Distribution workers at Levi Strauss & Co. facilities in the U.S. and Canada voted overwhelmingly in favor of a three-year, North America-wide contract providing wage increases, defined benefit pensions and health insurance. More than 1,250 workers will be covered by the new contract.

In 1992, Levis Strauss became the first Fortune 500 company to extend full medical benefits to domestic partners of employees.

The workers are members of Workers United and employed at distribution centers in Canton, Mississippi; Hebron, Kentucky; Henderson, Nevada; and Rexdale, Ontario, Canada. "It's also a great sign that workers and companies can come together to reach agreements that support employee and employer alike and create new, good union jobs," said Bruce Raynor, President of Workers United. Full release here.

Levi's aren't the only jeans made by union members. The GAP's 1969 "Real Straight" jeans sporting the "Made in Canada" label are made by Workers United/SEIU members. In the 1990's, consumer outrage forced the GAP to address sweatshop conditions at their factories overseas. Ten years later, the GAP's turnaround includes improved environmental practices, a vender compliance program that monitors overseas factories, and a commitment to manufacturing, in part, at union shops in North America.

At $69, the "Real Straight" low rise jeans are a recessionista alternative to high fashion (and high price) designer jeans. But the GAP didn't skimp on style or quality to bring you their jeans at this reasonable price--the "Real Straight" low rise jeans are slim and forgiving. (I should know, I own a pair of my own!) They're a great union-quality product that's well worth the price--perfect to catwalk your next picket line or protest in.

Did you know that in 1965, 95 percent of American clothing was made in USA? Times have changed since then. Just a few decades later, only 5 percent of the clothing worn by Americans is manufactured here in this country.

Don't miss tonight's HBO premier of Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags -- a documentary that tells the unexpected history behind New York's Garment District and a "must see" for anyone who cares about our union and the workers who built it. The documentary includes interviews with Joe Raico, a garment cutter and President of Workers United Local 10, Workers United President Bruce Raynor.

Additionally, the film examines both the path to the American Dream the garment industry offered to thousands of immigrant workers... and the social and economic forces chipping away at the job that once provided entry to the middle class. The documentary depicts the dangers of sweatshops and the fight that union workers led against unsafe conditions in garment factories.

Watch the trailer here:

Check out Workers' United Elana Levin's post on the film at Daily Kos here.

Our nation has lost a great hero and champion of working people. Crystal Lee Sutton was a courageous woman who stood up for herself and her coworkers under the most difficult circumstances. She was an inspiration to organizers in this union and beyond, particularly Southern women who went on to lead their own campaigns after learning from her example.

It's well-known that Crystal's story was the inspiration for the academy award-winning 1979 film Norma Rae, but I wish more people knew the real story of Crystal Lee Sutton and her co-workers, and the strength and honor they showed as they fought to organize the textile giant JP Stevens. They stood up and proved that workers in the South could organize and change their jobs and their lives against all odds--across racial lines, and over the objections of anti-worker companies.

For decades, JP Stevens called the shots in Roanoke Rapid, North Carolina, paying poverty wages and offering deplorably unsafe working conditions. Workers routinely lost fingers, inhaled cotton dust, and lost hearing due to the deafening drone of machinery. JP Stevens was so vehemently anti-union that it systematically purchased small unionized textile mills in the south only to close them down. But as determined as JP Stevens was to keep its workers down, Crystal Lee Sutton was even more determined to lift them up and bring them a union.

Sutton knew that she and her co-workers deserved more out of their employer and in 1973, she found a way to bring that change when she agreed to help organize the plant with the assistance of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) and its lead organizer, Eli Zivkovich.

JP Stevens mounted one of the most vigorously hostile union-busting efforts ever seen in U.S. history, amounting in over 122 unfair labor practice findings. But Sutton could not be deterred and at the end of a 10-year boycott, the 3,000 workers at JP Stevens won their 17 year fight with a strong contract.

She fought her whole life for working people, and as she fought cancer, she continued to be an advocate for the needs of working people. Once again, Crystal's story is of both an extraordinary woman and of every woman. Like so many other working families, after a lifetime of paying premiums, her health insurance coverage failed her. She took her challenges head on, and never stopped fighting for what was right. While she fought cancer she spoke out about the struggle she had with the health care system and the toll it was taking on her family.

Crystal Lee Sutton is an inspiration to every worker who holds out hope and is prepared to fight for justice and respect at work. Our condolences go to her family, but they should know that we will not forget her, and she continues to inspire our union and workers throughout the world.

