MARC NORTON ONLINE
The UNITE HERE International Union Should
Keep Their Hands Off Local 2’s Pension Fund
Labor Notes – September 21, 2022
Restaurant Worker News (expanded version)
Copyright © 2022 by Marc Norton
The expanded version below includes some history of the International Union.
I have been a proud member of UNITE HERE Local 2 in San Francisco since 1976, working at several hotel, restaurant, and food service jobs over the years, and now at the Giants’ ballpark.
Workers need strong unions to fight the bosses and corporate forces whose greed knows no bounds. Without Local 2, my life would have been much, much harder.
But today one of my worst Local 2 nightmares may be coming true.
The UNITE HERE International Union wants to “merge” Local 2’s pension fund into the massive Las Vegas pension fund.
Las Vegas, with more than 60,000 UNITE HERE members, is the home base of International Union President D. Taylor. Both Taylor and former President John Wilhelm are trustees of the Las Vegas pension fund.
The International Union also wants to merge the Seattle, Sacramento, San Mateo, and San Diego pension funds into the Las Vegas fund as part of this same deal.
The “merged” fund would be run by a “merged” Board of Trustees, with the International Union in the commanding position.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Local 2 representatives would be only one small voice among many. We would lose control of the size of our pensions and when we get them. We would also lose control of investment decisions and oversight of the fund. That would be the same for Seattle, Sacramento, San Mateo and San Diego workers.
Local 2 representatives would be only one small voice among many. We would lose control of the size of our pensions and when we get them. We would also lose control of investment decisions and oversight of the fund. That would be the same for Seattle, Sacramento, San Mateo and San Diego workers.
Local 2 workers have fought hard over the years to improve our pensions. After many strikes and actions, and after sacrificing many potential wage increases to put money into our pension fund, San Francisco hotel workers are currently entitled to a pension of $50 per month for every year of work.
We have also sacrificed to put money into our medical fund. We have an outstanding medical plan which includes full coverage for many of our retirees. These are accomplishments that the membership and our local officials can be proud of.
Pensions for Las Vegas workers are far less, according to the pension plan documents posted on the Las Vegas pension website. What incentive would the International Union and Las Vegas officials have to allow Local 2 workers’ pensions to outshine what they provide for Las Vegas workers?
Local 2 officials have bragged that the merged pension fund would control around $3.8 billion in assets. Our local fund has about $600 million. It does not take a mathematician to see that Local 2 would only be the tail on the dog.
LOCAL 2 OFFICIALS BACK MERGER
Sadly, our Local 2 officials are on board with this plan to merge away local control of our pension fund. Their fealty to the International Union seems to know no bounds.
Local 2 members have been told repeatedly in recent times that our pension fund is in good shape. Why fix something that isn’t broken? Why are Local 2 officials rushing to give up local control of our pension fund?
Local 2 members have been told repeatedly in recent times that our pension fund is in good shape. Why fix something that isn’t broken? Why are Local 2 officials rushing to give up local control of our pension fund?
Local 2 officials have admitted to working on this plan for at least the last six months, likely much longer, but only revealed it to members on August 26 in a cryptic announcement buried in a “newsletter” on the local’s little-used website. This announcement did not mention Las Vegas, but only unnamed “UNITE HERE western states” pension funds. Getting more information has been a process.
Our Local 2 officials have also been at pains to tell us that the decision will be made solely by the current pension fund trustees, that there will be no vote on the matter by Local 2 members, and the they will not even be consulting our Executive Board.
Our officials further claim that our pension benefits will be protected by some kind of complicated arrangement involving separate accounting of contributions from the different locals.
But regardless of what arrangement is made at the beginning, a new “merged” Board of Trustees could change the rules at any time.
The new “merged” Board of Trustees could even do further mergers with other UNITE HERE pension funds, without any need to consult the membership.
Regardless of what arrangement is made at the beginning, a new “merged” Board of Trustees could change the rules at any time.
The new “merged” Board of Trustees could even do further mergers with other UNITE HERE pension funds, without any need to consult the membership.
The basic pitch from our officials, as usual, is “Trust us.” But even if we trust them, this merger is forever. Who knows who will be in charge next year, five years from now, or down the road?
Right now if we have a problem with the administration of our pension fund, we know the Local 2 trustees (Mike Casey, Anand Singh, Tina Chen and Kim Wirshing) and how to get to them.
How would we even go about getting a hearing from the trustees from the International Union and from locals all over the western states? Good luck with that.
Our officials say there are laws that protect our current pension benefits. This is true. But the laws are far from foolproof. And laws can change. Just think Trump 2024, and be very afraid.
I have been personally warned by our officialdom that they will be very “mad” at me if I publicize this proposed pension merger outside my local. But bringing this scheme into the light of day is the only way to fight it, so I will just live with the consequences.
I don’t even know at this point if members of the other affected locals know anything about this proposed pension fund merger. I would love to hear from fellow workers in other UNITE HERE locals.
THE INTERNATIONAL UNION
Local 2 has long had a fraught relationship with the International Union. There is no way to do this subject justice in this one article, but here are some highlights.
When I first joined Local 2 in 1976, the International Union was run by President Edward T. Hanley, widely believed to be a creature of the Chicago mob. In 1978, Local 2 members voted out Hanley’s guy here in San Francisco, which led in short order to a trusteeship imposed by the International Union.
