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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are writing to alert you to the possibility that telephone calls and mail may be coming to you that are NOT AUTHORIZED BY YOUR LOCAL UNION. Although the group behind this communication, UniteHere for Change, claims to be associated with our Union, Local 165 and Local 226 have NOT approved this communication and are not working with this group. In fact, these messages are coming from people who want to break up our Union, not build it stronger.

In 2004, our Union was part of a merger. With this merger, there have been great successes. The merger has helped:

• laundry workers in Las Vegas achieve free family health insurance for the first time last year because of the merger.
• win a long strike in Atlantic City.
• win strong hotel/gaming contracts in Las Vegas with an 80 million dollar guarantee to our strike fund in '07.
• expand our membership nationally in the laundry and food service industries.
• expand our membership thoughout the country in the gaming industry.
• mount our largest ever political campaign for Barack Obama.

Local 165 and Local 226 have worked hard to make sure that our Union is a real democracy - members are part of all contract negotiations with large committees, members vote to accept or reject contracts, members participate directly in decisions about our Union's future, and members directly elect our Union's leadership. Our Union's members have also fought hard to maintain strong standards in our contracts - protecting our health plan, increasing our pension, fighting to strengthen contract language that protects workers on the job.

Now, the New York-based head of our parent union, UNITE HERE, wants to dissolve our merger and weaken our Union at a time when we need it the most. Local 165 and Local 226 do not support these actions. The New York-based International Union wants to eliminate local control of our Union without any regards to local standards, local elected leadership, or for Local 226 and Local 165 members' legal right to make decisions in their own union.

During these difficult times, we should all be focusing on confronting the challenges we face as a result of layoffs, cutbacks, and the general economic downturn. We have a very aggressive program to do that. It will be difficult and require all of us to pitch in. Unfortunately, at a time when we need to be the most focused and the most united, we also face a series of regrettable distractions inside of our International Union. We wanted to take the time to explain why these issues within our Union have occurred and how, together, we can move beyond them.

We will continue to fight for the contract enforcement, benefit protection, and unity that are so important to our members during these hard economic times. But, we also believe that strong local control of our union combined with a democratic, respectful, and close relationship with our international union is key to the future of Local 226 and Local 165.

If you have any questions, please contact your Committee, Shop Steward, or Union Organizer. Or call our office directly at (702) 384-7774. You can also get updated information on the website - www.oneunitehere.org

In Solidarity,

Terry Greenwald, D. Taylor, Geoconda Arguello-Kline