Money at core of truce between unions
By Joe Napsha, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, August 7, 2010
A battle between two unions appears to have been settled over money more than membership gains, but it took the resignation of a controversial labor leader before the two factions reached a truce, labor experts say.
The two unions — Service Employees International Union and Unite Here — last week ended a two-year battle by agreeing that hotel, restaurant and stadium workers will be the domain of Unite Here, and the 2.2-million member SEIU will get control of the Amalgamated Bank of New York, owned by Unite Here.
“The current fight was over the assets (of the bank). It's very likely there was a quid pro quo” to reaching a settlement — the bank in exchange for members, said John Russo, co-director of Youngstown State University’s Center for Working Class Studies.
The Amalgamated Bank of New York, founded in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, was known as the Labor Bank for helping immigrant workers in New York’s textile and garment industries, Russo said. The bank has $4.5 billion in assets and manages $11.8 billion for 50 institutional clients.
“The bank was the big prize all along. The SEIU was financially strapped, spending tens of millions on fighting. Most of the members are going to stick with Unite Here,” said James Sherk, a senior policy analyst in labor economics for The Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington.
Most of the workers that left Unite Here when a faction of that union split in April 2009 to form Workers United — a unit of the SEIU — will return to the Unite Here fold, boosting membership to about 200,000.
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