What is politics about? 

For UNITE, politics is NOT about picking the candidate who looks best on T.V. It's about fighting for what matters most to us: good jobs, fair wages, decent benefits, good working and living conditions, affordable education for all, the right to form a union in the public, political arena. 

These are the issues that UNITE ALL WORKING PEOPLE. Bread-and-butter economic issues. 

We organize and negotiate to win these rights for ourselves at work. Through political action, we fight to protect the     gains we have won in the workplace, and to extend these rights to ALL workers. 

We know there are also issues used by politicians to DIVIDE workers, and make it easier to pick our pockets at election time.  These issues, like gun rights and abortion rights, are ones where every American has a right to make up his or her own mind, but if you back political candidates based only on these divisive issues, working people will ALL continue to lose on our pocketbook issues. 

 Members talk Employee Free Choice and Health Care Reform with Congress.

At the top of the union’s agenda are reforming labor law to return the choice whether to have a union to WORKERS, NOT EMPLOYERS; and reforming health care to extend insurance to all Americans.
In photo above, members of UNITE HERE Local 486, Bangor, ME and other “Food and Medicine” employees, staff and allies meet in Washington with staff for Senator Olympia Snowe, one of only a few Republicans who may back labor law reform this year. Delegation also met with Sen. Susan Collins and Congress members Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree to promote Employee Free Choice Act.

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Below, members Chris Neville from Local 471T( Amerbelle); and Joanne Currier and Bob Sortwell, Local 1036T (U.S. Button) meet with their Congressman, Joe Courtney from Eastern Connecticut District 1, to thank him for his support for both reforms that labor is seeking this year.