John Wilhelm, the President of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, called for better coordination between local labor organizations to gain leverage in an industry that is increasingly characterized by a few multinational corporations. The union is one of the most active in union organizing, but membership and union density, the share of the workforce represented by a union, has dropped significantly in the past three decades. Wilhelm hopes to work cooperatively with employers by offering work force training programs and partnering with business groups on key issues.
See Nancy Cleeland, Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2001