* Read the Statement on the passing of Crystal Lee Sutton from Bruce Raynor, President, Workers United, SEIU

Una misión en común, una historia en común y los mismos retos a enfrentar en esta nueva economía congregan a Trabajadores Unidos /Workers United y al Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU) para lograr su objetivo mutuo de lograr dignidad y estabilidad laboral para los trabajadores de las industrias de ropa, textiles, lavanderías, centros de distribución, hospedaje y servicios a instalaciones.

El SEIU y los Trabajadores Unidos comparten la misión de una lucha por proteger a algunos de los trabajadores más explotados en nuestra nación, que realizan algunos de los trabajos más difíciles, exigentes y peligrosos. Los dos hemos emprendido la lucha a favor de las mujeres, de las personas de raza negra y de los inmigrantes que han buscado su punto de entrada a los sueños de progreso de este país. Ambos hemos edificado nuestro trabajo a base de cumplir los sueños de los trabajadores que luchan en empleos de bajos sueldos, pero que aspiran a convertir esos empleos en un vehículo para darles a sus familias una vida mejor.

El SEIU y los Trabajadores Unidos tienen una historia compartida de haber transformado las condiciones laborales y de haber logrado el cambio en industrias enteras. Trabajadores Unidos / Workers United fue fundado a partir de algunos de los sindicatos más antiguos y más importantes de nuestro país. Habiéndose iniciado hace cerca de 100 años, estos sindicatos predecesores transformaron nuestra economía exhibiendo las fábricas de explotación laboral en la industria de la ropa e hicieron marchar a toda la nación para exigir mejores condiciones de trabajo y seguridad para los obreros. Más recientemente, los consejos filiales de Trabajadores Unidos han transformado a la industria de lavandería comercial al organizar sindicalmente a trabajadores de muchas ciudades de Norteamérica, incluyendo las áreas que constituyen fortalezas antisindicalistas en el sur y el suroeste. Igualmente, el SEIU ha transformado la industria de servicios a instalaciones, incluyendo increíbles campañas globales para los trabajadores de limpieza y conserjería y de seguridad.

El SEIU y los Trabajadores Unidos saben que, juntos, nuestros afiliados pueden aumentar su fuerza y sus prospectos para el futuro.  La consolidación empresarial de poderes y propiedades provoca que los trabajadores de servicios a edificios y los trabajadores del hospedaje tengan muchos de los mismos patrones y dueños. Trabajando hombro con hombro en muchas instalaciones, los miembros de SEIU y Trabajadores Unidos pueden ayudarse unos a otros para enfrentar los retos de la economía moderna y unir sus voces en sus demandas ante sus patrones.

El SEIU y los organismos filiales de Trabajadores Unidos / Workers United han ya empezado a trabajar en colaboración mediante la organización Trabajadores de Servicios Unidos (Service Workers United, SWU). Esta revolucionaria campaña --que ha afiliado ya a cerca de 20 mil trabajadores--, reconoció que los trabajadores en cada una de las jurisdicciones centrales (la de servicios a edificios, la de lavandería y la de servicios de comida), estaban siendo todos empleados por las mismas empresas de servicios múltiples. La organización de Trabajadores de Servicios Unidos (SWU) es un modelo de éxito que anuncia el potencial tremendo de esta alianza para transformar a una industria entera.

El SEIU y los Trabajadores Unidos pueden juntos cambiar el futuro para el pueblo asalariado en Estados Unidos, Canadá y Puerto Rico. Hoy, la nueva economía y la crisis económica ante nosotros presentan nuevos desafíos. La globalización, las consolidaciones empresariales y ocho años de una competencia económica sin fin han dejado a los trabajadores una vez más a merced de  unos jefes explotadores que dirigen a lo lejos desde sus firmas transnacionales, a quienes poco les importa la prosperidad de sus empleados y que sólo se preocupan por su margen de ganancia. A lo largo de Estados Unidos y Canadá, a millones de trabajadores del hospedaje y de casinos se les ha dejado a que resistan por sí solos. Juntos, nosotros podemos darles a esos trabajadores una voz y una oportunidad de realizar sus propios sueños.

El SEIU y los Trabajadores Unidos se encuentran ante un momento de transformación en nuestra historia, enfrentando desafíos tremendos, pero impulsados a redefinir la forma como este país valora el trabajo y a las mujeres y hombres que trabajan arduamente y que pueden restaurar la prosperidad a nuestra nación. El SEIU y los Trabajadores Unidos sabemos que nuestra riqueza es el trabajo. Juntos, podemos transformar a nuestra nación y convertir cientos de miles de empleos mal pagados en los empleos buenos, de clase media con los que se sostiene a una familia y que ayudarán a alcanzar la justicia económica y social para nuestros trabajadores afiliados en el presente y en el futuro.  

