The UNITE HERE intra-conflict between the two sides and its leaders – John Wilhelm of the “HERE” faction and Bruce Raynor of the “UNITE” faction – spiraled into a full-on raging civil war in the past year.

It reached a critical point last night when Bruce Raynor, leader of the dissident group, officially resigned as president of UNITE HERE. He will be taking on a leadership role at Workers United, the recently formed union affiliated with the SEIU.

Raynor’s resignation comes after an escalating series of events between the two factions. UNITE HERE’s executive board had already suspended Raynor for his attempts to subvert the union. Just last week, Wilhelm and his supporters stormed UNITE HERE’s headquarters to “secure” documents and prevent them from being destroyed by Raynor. The New York Daily News provides good summary of the UNITE HERE conflict.

Even with his resignation, Raynor and Wilhelm are still locked in a dispute over who gets to control UNITE HERE’s assets. The union controls Amalgamated Bank, which has over $6 billion in assets and is the only union-owned bank in the country.