March 2022
Labor Council Endorses Booker, Mueller, Stone for SM County Board of Supervisors
The San Mateo Labor Council endorsed candidates for San Mateo County Board of Supervisors at its delegate meeting February 14. Recommendations were also made for State Assembly and Congress, with endorsements in those contests to be made by the California Labor Federation at its pre-primary convention April 6. The Primary Election will be held June 7. Read More
San Mateo County Workers Vote to Approve Tentative Agreement, Avert Strike
San Mateo County Workers win 3 percentwage increase
The 2,200 San Mateo County employees represented by AFSCME 829—including 911 dispatchers, park rangers, city planners, engineers, social workers, food safety workers, healthcare workers, and school counselors—will soon be paid the fair wages they’ve been fighting for, as decided by a vote on February 18 with 79 percent voting to approve the agreement. Read More
Airport Food Service Workers Rally for Fair Contract
UNITE HERE Local 2 airport food service workers picketed at SFO February 18 to demand a fair contract with airline food service vendors. Local 2 is negotiating new contracts with the unionized employers and organizing new workers at other SFO food service vendors. The union members said several new food service businesses at SFO are failing to comply with SFO standards for wages and benefits and agreements between Local 2 and the multi-employer group representing restaurants and retailers. Read More
Want Equal Pay? Get a Union.
Unionized women make on average 23 percent more than women without a union. They are also far more likely to have paid leave and stronger protections against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. Read More
The Fight for $20 and a Union:
Another California Minimum Wage Earthquake?
by Martin Bennett
California is the epicenter for a nationwide grassroots movement to raise the wage floor for American workers. As of January 1, $15 an hour is the minimum wage for large employers in the state and $14 an hour for small ones (rising to $15 for all employers in 2023). Meanwhile, 39 California cities and counties have established higher rates, with Emeryville the highest at $17.13 an hour and most well above $15. Read more
January 2022
Build Back Better Legislation Stalls
As Labor went to press December 20, news broke that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin would not vote for President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation. While many progressive Democrats expressed outrage that Sen. Manchin had dealt a potentially fatal blow to the legislation that is central to President Joe Biden’s agenda, others held out hope that the bill, or key parts of it, could still advance in early 2022. Read More
Workers Standing Together in Record Numbers to Turn the Tide in California and Across U.S.
Though working people have faced innumerable challenges in 2021, there’s a silver lining. Like never before, workers are organizing to fight back against corporate control of our economy. Collective action has led to a series of strikes and near strikes that put the wealthy and powerful on their heels and led to groundbreaking gains on wages, benefits and health and safety, to name a few. Read More
Airport Food Service Workers Demand Fair Contract
UNITE HERE Local 2 airport food service workers picketed at SFO December 21 to protest companies that fail to comply with SFO standards for wages and benefits. Local 2 is negotiating new contracts with the unionized employers and organizing new workers at other SFO food service vendors. The union members said several new food service businesses at SFO are failing to comply with the agreements between Local 2 and the multi-employer group representing restaurants and retailers. Read More
Labor Council Office Manager Susan Charles Retiring
San Mateo Labor Council Office Manager Susan Charles is retiring in January after 18 years. Since 2004 Susan has handled the daily work of keeping the Labor Council in business—from maintaining financial reports and records to updating the CLC’s website, producing flyers and program booklets, and being the point of contact for union members seeking help from the Labor Council. Read More
October 2021
Local 39 Stationary Engineers Strike at Northern California Kaiser Facilities
Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 Stationary Engineers picketed at Kaiser's Redwood City medical center Sept. 24.
Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 Stationary Engineers went on strike September 18 at northern California Kaiser Permanente facilities. The union represents over 700 members at 24 Kaiser facilities. The union’s contract expired September 17. Read More
October 2021
Workers Powered the Campaign to Crush the Harmful Recall Effort
Gov. Newsom spoke to union members at a campaign rally at the IBEW Local 6 union hall on Election Day hosted by the San Francisco Labor Council and SF Building Trades Council.
