The Federation of University Employees was formed in 1951 when Local 142 of the United Construction Workers-CIO, representing custodial and maintenance workers at Yale University, disaffiliated with its international union in favor of fiscal and strategic independence. In 1955, the union organized food service workers in Yale's residential college dining halls and, a year later, affiliated with the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, which later changed its name to the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE) and merged with a union of textile and laundry workers in 2004 to become UNITE HERE. The service and maintenance and physical plant workers who comprised the federation's membership were at this time all grouped into Local 35.