Workers at the newly opened and partially city financed Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center hotel in Denver have voted to join the UNITE-HERE union. According to Mitch Ackerman of the Service Employees International Union, speaking of the labor movement generally:
We won the card check today.
The lack of a union hotel in Denver had dimmed the City’s prospects of becoming the host for the 2008 Democratic Party National Convention. Now, with a union hotel established in the city at a time when Denver and New York City are the only serious contenders left in the running, Denver’s chances of hosting the convention have been boosted.
The Hyatt Regency Convention Center
Cards from 350 of the 750 workers at the hotel were submitted. A majority is required for a union to be recognized by the National Labor Relations Board.
For years, Democrats had favored the unionized Executive Towers hotel in Denver near the Performing Arts Center. But, a major remodel aimed at turning the upper floors into student housing, part of a larger effort to create student housing for the Auraria Campus in Denver which has historically been a commuter school, shut down the hotel and reduced its capacity. It is scheduled to reopen this month.
Who is UNITE-HERE?
UNITE (formerly the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union) merged on July 8, 2004 forming UNITE HERE. The union represents more than 450,000 active members and more than 400,000 retirees throughout North America. . . . HERE boasts one of the fastest growing private sector Local Unions in the US
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