Portside

Secretar Clinton in addressing the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Las Vegas called the first day of the Republican Convention "Surreal". AFSCME represents 1.6 million public sector workers. She attacked the anti-worker policies of the Republican Governors of Wisconsin and Illinois, Scott Walker and Bruce Rauner. She said Trump had no solutions to help working families. Later in the day she picked up the support of UNITE HERE.

Under an obscure provision of the city's wage hike, unionized hotels were granted an exemption allowing them to pay their employees less. The result is that some members in the hotel workers union Unite Here, now make less than those doing the same job in non-union workplaces.

Democratic politicians picked up on the union’s organizing campaign. Presidential candidate and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley spoke in favor of the Culinary two days before a rally in August. And Hillary Clinton relayed support at a union rally in October, a day before the first Democratic debate at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Unite Here Local 8 and Space Needle management have been through 11 federal mediation sessions over the last three years. Now management will implement pay raises contained in its last offer.

Mike Casey, who has led San Francisco’s UNITE HERE Local 2 for over 20 years, is stepping down. Casey was first elected president of Local 2 in 1994, after a tumultuous period in the 1970s and 1980s that resulted in large membership losses. He has presided over a period of stabilization, consolidation and growth. Local 2, once known as the Culinary Union for its many restaurant contracts that have long since disappeared, is now better known as the Hotel Union.

Dozens of former UNITE HERE staffers and members are accusing the union of betraying its progressive principles in Local 1's endorsement of Rahm Emanuel.

Of the numerous problems Rahm Emanuel is facing in his campaign for reelection as Chicago's mayor, two in particular stand out. One, Emanuel is widely perceived as anti-worker and anti-union while being a close ally to the city's financial elites. (He used to work as an investment banker, after all.) Two, he's widely acknowledged as being a jerk. The hospitality workers union UNITE HERE Local 1 has a solution: an ad campaign with workers emphasizing "Rahm Love."

Airline food service workers on January 29 launched a nationwide campaign for affordable health care by holding demonstrations and other actions in cities across the US.

As city police hauled away about two dozen of his casino union brethren in handcuffs at a mass protest last week, longtime Trump Taj Mahal bartender Al Messina couldn't help but wonder aloud:Is this what 24 years comes down to? What happened to the bond between the casino industry and its workers?

As city police hauled away about two dozen of his casino union brethren in handcuffs at a mass protest last week, longtime Trump Taj Mahal bartender Al Messina couldn't help but wonder aloud:Is this what 24 years comes down to? What happened to the bond between the casino industry and its workers?