shared executive, budgetary, and personnel duties. The merged entity had 440,000 active members and about 400,000 retired members in both the United States and Canada. The impetus for the merger was that UNITE was wealthy but losing a significant number of members, while HERE had little cash but had a large number of organizing opportunities which could lead to hundreds of thousands of new members. UNITE HERE was formed in 2004 by the merger of UNITE (the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees) and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union). The two men quickly concluded that their unions should merge. Wilhelm of HERE became close friends after meeting on a HERE picket line at Yale University in 2003. The plan summary is available in the Sky Chefs Human Resources department.Assets Liabilities Receipts Disbursementsīruce Raynor, then president of UNITE, and John W.
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