Split of merged unions leads to disarray

In her hotel, with its glorious views of the Delaware River, Julie Coker, general manager of the Hyatt Regency, has a problem.

Two unions each claim to represent her workers.

When Coker deducts union dues from paychecks, where should she send them? When there are grievances, who should represent the workers? If there are layoffs, which union should she call?

"Mostly [unions] are fighting with management," Coker said. "This time, they are fighting among themselves, so this is an unusual turn of events."

In the world of labor management, Coker has what can only be described as a weird situation, and she is not the only one.

The resulting confusion practically demands a program to keep track of the different union locals, the national organizations, and the key players at all levels.

This same ball of confusion is rolling around hotels, stadiums, and school cafeterias all over Philadelphia and, in fact, around the nation. But it is particularly confusing here.

It is all because of a nasty divorce between two unions that merged in 2004. One was called UNITE, one was called HERE, and for reasons that seemed symbiotic at the time, it combined divergent trades in a headquarters building in New York.

The marriage did not even last five years.

Now the unhappy couple is fighting for custody of the members, their dues, and various assets in federal court in New York, and in front of the National Labor Relations Board.

Besides the soap opera aspects of this high-profile breakup, the dispute muddies labor's image just as unions are gaining traction in Washington. In Philadelphia, where taxpayers have put a big bet on the hospitality sector as an economic driver, it is a distraction in a challenging economy.

Meanwhile, the battle for worker loyalty is nearly hand-to-hand - hotel by hotel, cafeteria by cafeteria, bar by bar.

"It is very unfortunate," Hyatt's Coker said. "Some of our employees were caught in the middle."

Nationally, the battle has confused workers, including 7,400 in Philadelphia.

They work in the cafeterias of the city's public schools, in hotels like the Hyatt or the Sheraton Center City, or at Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, and the Convention Center as employees of Aramark Corp.

Workers have been confronted with competing mailings, requests to sign petitions, and elections that seem unreliable. Allegations of fraud and intimidation abound.

Not surprisingly, employers are also confused.

Because of the dispute, the Philadelphia School District is no longer bargaining with the union local representing its 2,000 cafeteria workers.

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board told the district to stop until the board can figure out which of the two rival groups should have custody of this disputed local. A hearing is set for Tuesday.

Aramark is escrowing union dues until the dust settles. One of the two unions filed criminal charges against the Philadelphia-based global food-services company last week, accusing it of "stealing" the money.

"I'm not sure this has been easy for any employer," Aramark spokeswoman Kristine Grow said.

On the advice of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, area hotel managers like Coker at the Hyatt are also escrowing union dues.

The fight comes at a bad time, both for the economy and for labor.

"We can't stop working" because of this dispute, Coker said. "My biggest focus is the recession - getting the revenue in here and keeping these guys employed."

If there is anything that all parties agree on, it is that the battle is embarrassing.

"This internal fighting," said Philip Dine, author of the recent book State of the Unions, is "reinforcing the image that labor has been trying to get away from - a bunch of leaders fighting for turf that can't get its act together."

The story begins in 2004, when the two unions merged.

One union, UNITE, which traditionally represented textile and laundry workers, owned a profitable bank and a headquarters building in Manhattan. But it was losing members as textile manufacturing moved abroad.

The other union, HERE, which traditionally represented bartenders, hotel maids, and restaurant and cafeteria workers, had an expanding membership because hospitality jobs cannot be offshored.

The merged union was called Unite Here.

It was a marriage of convenience - UNITE had assets, but little potential for growth. HERE had growth potential, but minimal assets.

The merger caused friction almost immediately. HERE's president, John Wilhelm, was supposed to step aside this summer to allow UNITE's president, Bruce Raynor, to lead.

That never happened.

Raynor's crew left the merger in March and took about a third of the 450,000 members.

Wilhelm's group kept the Unite Here name.

Raynor's group, a mix of textile and hospitality workers, became Workers United.

In many places, including Atlantic City, former HERE unions stuck with Wilhelm.

