Union Profile

HERE has had an extensive history of corruption and involvement with organized crime. In 1986, the President's Commission on Organized Crime concluded: "During the Commission's investigation it became clear that legitimate trade unionists are aware of the mob ties to [HERE International Union] and await government action to oust the mob from the union." By 1995, the government had filed a racketeering lawsuit and installed a federal monitor to oversee the International office of the union. In 2001 The Nation, a reliable union supporter, noted that the monitor, who had expelled 18 union officials and five other individuals, issued a report which painted:

"[A] sordid picture of financial abuse, cronyism, use of union funds for officers' personal expenses, ghost payrolling, undemocratic procedures, minimal training of staff, inadequate auditing, nepotism, questionable charitable contributions, dubious consultant payments and much more under [former International president Edward] Hanley."

The Nation added that Hanley's successor and UNITE HERE's current president for hospitality industries, John Wilhelm, "remains an ardent defender of Hanley." He has a lot to defend. In 1986, the President's Commission on Organized Crime noted that "the reign of Hanley has been surrounded by allegations of organized crime's influence in the choice of international union organizers, operation of benefit funds, and conduct of union affairs."

Excerpts from that report show that HERE's pattern of corruption and ties to organized crime extended back decades:

• "Criminal infiltration, which has consistently plagued HEREIU, was exposed at the union's 1936 national convention, where Harry Koenig of Local 16 in New York City was murdered. Subsequent investigation by the Special Commission on Crime, headed by Thomas Dewey, revealed a flourishing restaurant racketeering business in New York City. In 1937 three officials of the national were convicted of crimes, Local 16 was suspended, and those members associated at the time with criminal activities were expelled."
• "In 1958 the McClellan Committee revealed that organized crime had infiltrated the Chicago restaurant industry through its control of three union locals."
• "The [Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in April 1983] found that the union's assets have been used to enrich the top officers of HEREIU's hierarchy. Base salaries augmented by expense accounts and 'allowances,' lifetime employment contracts, and increased expenditures of tangible items have resulted in expenditures for HEREIU officers skyrocketing from $229,051 in fiscal year 1973 to $1,689,370 in fiscal year 1983. Former HEREIU general secretary-treasurer John Gibson was found guilty in May 1980 of misusing the union's airplane and of conspiring to embezzle union funds. ... The list of employees and organizers hired after [Edward] Hanley became HEREIU president includes organized crime associates and numerous patronage jobs."

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The Union Democracy Review summed up a portion of a federal monitor's report on corruption in the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union:

Here are some, and only some, of the abuses listed by the monitor: maintenance of a ghost local whose appointed trustee was paid $48,000 per year although the local had fewer than 20 members, most of them restaurant owners; allowances of $4,000 to Executive Board members, administrative aides and assistants for attending board meetings and conventions, totaling $478,000 in one year; ... a luxury condominium maintained by union staff in Georgetown for General President Hanley even though "he never spent more than 25 days per year in Washington, DC"; a motor home costing $100,000 for the president's personal use; over 100 organizers on the international payroll, many working without supervision; a General Executive Board that acts as a rubber stamp; "arbitrary and capricious" trusteeships; purchase of a $2.5 million aircraft costing $422,000 per year to operate; and on and on.

Click here to read the federal monitor's report

Click here to read an excerpt from report of the President's Commission on Organized Crime

Membership Total Membership:   458,901		Financial Information Total Assets:   $ 256,262,784 Total Receipts:   $ 154,393,455
Source: Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards LM filings

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Representational Activities ( 57.6%)	$ 42,082,412
Political Activities & Lobbying ( 2.0%)	$ 1,451,002
Contributions, Gifts & Grants ( 2.2%)	$ 1,625,243
General Overhead ( 12.8%)	$ 9,371,604
Union Administration ( 5.2%)	$ 3,794,465
Strike Benefits ( 1.4%)	$ 1,018,796
Total Compensation ( 29.2%)	$ 21,327,855
Per Capita Tax ( 3.0%)	$ 2,173,281

Local	Members
UNITHE Local 1 (Chicago, IL)	14,969
UNITHE Joint Board (New York City, NY)	4,443
UNITHE Local (Union City, NJ)	4,359
UNITHE Local 50 (Lakewood, CA)	2,465
UNITHE Local 102 (Union City, NJ)	1,871
UNITHE Local 190 (Union City, NJ)	336
UNITHE Local 594 (Chicago, IL)	230
UNITHE Local 2722 (Chicago, IL)	56
UNITHE Local 117 (New York, NY)	42
[show all locals & affiliates]