Just when you thought the union wars couldn't get any more complex, the battle of the union bosses just got a whole lot messier.The ongoing war between UNITE-HERE and Andy Stern's new entity, Workers United, has pitted union boss against union boss.
However, until now, the war has been primarily contained between the former co-presidents of UNITE-HERE with Andy Stern backing Bruce Raynor and funding the new Workers United, with many of the other union bosses siding with UNITE-HERE and exciorating Stern and Raynor for raiding UNITE-HERE.
Now, the war seems to be spilling over to involve other unions, including fellow Change to Win union, the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA).
Apparently the Laborers union has encroached on UNITE-HERE's traditional turf (hotel workers in Washington DC). Despite the fact that Workers United is currently raiding (with the SEIU's help) hotel workers in other parts of the country, Stern and Raynor are urging the Laborers to back out of UNITE-HERE's turf in what appears to be an olive-branch to UNITE-HERE's John Wilhelm.
According to this press release:
"Workers United and UNITE HERE are currently engaged in an effort to resolve our intraunion conflict over jurisdiction in a fair and equitable way.
"UNITE HERE represents the hotel workers in Washington D.C., and Workers United respects the work UNITE HERE has done in that city. Furthermore, we believe that it is in the best interest of the hotel workers in Washington D.C. that there be one hotel workers union in that city--UNITE HERE. That is why we are calling on the Laborers union to withdraw their petition and recognize UNITE-HERE's jurisdiction over these workers."
Confused? You should be.
With the Laborers entering the fray, it would appear that the union wars are turning into an all out free-for-all, with everyone shooting their arrows at each other waiting to see which falls first.
The full press release is here:
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