In Philadelphia, the situation was more complicated.

During the merger, the two locals came under the leadership of Lynne Fox. A longtime area labor leader and lawyer, Fox had run the regional UNITE textile workers' union organization. When the bloom was on the merger, Wilhelm sang Fox's praises.

Now he accuses her of being part of a group that delivered his workers to a larger, growing, and voracious union - the influential Service Employees International Union led by former Philadelphian Andy Stern.

In March, Fox was hostess of the organizing convention of Raynor's group in Philadelphia. It met at the Sheraton Center City, a union hotel.

Stern showed up.

"Philadelphia is ground zero for this fight," said Hyatt restaurant host Aaron Seiz, a supporter of the Wilhelm group. "We feel that [Fox's group] promised to deliver all the hotel workers to SEIU on a silver platter.

"That's a janitor and nurses' union," Seiz said indignantly of SEIU. "Why would hotel workers want to join a janitor and nurses' union?"

Interestingly, Stern agrees.

Generally, he said in an interview last week, his union does not want to represent hotel and gaming workers.

But Philadelphia is an anomaly, he said. Fox's UNITE leadership provided better representation than Wilhelm's hotel union ever did. Therefore, he said, it makes sense for area hotel workers to stick with Fox's group.

Not surprisingly, Wilhelm does not see it that way. "SEIU has been nastier in Philadelphia. They are making a concerted effort to hijack members from Unite Here."

Wilhelm said hotel workers belong in a hotel union, not the SEIU, which represents only a small number of hotel workers. "It's not about personality," he said. "If a huge global corporation can bring all its resources to bear on one hotel, those workers don't have a chance."

On a national level, top leaders from 25 unions representing teachers, firefighters, building trades, steelworkers, and truck drivers have voiced support for Wilhelm. Some have criticized Stern's role in the breakup.

Locally, the battle persists.

A majority of 60 workers at the Sheraton Suites and Sheraton Four Point airport hotels chose Fox's group in an NLRB election this past Tuesday. A third of the workforce had filed a petition to get rid of any union. Wilhelm's group did not participate.

That victory pleases Wachovia Center bartender John Rushton, the president of the union local that represents hotel and stadium workers.

He says his members are with Fox and Raynor's organization in the SEIU. "I like what's she's doing," he said.

But Hyatt's Seiz, a member of Rushton's local, disagrees.

Doris Smith, the president of the union local that represents the cafeteria workers, says her members are with Wilhelm's group. But Fox disagrees, saying an April election went the other way.

When the split occurred in March, police escorted Smith's crew from their offices in the Joint Board building on 22d Street.

Locally, Patrick Eiding, who heads the AFL-CIO's Central Labor Council in Philadelphia, says he remains neutral, even though his office is in UNITE's Philadelphia building. Fox is on the council's executive board.

"Oooh boy," Eiding said, with a heavy sigh. "The value of Rolaids becomes very high at a time like this. We try as hard as we can to be indifferent to these internal disputes.

"I know this is a fight of the titans way above me," he said. "In the end, I hope they fix it where the workers win out. But, I don't know where that is."

UNITE

Represented textile and laundry workers; president, Bruce Raynor.

HERE

Represented hospitality and cafeteria workers; president, John Wilhelm.

SEIU (Service Employees International Union)

Represents building service, health care, and public employees; president, Andy Stern.

The Marriage (2004):

New union name: Unite Here

The Divorce (2009):

Unite Here. Wilhelm's group of hospitality workers kept the name.

Workers United. Raynor's breakaway group of textile, laundry, and some hospitality workers.

New suitor: Raynor's group left the marriage and became a division in Stern's SEIU.

Parent unions:

Unite Here. National advisers are working to keep Philadelphia workers with Wilhelm's group.

Workers United. Lynne Fox, a Philadelphia labor official and Raynor ally, says they are better off with Raynor's group.

What's at stake:

Local 274: Represents hotel, restaurant, and stadium food-service workers.

Local 634: Represents Philadelphia school-cafeteria workers.

7,400 workers in both locals.

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