Dear John,
Back in June, nearly 1,000 UNITE HERE leaders from across the U.S. and Canada traveled to New York City for our constitutional convention. There,
I was honored to be elected UNITE HERE President and become the first woman to do so in our 130-year history.
In the five years since our last convention, our Union has faced pandemic layoffs affecting 98% of our members, corporations pushing us to work harder and faster for less, and threats to our democracy, among other challenges.
It could have broken us. But it didn’t. Instead:
Through strikes and actions, we won unprecedented wages for hospitality workers, with wages rising to $20, $30, even $40 an hour plus benefits in some places, and more protections against discrimination and job loss.
We stepped up to run the largest union-led canvassing program in the U.S., knocking on millions of doors to defeat Trump and MAGA Republicans in 2020 and 2022.
We broke our own records to organize more than 70,000 hospitality workers to join UNITE HERE since 2019.
Now, It’s Up to Us to keep going. To fight for the wages, health care, respect, and dignity that we deserve. To organize even more workers into our union. To mobilize voters to save our democracy and vote for Kamala Harris for President.
Thank you for your solidarity and support.
Gwen Mills
President, UNITE HERE
