Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 24 Records
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Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 24 Records 14.5 linear feet (12 SB, 2 MB, 1 OS) 1916-1995 Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI Finding aid written by Gavin Strassel on June 12, 2014 Accession Number: LR001752 Creator: Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 24 Acquisition: The collection was donated to the Reuther Library by the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 24 on June 29, 2004. Language: Material entirely in English. Access: Collection is open for research. Use: Refer to the Walter P. Reuther Library Rules for Use of Archival Materials. Restrictions: Researchers may encounter records of a sensitive nature – personnel files, case records and those involving investigations, legal and other private matters. Privacy laws and restrictions imposed by the Library prohibit the use of names and other personal information which might identify an individual, except with written permission from the Director and/or the donor. Notes: Citation style: “Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 24 Records, Box [#], Folder [#], Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University” Related Material: Reuther Library Collections: Publications: Hotel, Bar, Restaurant Review, and Myra Wolfgang Papers. Photographic negatives and slides (Boxes 13-14) were transferred to the Reuther’s Audiovisual Department PLEASE NOTE: Material in this collection has been arranged by series ONLY. Folders are not arranged within each series – we have provided an inventory based on their original order. Subjects may be dispersed throughout several boxes within any given series. Abstract A Detroit-area labor union, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 24 represented people in the service industry from 1916 until 2004 when it became an affiliate for the organization UNITE HERE. The union started modestly in 1916 when a small group of waiters successfully applied for a charter in the AFL-affiliated Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union (also known as HERE, Hotel & Restaurant Employees, along with the Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Workers) and were given the title Local 705. Local 705 endured a tumultuous early history, due to the effects of the Prohibition Era and then the Great Depression. This lasted until the mid-1930s when the union expanded beyond wait staff and bartenders. Between 1937 and 1947, bellmen, doormen, maids, and other hospitality workers helped swell membership from 500 to 11,000. The larger numbers allowed the union to campaign for civil rights in local businesses, notably desegregating wait staff at the Detroit Athletic Club in 1941 and combating sexist policies at the Playboy Club in the 1960s. Myra Wolfgang, former Chief Executive officer of Local 24 and Vice-President of the International Union, came to represent the union’s continued stance for social inclusion in the workplace. Her outspoken and militant push for women’s equality in the service industry made her a national figure and the iconic leader in the local union’s long history. By 1973, Local 705 transformed into HERE Local 24. In 2004, HERE merged with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees to form UNITE HERE, altering the Detroit union’s name to UNITE HERE Local 24. UNITE HERE Local 24 now represents thousands of employees in Metro Detroit’s hospitality sector. The Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 24 Records are comprised of materials from Local 24 and its various incarnations in addition to items regarding affiliated unions. The collection is divided into two series, Organizational Records and Publication Materials, and Audiovisual and Oversize Materials. The membership ledgers and books listing members and dues payments make up the oldest and largest section of the organizational records. Also of note are the meeting minutes from various councils within the HERE chapter and original artwork from their Hotel-Bar-Restaurant Review newspaper. The audiovisual series primarily contains photographic stills. Common topics depicted in the photos are the annual Waiters and Waitresses Race, the Bartenders Mixed Drink Competition, HERE annual conventions, local meetings, union elections, strikes of area businesses, Hotel-Bar- Restaurant Review photographs, and executives Louis Koenig and Myra Wolfgang. Other notable subjects include a prison release party for Jimmy Hoffa and demonstrations against the local Playboy Club. The audiovisual series also contains photographic negatives of many of the stills as well as several artifacts. Oversize materials include larger original artwork from the Hotel-Bar-Restaurant Review, panoramic photographs, and