International Union Trustee Vincent Sirabella arrived talking about what wonderful things the International Union could do for us if we handed our pension fund over to them. Fortunately there was too much blowback from the membership about the trusteeship for that pension grab to be executed.
In 1980, over 6,000 Local 2 hotel workers went on strike for a month, the first such strike in decades. The strike ended with a controversial settlement after Hanley took over negotiations without any participation by the rank-and-file.
Later that year, Local 2 members voted to amend our bylaws to require that Business Agents be elected by the membership. Hanley vetoed that bylaw amendment.
By 1981 the net assets of the International Union had dropped during Hanley’s reign from $21 million to $12 million, despite a large increase in the number of paid “organizers.” Union membership was in decline.
There was a disastrous restaurant strike in San Francisco in 1984, and we lost nearly all of our restaurant contracts. The man on the scene for the International Union during this strike was D. Taylor.
The U.S. Senate held several hearings in the mid-1980s featuring testimony about Hanley’s connections to organized crime and the looting of numerous union and benefit funds.
In 1991 the Local 2 administration secretly mortgaged our Union Hall to the International Union, in clear violation of our bylaws, to pay off accumulated debts. Local 2’s President at the time, Sherri Chiesa, later ascended to the post of International Union Secretary-Treasurer.
In 1995 federal courts imposed a Federal Department of Justice “monitor” on the International Union. The feds used this “monitorship” to force the removal of a good number of allegedly mob-connected officials from the International Union and from various locals.
In 1996, Brother Jon Palewicz discovered the secret mortgage of our Union Hall to the International Union. When we informed the federal monitor of this fact, then Secretary-Treasurer Herman “Blackie” Leavitt was forced to turn the deed back over to Local 2. Leavitt claimed that the mortgage had been rescinded earlier, but “somehow, we neglected to file” the proper paperwork.
The monitorship did not end until 1998, when Hanley was forced to resign. The International Union General Executive Board chose John Wilhelm, a protege of Sirabella, to replace Hanley. Wilhelm famously said that “There is no organized crime problem… with respect to former President Hanley [and] current general officers.”
Hanley died in a car accident on a lonely country highway in Wisconsin in 2000.
Wilhelm retired as International Union President in 2012. The International Union General Executive Board selected D. Taylor as the new President.
Members of some International Unions, including the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers (UAW), directly elect their International Presidents on the basis of one worker, one vote. Not so with the UNITE HERE International Union. The top hierarchy picks one of their own, and their choice is later confirmed at their rigged International Conventions, leaving UNITE HERE members disenfranchised when it comes to control of the International Union.
The federal government purged the International Union of its upfront organized crime figures, but the Godfather style of control from the top remains solidly intact.
Today the “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, say-no-evil” D. Taylor and John Wilhelm are still in charge, and are the moving forces behind the International Union’s move to take control of our Local 2 pension fund.
The federal government purged the International Union of its upfront organized crime figures, but the Godfather style of control from the top remains solidly intact.
Today the “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, say-no-evil” D. Taylor and John Wilhelm are still in charge, and are the moving forces behind the International Union’s move to take control of our Local 2 pension fund.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Local 2 members overwhelmingly passed a bylaw amendment in 2021, requiring our officials to prosecute scabs after any strike. D. Taylor vetoed that bylaw amendment.
Earlier this year, under the presumed guidance of the International Union, Local 2 officials sold us on merging the San Francisco and East Bay locals into one union, telling us that bigger is better—the same line they are using to try to sell the pension fund merger.
Our officials also told us that the merger of the two locals would be the “first action” in our 2022 hotel contract campaign. Then they turned around and allowed the International Union to negotiate a nationwide hotel contract deal without any participation by the rank and file.
The new hotel contract supposedly protects housekeeping jobs, but with the unusual provision that any housekeeping staffing grievances that need to go to arbitration must first go through a “pre-arbitration conference” with the International Union President or his representative. You have to wonder what kind of deals might be made at such a “conference.”
The new hotel contract does next to nothing to bring back to work the many non-housekeeping hotel workers whose jobs have been eliminated or merged with other classifications during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis, which has hit our industry very hard. The severance package that San Francisco hotel workers won in our 2018 strike seems to have gone up in smoke.
As part of the merger of the two locals, an under-the-radar bylaw amendment abolished regular, monthly membership meetings — the only meetings where workers from all the different workplaces and crafts in our union could come together.
As part of the merger of the two locals, an under-the-radar bylaw amendment abolished regular, monthly membership meetings — the only meetings where workers from all the different workplaces and crafts in our union could come together.
Instead, the Executive Board is supposed to set four membership meetings each year at times and places of its choosing, which they can amend “as necessary.”
Meanwhile, Local 2’s Executive Board continues to meet in secret. We can’t even get the minutes of its meetings in a timely fashion.
THE FUTURE OF OUR UNION
The struggle for democracy within Local 2 and our sister unions around the country has had many ups and downs over the years. Right now, it seems like it is mostly down.
I fear for the future of Local 2, and for the future of hotel, restaurant and food service workers around the country. We are facing multiple problems as a result of the pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis. We don’t need to add self-inflicted wounds.
Giving up local control of our pension funds is a disaster in waiting, and one more step away from the rank and file having a real democratic voice in the functioning of our union.
Local 2 officials should reverse course and walk away from this proposed pension fund merger, now.
Local 2 officials should reverse course and walk away from this proposed pension fund merger, now.
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