Here's a compilation of a few (of the many!) events and rallies SEIU members attended on Labor Day to show their support for health reform and honor American workers.

OHIO: Local 1199WKO members joined the AFL-CIO in celebrating Labor Day with a picnic that featured President Barack Obama. The President gave a fiery speech to a capacity crowd in the PNC Arena at Coney Island Park. The speech highlighted the impact of labor unions over the past century and urged attendees to join a final, strong push for health care reform. One of our favorite quotes from his speech:

[...] Few have fought harder or longer for health care and America's workers than you--our brothers and sisters of organized labor. And just as we know that we must adapt to all the changes and challenges of a global economy, we also know this: in good economic times and bad, labor is not part of the problem. Labor is part of the solution.

Watch President Obama's entire speech here:

MICHIGAN: Members of several locals, including 517M, Local 1 and Workers United joined over 700 SEIU Healthcare MI members in calling for health care reform during the Detroit Labor Day parade. Local members marched in the parade, carrying "Reform Now" signs and showing a united front by donning their purple SEIU t-shirts.

After the parade, members and their families moved on to the Union Hall for food, fun, musical entertainment and even free school supplies for the kids.

MASSACHUSETTS: SEIU Locals 1199 and 615 members joined more than 1,000 people at a healthcare rally on the Boston Common.

In a refrain that echoed across the grassy lawn, the crowd chanted: "What do we want? Health Care Reform! When do you want it? Now!" The event, which was organized by OFA and sponsored by HCAN, SEIU Local 615, Jobs with Justice and others, featured speeches by several politicians including Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Congressmen Edward Markey, John Tierney and Michael Capuano as well as Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

ILLINOIS: While many groups around the country used Labor Day to rally around health care, SEIU Local 73 and Workers United members used the holiday to draw attention to the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Members marched with nearly 2,000 other concerned citizens to Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago, where they called on Congress and the President to end the deportations of illegal immigrants that separate families. Speakers at the rally, which was covered by the Sun Times, called for the election of candidates with pro-immigrant stances.

MONTANA: Change That Works Montana activists 'kicked back' on labor day by attending a rally for health insurance reform. With a crowd of 300 people in attendance, the 27th annual Labor Day rally sponsored by the Central Montana Labor Council proved that when it comes to reforming our health care system, the hard working people of Montana don't take a day off.

At the rally, Montana Superintendent of Schools Denise Juneau spoke to the Great Falls Tribune, saying that history shows that strong public pressure and support can produce results when it comes to health care policy. "Look at CHIPS (A health care program for low income children)," she said. "Because there was strong public support, that program was expanded for our youngest and most vulnerable. Now we need to expand it for all members of the family." Full coverage and photos of the rally here.

CALIFORNIA: SEIU ULTCW members, healthcare activists and community leaders attended the Healthy Works Fair + Film + Action event at the Independent Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The event featured free screenings throughout the day of Michael Moore's movie "Sicko" (with Spanish and Chinese subtitles) and was followed by free health screenings, panel discussions with attendees and health care professionals, as well as a filming session that allowed people to record their own health care stories. SEIU ULTCW Co-Trustee Laphonza Butler led a group of healthcare debate leaders, including Congresswoman Judy Chu, Dr. Paul Song, Assemblyperson Michael Eng and Dr. Rishi Manchanda, in a call to action during the early morning hours of Labor Day to kick off the event (see photo below and click here for more photos and video.

At ULTCW's event, TV journalist Lisa Ling shot her own personal video on healthcare. In it, Ling talks about being grateful for her union for her healthcare coverage--and why we need reform for the millions of people who don't have coverage. Watch now:

For a run-down on the progress the 111th Congress and the Obama administration have made so far to undo many policies that have harmed our nation's workers, click here.

Quick hits from around the union:

• Unions remember the late Senator Ted Kennedy: Here's what organized labor and labor experts had to say about the late Sen. Kennedy and the legacy he leaves behind (hat tip to Change to Win). Also, read how Senator Kennedy stood shoulder-to-shoulder with SEIU members in Massachusetts and watch a video of SEIU nurses sharing personal memories of the senator.

