Unite Here, which represents 265,000 hotel and restaurant employees, and apparel workers, announced yesterday that it plans to reunite with AFL-CIO, four years after it severed their affiliation. Unite Here formed in 2004, from the merger of Unite apparel workers and Here hotel employees. In 2005, the union separated from the AFL-CIO along with several other unions to join up with organization Change to Win, which proposed to concentrate more on organization than the AFL-CIO had. However Change to Win has not achieved significant victories in recruiting new members. Unite Here's decision to return to the AFL-CIO will not help Change to Win accomplish its goals. Some feel that labor is too internally focused, and should be working together to capitalize on Washington's current labor-friendly stance.
See "Unite Here union says it will rejoin AFL-CIO", Alec MacGillis, The Washington Post, September 17, 2009