a commemorative scrapbook. Important Subjects: Bartenders Cocktail waitresses Detroit (Mich.) Hotels--Employees--labor unions Restaurants--Employees Restaurants--Employees--labor unions Service industries workers--Labor unions 2 Waiters Waitresses Important Names: Hoffa, James R. (James Riddle), 1913- Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union Koenig, Louis Playboy Clubs International UNITE HERE (Organization) Wolfgang, Myra, 1914-1976 Arrangement The collection is arranged into 2 series. Folders in each series are simply listed by their location within each box. They are not arranged, so any given subject may be dispersed throughout several boxes within each series. Series 1: Organizational Records and Publication Materials, 1916-1995 (Boxes 1-5) Series 2: Audiovisual and Oversize Materials, 1930s-1995 (Boxes 6-15) 3 Series 1 Box 1 1 HERE v. Park Shelton Hotel arbitration packet, 1962 July 12 2 Membership ledger, 1918 3 Membership ledger, 1925 4 Membership ledger, 1919 5 Membership ledger, 1926 6 Membership ledger, 1927 7 Membership ledger, 1929 8 Membership ledger, 1930 9 Membership ledger, 1931 10 Membership ledger, 1936 11 Membership ledger, 1935 Box 2 1 Membership ledger, 1923 2 Membership ledger, 1934 3 Membership ledger, 1933 4 Membership ledger, 1932 5 Membership ledger, 1924 6 Membership ledger, 1922 7 Membership ledger, 1928 8 Membership ledger, 1921 9 Membership ledger, 1917 10 Membership ledger, 1916 11 Membership ledger, 1920 12 Expenditures ledger, 1923-1929 Box 3 1 Local 880 executive board meeting minutes book, 1960 September-1963 February 2 International monthly membership report, 1977 January 3 International monthly membership report, 1977 February 4 International monthly membership report, 1977 March 5 International monthly membership report, 1977 April 6 International monthly membership report, 1977 May 7 International monthly membership report, 1977 June 8 International monthly membership report, 1977 July 9 International monthly membership report, 1977 August 10 International monthly membership report, 1977 November 11 Local joint executive board meeting minutes book, 1961 January 3-1968 December 10 12 Local joint executive board meeting minutes book, 1951 May-1956 December 13 Regular and executive board meeting minutes book, 1950 April-1953 July 14 Local 880 executive board meeting minutes book, 1967 December 15 Local 880 executive board meeting minutes book, 1966 December (1 of 2) 16 Local 880 executive board meeting minutes book, 1966 December (2 of 2) 17 Various meeting minutes book, 1943 July-1950 March 18 Local joint executive board meeting minutes book, 1969 January-1973 October Box 4 1 Minutes of executive board meeting, 1936 March 15 2 Minutes of executive board meeting, 1929 October 23-1942 December 29 4 3 Regular and executive meeting minutes book, 1934 January-1936 March 4 Regular and executive meeting minutes book, 1930 January-1933 December 5 Local joint executive board meeting minutes 1943 January 5-1947 December 2 6 Local 562 executive board meeting minutes, 1955 November 22-`959 December 21 7 Local joint executive meeting minutes, 1957 February 7-1960 December 6 8 Local joint executive board meeting minutes, 1948 January-1951 March 6 9 Local 880 meeting minutes, 1968 10 Local 880 meeting minutes, 1965 11 Richard's picket line, printing plate, 1951 August 12 HERE local 705 certificate of affiliation, 1955 July 26 13 International labor Press Association contest, 1972 14 Correspondence, 1990s 15 Jimmy Hoffa's prison release file, 1971-1972 16 Waiter and Waitresses and Bartenders Mixed Drink Competition, programs and correspondence, 1976-1987 17 Local 24 Crafts Competition, programs, 1978-1980 18 Biographical information on HERE executives, undated 19 Newspaper articles, 1960s-1980s 20 Waiters and Waitresses Race, various materials, 1970s-1980s 21 Local 24 Shop Steward Review, vol. 1, issue 1, newsletter, 1995 September 22 Detroit-area news articles about HERE and Louis Koenig, 1950s-1960s 23 Local 705 50th Anniversary ball, 1965 February 24 Louis Koenig Biography, undated 25 Myra Wolfgang biographic information, [1070s] 26 Myra Wolfgang and Michigan Senate, [1970s] 27 Myra Wolfgang's passing, letters of condolence and news articles, 1976 (1 of 2) 28 Myra Wolfgang's passing, letters of condolence and news articles, 1976 (2 of 2) 29 Myra Wolfgang's passing, news clippings, 1976 30 Myra Wolfgang, news clippings, 1970s (1 of 3) 31 Myra Wolfgang, news clippings, 1970s (2 of 3) 32 Myra Wolfgang, news clippings, 1970s (3 of 3) 33 Myra Wolfgang, news articles, 1970s (1 of 2) 34 Myra Wolfgang, news articles, 1970s (2 of 2) 35 Myra Wolfgang biographical information, resumes and writings, 1970s 36 WXYZ television strike, 1970 37 50th anniversary, cartoon and telegrams, 1965 February 38 Free Employment Bureau permits and applications,