Power from the Past

Memory Work Research Initiative

ACLU News Release: Ruiz v. HERE Local 11

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Banner at the top reads: ACLU News Release" and has a logo with a flame. The release reads: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 7, 1978. The ACLU of Southern California filed suit today in defense of the right of union members who are not yet citizens to be treated with full equality, including the right to run for election to union office. The suit seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop the enforcement of a union constitutional provision which prohibits non-citizen union members from being nominated for union office. The suit was brought on behalf of union members, citizens and non-citizens, who maintain they are being denied an equal right to nominate and vote because of a prohibition in the constitution of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International union which denies the right of non-citizens to be nominated for election as officers of local unions and the international. The action was brought under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act). That act, referred to as "Labor's Bill of Rights," provides for equality among union members, including the right to nominate and vote. Specifically, the suit challenges the union's prohibition against the candidacy of Daniel Ruiz, a permanent resident alien who has been a member in good standing in the union for six years. Although Russia is in all other ways qualified to run for office, the International President, E. T. Hanley, has refused to waive the citizenship requirement that allows Canadian non-citizens to run for office, but no other non-citizens." at the bottom of the page appears "---MORE---"