Don't worry, you can buy a new purple one!

Bruce Raynor resigned as the General President of UNITE HERE last Thursday; that just happened to be the day before his hearing on charges brought by the General Executive Board. Rather than fighting a losing battle, he chose to cut and run. If only SEIU would do the same, UNITE HERE could get back to the business of building a democratic, worker-driven union with real power to deal with bosses!

Of course, Raynor was then swiftly "elected" president of "Workers United". As one reader says, "thanks for keeping the seat warm Edgar!"

But not so fast! There are some important details left to iron out...


From: John W. Wilhelm
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 8:29 PM
To: Keith Mestrich
Cc: 'Tom Snyder'; 'Renee Langford'
Subject: RE: From Bruce Raynor

This is a response to Mr. Raynor's attached message, which you sent to me. My only purpose in asking whether it can be documented that the desk was a personal gift to Mr. Raynor was to ensure that UNITE HERE comply with its fiduciary obligations (recognizing that this is a foreign concept to Mr. Raynor). I have consulted with counsel, and in light of counsel's advice that Mr. Raynor's representation is acceptable in the circumstances, please be advised that Mr. Raynor or someone on his behalf may consult with Tom Snyder about having the desk removed, at Mr. Raynor's expense.

Thank you.


From: Keith Mestrich
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 12:00 PM
To: John W. Wilhelm
Subject: From Bruce Raynor

Bruce asked me to send you the following message in response to your request to him to provide documentation on his desk:

To: John Wilhelm
From: Bruce Raynor

In response to your e-mail, the desk was given to me by Sol Stetin and it had been used by the first President of the TWUA, Emil Rieve, and the second President Bill Pollack. As you might be aware, Sol Stetin died five years ago at the age of 95 and is unavailable to confirm the personal gift. Therefore, if you choose to have the hotel union steal Sol Stetin’s desk, you may well be successful. I hope you are very proud of yourself. Thank you.