• Massachusetts Needs Two Senators: With the support of coalition groups including SEIU Massachusetts, MassVOTE has launched WeNeedTwo.org, a new website and petition focused on honoring Senator Ted Kennedy's request that the Massachusetts State Legislature change state law to allow temporary replacement for his seat to ensure the state has full representation in Congress. Read more about Senator Kennedy's request and sign the petition.

• 40-Day Strike Ends for Bemis Workers Previously Treated Like Lab Rats: Workers on strike since July 21st at Bemis company in Terre Haute, Indiana agreed to a new contract with their employer. The contract will get rid of Bemis' plans to utilize temporary workers, allow seasonal employees working for more than 5 months to become a part of the bargaining unit, and give the union the right to bargain an alternative health plan that does not mandate Health Risk Assessment testing.

• Demanding Action on Immigration Reform: A long list of organizations and unions have signed an open letter to President Obama criticizing his inaction on comprehensive immigration reform and are planning vigils, marches, and other events across the country to protest the administration's local immigration enforcement program. SEIU along with NCLR, the ACLU, NAACP, People for the American Way and Jobs with Justice (a total of 521 groups) signed the letter to Obama.

• Preventing Private Equity's Feeding Frenzy on Banks: Remember Andy Stern's Wall Street Journal op-ed sounding the alarm on private equity's planned feeding frenzy on failed banks? Last week, even the Wall Street Journal editorial board agreed that to protect taxpayers, any deal to buyout failed banks needs transparency and scrutiny. While the FDIC continues to allow private equity firms to purchase failed banks, it approved new rules on Wednesday that take needed steps toward protecting taxpayers from another economic calamity.

• "The Nation's Most Politically Powerful Union": "S.E.I.U. is the money and the muscle behind any momentum there is left for a public plan," says Republican Whip Eric Cantor in Steven Greenhouse's New York Times' article.

• Beck's Falsehoods & Fantasies: Glenn Beck spent last week smearing Van Jones (White House adviser on Green Jobs) with misinformation and straight-up lies as the campaign to call on advertisers to drop sponsorship of his show keeps growing. Here's to setting the record straight.

• Buy Union-Made: Did you know SEIU members (and members of other unions too) can save over $1,000 annually using UnionPlus benefits? Celebrate Labor Day with discounts on union-made products and services. Also, congrats to SEIU Local 1000 for having the greatest number of submissions in the Union Plus Pet Contest. Vote for your favorite pet photo from a union member now.

• Feeding Breakfast & Lunch to 31 Million Schoolchildren: An editorial by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel this weekend discusses the importance of the Child Nutrition Act.

Last night, Workers United President Bruce Raynor appeared on CNN to debate the healthcare public option. "If we don't have a government option in the program, then we are not going to have an affordable program that will cover every man, woman, and child in this country," said Raynor.

Even the opposition agreed that healthcare coverage is something all Americans need to have. Watch the interview here:

Transcript here.

Workers United members of Local 1426 in Terre Haute, Indiana recently rejected a contract offer by their employer and voted to continue to strike. The company continues to insist on implementing invasive health coverage testing for both workers and their spouses, as well as a temporary worker program that would reduce the number of permanent jobs.

Earlier this month, actor and activist Danny Glover traveled to Terre Haute to show his support for the workers who make the flexible food packaging you see on your grocery store's shelves:

The members of Local 1426 need your support -- please stand with them and tell Bemis Manufacturing company that workers aren't lab rats.

San Jose, Calif.-based Cintas settled a lawsuit over wage-and-labor hour laws in order to avoid paying workers for overtime. "After six long years of delay tactics and needless posturing by Cintas, drivers will finally receive just compensation for overtime work performed that was wrongly withheld," said Bruce Raynor, President of Workers United, the laundry workers union that has been working with Cintas production workers seeking to form a union.

It's been a long road for the approximately 2,000 uniform delivery drivers, whose suit (filed in 2003), alleged Cintas misclassified thousands of their route drivers as exempt employees in order to avoid paying overtime required by state and federal laws. Cintas will pay $22.75 million in damages to the drivers. More details here.

What if your employer told you that in order to keep your health coverage you and your spouse must submit to invasive health screenings from your insurer?

If you refused, you'd lose the health coverage you've always counted on. Oh, and the company is self-insured but they promise they won't use your private health information to decide whether to keep your coverage, hire you, fire you, or make your spouse go on a diet.

Unbelievable, but that's what my employer wants to force us to do! That's one of the reasons why more than 700 of us are on strike.

