UNITE and HERE always organized and represented some of the most harassed workers in North America-recent immigrants, African Americans, women and workers in the South. (Read more about the predecessor unions' histories: UNITE | HERE. )
| 1891 |
Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union forms |
| 1900 |
Workers making women's clothes form the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) |
| 1906 |
The San Francisco earthquake nearly wipes out the hospitality industry for months |
| 1909 |
A winning strike of 20,000 garment workers, mostly teenage girls, in New York City truly launches the ILGWU |
| 1911 |
A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City kills 146 workers, leading to the first workplace health and safety laws |
| 1914 |
Men's clothing workers form the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) |
| 1923 |
The ACWA opens the Amalgamated Bank for workers and unions |
| 1939 |
New York City Hotel Trades Council forms and signs first contract with the Hotel Association. |
| 1939 |
Southern textile workers found the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) |
| 1941 |
ACWA begins employer-paid health and life insurance |
| 1947 |
Strike at the Brass Rail ends victoriously after six years |
| 1958 |
100,000 striking ILGWU members in eight states win the required use of the union label |
| 1963 |
The TWUA begins organizing at textile giant JP Stevens |
| 1960s |
New York's HERE locals march to support the lunch counter sit-ins to end segregation in the South |
| 1976 |
ACWA and TWUA merge and create the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) |
| 1980 |
After 17 years, 4,000 workers at JP Stevens win a contract |
| 1984 |
HERE organizes Yale University's support staff |
| 1995 |
UNITE is formed out of the ILGWU and ACTWU |
| 1998 |
Strikers at the Las Vegas Frontier Hotel & Casino win after nearly 7 years. UNITE begins major organizing campaigns in laundries, coming to represent 40,000 within 5 years |
| 1999 |
5,000 workers at Fieldcrest Cannon textile mills join UNITE after 25-year struggle |
| 2001 |
The attack on the World Trade Center kills 43 HERE members; the resulting economic downturn costs thousands of HERE and UNITE members their jobs |
| 2002 |
Workers at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco negotiate 1st contract after a 22-year fight
UNITE forms partnerships with the NAACP and the Sierra Club to further civil and workers' rights & bring the environmental and labor movements together |
| 2003 |
HERE & UNITE work together on the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, the Yale strike and H&M organizing campaign |
