Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union

HERE

Full name	Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union
Founded	1891
Date dissolved	2004
Merged into	UNITE HERE
Affiliation	CLC, AFL-CIO
Key people	Edward T. Hanley, John W. Wilhelm
Office location	Washington, DC
Country	Canada, United States

The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) was a United States labor union representing workers of the hospitality industry, formed in 1891. In 2004, HERE merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) to form UNITE HERE. HERE notably organized the staff of Yale University in 1984. Other major employers that contracted with this union included several large casinos (Harrah's, Caesars Palace, and Wynn Resorts); hotels (Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood), and Walt Disney World. HERE was affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Female membership in HERE grew from 2,000 in 1908 to 181,000 in 1950. The rise in women membership reflected the feminization of the hotel and restaurant industry and the increase in the performance of waiting work by women. Women's presence in leadership positions of HERE also increased. Waitress activists sat on the General Executive Board (GEB) from 1909 on and participated in various conventions, though as a minority status. Participation was highest in the 1920s. Though female participation in HERE dipped in the 1930s and 1940s, it was still disproportionately higher than in other unions.

Women also enjoyed leadership positions at the local level. A national estimation written in 1926 held that 43 culinary locals had female secretaries; in 1944 California, 21 out of 75 locals had female secretaries, a prominent position in labor organizing. Women were able to enjoy such success in HERE due to the separation of workers by trade, which provided waitress activists "space apart from male hostility and … the development of female perspectives and leadership skills."

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