Tell our employer, Bemis Manufacturing company, that workers aren't lab rats.

My coworkers and I work in Terre Haute, Indiana. We make the flexible food packaging you see on your grocery store's shelves. Our company has been union for 52 years and is successful, with profits up more than 16 percent.

We did not make the decision to strike lightly. In an effort to avoid a strike we made an alternative offer to work without a contract while the bargaining continued but Bemis refused and actually lowered its offer. They even cut off insurance benefits which we had already paid for and demanded we accept low wage temp workers turning good jobs into McJobs.

Will you take a stand with us?

Tell Bemis to negotiate in good faith and respect its workers.

Quick hits: Around the union this week...

• Tea-bagging conservatives continue blaming SEIU for perpetrating the violence surrounding a St. Louis health care town hall--but now you can finally hear both sides of the story. Listen to SEIU staffer Reverend McCowan's interview correcting the record on incidents surrounding a Missouri town hall.

• Spread the truth about the right-wing's fear campaign being funded by anti-healthcare forces: SEIU counters "death panel" noise with real facts about healthcare.

• SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger took the main stage at the Netroots Nation Convention this weekend to talk about building a 21st century economy that works for all Americans. More here about other SEIU panels at the annual gathering of progressive activists and political bloggers.

• Watch three short videos of Workers United members who are dealing with John Wilhelm, UNITE HERE's raids, and interference in their workplaces.

• "We spend more time at patients' bedsides than anyone else in the hospital, and have a better understanding of patient needs than hospital executives. Despite this, our executive officers essentially refuse to include us in discussions regarding patient care." In a Billings Gazette op-ed, registered nurse J. Curt Jensen makes the case for why nurses and all Montana workers need the Employee Free Choice Act.

• Will American children grow on "fat, salt, and corn-sweetener-laden government subsidized surplus"? Read Iowa City chef Kurt Michael Friese's commentary at Grist Magazine.

• Check out the story of a Detroit college freshman fighting to stay in the U.S. and find out how you can help defer her deportation.

• Major advertisers like Geico, Proctor and Gamble, and Lexis Nexis are pulling their ads from Glenn Beck's show in response to his disgraceful rhetoric...but not Wal-Mart! Tell Wal-Mart to end their financial support of Glenn Beck's televised hate.

• Be a part of SEIU's mobile alert list. Text SEIU to 787753 (PURPLE) right now, or click here to sign-up for our new mobile alerts program.

The Netroots Nation convention kicks off today in Pittsburgh, PA, drawing together thousands of the country's best and brightest online organizers, political bloggers and progressive activists. There are some really great panels being put on throughout today, Friday and Saturday that focus on workers and the economy.

SEIU is sponsoring the live stream of convention coverage--watch keynotes here:

Live audio from the conference is also available from some of the panel, via the Head On Radio Network. They've got two streams you can check out: stream 1 and stream 2.

Here's a list of SEIU and Workers United staff who are participating in Netroots panels:

See the entire conference agenda here. You can also follow coverage of the convention on Twitter via the official Netroots Nation hashtag #nn09 or on Facebook.

For the last 52 years, Local 1426 of Workers United in Terre Haute, Indiana has worked with Bemis to grow their local plant from 150 employees to over 1,000 employees. Yet in spite of their growing size, members of the union have agreed to modest wage gains over the years that just barely keep up with the cost of inflation--because that was what was best for the community and to keep the company competitive.

In recent years management changed--and it was not the only thing changing around the plant. Without any advance notice last year, the Company announced that it was going to require all employees (and their spouses) to submit to invasive medical testing in order to remain eligible for their health insurance. Not only was this illegal for the way it was done, with no bargaining with union representatives, but as you can imagine, it was hugely insulting and demeaning to workers and their families.

Since the 1940's, the old International Ladies Garment Workers Union building in NYC's Garment District has served union members. It's been home to generations of clothing and textile workers, housed a health center and provided services for members and the surrounding community.

After a 4-year marriage gone bad between UNITE and the former hotel and restaurant employees union, HERE President John Wilhelm has decided that the home of UNITE garment workers, as well as the nation's only union-owned bank, now belong to him.

Retired garment workers spent their lifetimes building this union. We've heard a lot from lawyers and John Wilhelm, but don't the workers matter? "We paid for this building with our blood our sweat and our tears." said retired garment worker and former UNITE member Joe Raico. Watch a video of real workers telling John Wilhelm what they think:

What you can do:

« Ask John Wilhelm to respect workers and retirees and end the destructive fight between our union Workers United, formerly UNITE, and his.

« Share this video with your friends and colleagues so the workers' voices can be heard.

More at www.workersunitedunion.org.

This year it's going to cost $18,000 per family for medical coverage--and that's just not affordable, says Workers United President Bruce Raynor on Fox Business News, making a case for why reform needs to happen now--and why he thinks an employer mandate should be part of the solution.

Raynor talks with Fox anchor Charles Payne about building an affordable healthcare system where everyone pays their fair share. "As a society, we've got to deal with this problem and the way to deal with it is to share the responsibility and cover every man, woman and child in an affordable system that involves patient and doctor choice not insurance companies," said Raynor. Watch the full clip:

Nearly 4,000 jobs were saved with court approval of the sale of Chicago-based Hartmarx Corporation to the British firm Emerisque late last week. Emerisque announced plans before the deal to keep many of Hartmarx's Workers United-represented workers.

Earlier this year, workers voted to occupy their factories to prevent Wells Fargo Bank from liquidating the menswear manufacturing company. "The workers deserve this victory," said Ruby Sims, a Hartmarx employee for 31 years, and one of the Des Plaines plant's union organizers. "This is an important milestone for all of us."

"When the time came, you stood up," SEIU Illinois State Council President Tom Balanoff told Hartmarx workers at a rally yesterday. "You said, they're not going to close our factory. You said, we're not going to let you put us on the street. You said, we're not going to let them do this to our children. You stood up and fought. And you know what, brothers and sisters? You won." Watch highlights from a victory rally with workers, Illinois State Council President Tom Balanoff, and members of Congress.

Remember the infamous factory raid in New Bedford, MA where hundreds of hard-working immigrants were rounded up, detained and separated from their families? Today, a horrible experience of déjà vu as workers at the same factory who make backpacks for the U.S. army face yet another tragedy. Less than three months after purchasing Eagle Industries, the new owner--Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems--is pushing to shut the factory's doors and move the work.

[...] "We need a united labor movement to stand with us and show the positive results of collective action.

"The longer this fight goes on, the more it will be used against all of us by the Chamber of Commerce, NAM, the National Right to Work Committee, Richard Berman, and others who are determined to destroy everything we have fought for, together, in all our years as trade unionists."

Read the entire letter by UAW President Ron Gettlefinger urging UNITE HERE's President to settle his dispute with Workers United/SEIU for the good of all workers.

Hollywood actor Danny Glover has always used his celebrity to support unions and organizing drives, pro-worker political candidates and the Employee Free Choice Act. Today on the Huffington Post, Glover urges binding arbitration as a path to end to the conflict around the dissolution of the UNITE HERE merger.

Glover, who has lobbied with union members on Employee Free Choice and stood with workers on picket lines in Niagara Falls, first spoke about the failure of the 2004 UNITE HERE merger at the Workers United organizing conference in March 2009. Today, Glover calls for President Wilhelm to accept Workers' United President Bruce Raynor and SEIU President Andy Stern's offer to enter into binding arbitration.

"I will always be a union activist, and I am proud of that," says Glover. Read more on the Huffington Post here.

Workers United members turned up the spotlight as Hollywood actor and lifelong activist Danny Glover chanted union slogans on the picket line with employees of Courtyard by Marriott. Courtyard Marriott has refused to negotiate a collective agreement with recently organized workers.

"Through unions and through our work in the public spheres, we're creating democracy," Glover said during a stop at the offices of Workers United Local 2347 in Niagara Falls.

Update, June 8 at 4:45 p.m.

Danny Glover, speaking at the rally:

Glover first spoke about the failure of the 2004 UNITE HERE merger at the Workers United organizing conference in March 2009.

Last week, SEIU's Andy Stern, Workers United Bruce Raynor and Edgar Romney sent a letter to the American Labor Movement making explicit their call on HERE president John Wilhelm to join them in submitting to binding arbitration to resolve their differences. Excerpt from the letter (which can be read at Politico):

"The conflict between UNITE HERE and Workers United/SEIU must end. All of the workers affected by this dispute deserve nothing less...This fight is causing real pain for working families whose union dues are being used to wage an internecine battle, rather than fighting for gains in the most difficult economic times our nation has seen in more than 50 years."

"This growing split in the labor movement has the potential to harm all workers and all progressives," writes blogger TomP today on Daily Kos, reiterating the need to resolve this conflict, which he says is affecting organizing efforts here and everywhere. Read TomP's Daily Kos diary entry here.