California voters overwhelmingly opposed the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom, with over 64 percent voting NO on the attempted power grab by Republicans. Organized Labor played a major role in informing voters what was at stake in the election and getting out the vote to stop the recall. Read More
Seton Medical Center Workers Taking Action to Protect Patients
By Matthew Artz,
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Workers at Seton Medical Center in Daly City are taking action to protect patients from the hospital’s new owner that has cut staffing while refusing to pay its bills or fix broken medical equipment. Read More
August 2021
Unions Campaign to Get Out the Vote to Stop the Recall
The San Mateo Labor Council ramped up its campaign last month to stop the anti-worker effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom. Union members will continue working to get out the vote through remote phone banking and texting fellow workers to remind them to vote NO on the recall and return their ballots early. Every California voter will receive a mail-in ballot in mid-August, to be postmarked or delivered by Election Day, September 14. Read More
AHMC Healthcare to Upgrade Seton Hospital
Bay Area political leaders, hospital officials, and union members celebrated the start of AHMC Healthcare’s $60 million project to modernize and seismically retrofit AHMC Seton Medical Center in Daly City at a groundbreaking event July 23. Read More
Wage Theft Bill to Benefit Workers
A critical new law is working its way through the California legislature to address the issue of wage theft. If passed, it would be a massive win for workers. Wage theft is the withholding of rightfully owed wages or benefits to an employee. The issue encapsulates labor infractions such as failure to pay the minimum wage, refusal to compensate for overtime, or misclassification violations. Read More
California’s Budget Surplus Benefits San Mateo County and Public Education
Governor Gavin Newsom signed the 2021-22 state budget in mid-June, which among other things will benefit residents of San Mateo County and boost funding for public education and other social services. Read More
July 2021
California Labor Federation Launches Worker Campaign to Stop the Recall
Workers and union leaders with the California Labor Federation kicked off the campaign to defend California’s progress from the anti-worker effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom last month. What’s at stake for all workers, including the 2.1 million represented by the California Labor Federation, is decades of hard-won progress—including increased pay, critical protections like paid sick leave and paid family leave, public education funding, child care and homecare, the right to form unions and so much more. Read More
Bay Area State Legislators Express Support for California Unions’ Legislative Agenda
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and San Mateo County Building Trades Council hosted a series of virtual meetings with Bay Area legislators via Zoom May 25, along with the San Francisco Labor Council and San Francisco Building Trades Council. Representatives from the building trades and public and private sector unions lobbied State Senators Josh Becker and Scott Wiener and Assembly Members Marc Berman, David Chiu, Kevin Mullin, and Phil Ting to support labor’s 2021 legislative agenda. Read More
Juneteenth and the Struggle for Black Worker Equality
In June, the California labor movement joined in the celebration of Juneteenth, recognizing the end of slavery in the U.S. with a proclamation in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. While many are aware of the historical significance of this day, few know about its connection to the struggle for workers’ rights and equality for Black workers. Read More
UC Berkeley Study Highlights the Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in California’s Construction Industry
A new report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center highlights the public cost of low wages and few benefits in a large part of California’s construction industry. Read More
After SCOTUS Upholds ACA, Progressives Set Sights on Medicare for All
As Americans who have accessed health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act breathed a sigh of relief after a 7-2 U.S. Supreme Court ruling June 17 upheld the law for a third time, progressive politicians and campaigners set their sights on a more ambitious goal: Medicare for All.
“The court’s decision to not overturn the ACA and throw 31 million Americans off their healthcare is welcome. But it’s not enough,” tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a lead congressional advocate of implementing a single-payer system in the United States. Read More
June 2021
Burlingame Skilled Nursing Workers Demand, and Win, Living Wage
AFSCME Local 829 members gathered for a press conference May 3 to demand they are paid a living wage, and called on management to bargain in good faith.
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 829 workers at the Burlingame Skilled Nursing facility who were paid less than the San Mateo County living wage will get a pay raise and receive back pay after filing a complaint with the County. Brius, the parent company that owns the facility—and the largest for-profit nursing home operator in California—had stolen more than $150,000 in wages from low-wage workers who have been essential to the facility during the coronavirus pandemic. The 45 workers who had been paid less than the $17.19 per hour County living wage will receive the back wages underpaid since last October. Read More
Union Food Distribution Marks One Year Anniversary with Hope for the Future
Elected officials joined other volunteers at the Labor Council’s Grab & Go Food Distribution April 15. Pictured, left to right: Sarah Gowing, Silicon Valley Second Harvest Food Bank; Jacqueia Jones, Silicon Valley Second Harvest Food Bank; Rayna Lehman, San Mateo Labor Council Community Services Director; Julie Lind, San Mateo Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer; Francie Patchel, IAM 1782; Dianne Papan, San Mateao City Council; and Marie Chuang, Hillsborough City Council.
By Rayna Lehman,
Community Services Director
Looking back over the pandemic year of massive unemployment and hardship, providing food to our COVID impacted families was a bright spot. The numbers tell an impressive story.
More than 26,000 union workers at SFO and in related industries alone were impacted in our county—initially with temporary lay offs or reduction of hours, and ultimately many suffered permanent lay offs. Read More
Bay Area Unions Celebrate International Workers’ Day
Hundreds of Bay Area union members celebrated International Workers’ Day May 1 in San Francisco with a parade and rally for workers’ rights and racial justice. The San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and South Bay Labor Councils organized the May Day event; International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 led the march down Market Street from the Embarcadero to the Civic Center, recreating the famous 1934 May Day march by the ILWU. Read More
.....
March 2021
San Mateo County Ramping Up COVID-19 Vaccinations
By Bradley Cleveland, Labor Council COVID-19 Safety Education Project
San Mateo County is ramping up its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, opening a second drive-through site at a San Francisco airport parking garage, in addition to its first site at the County Event Center. Read More
Burlingame Skilled Nursing Workers Strike as Coronavirus Races Through Facility
By Martin Ricard
AFSCME Local 829
More than 100 AFSCME Local 829 members went on strike this month to call out the unfair labor practices being used by management at Brius, the parent company that owns the Burlingame Skilled Nursing facility and the largest for-profit nursing home operator in California. Read More
Making Social Security More Secure
By Casey Platkin
Social Security has become increasingly controversial over the past few years. Prominent conservative politicians and think tanks claim that Social Security is going bankrupt because the Social Security reserve is expected to be depleted by 2034. They use fear of “bankruptcy” to argue for lowering spending and slashing benefits. However, Social Security can never go ‘bankrupt’ as long as American workers are paying into the Social Security reserve. Read More
As Goes Georgia, so Goes the Nation
By Erin Chazer
The San Mateo Central Labor Council had an exciting opportunity in December and January to move crucial votes in the Georgia Senate Run-off elections. These elections, in which we urged the support of Democrats Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, ultimately decided whether Democrats would reclaim the Senate as well as the White House. These extra Democratic senators could be the deciding factor in giving President Biden a mandate to push forward his pro-labor agenda, including increasing the minimum wage nationally, appointing a friendly Labor Secretary and staff, and passing COVID stimulus measures to help working class people weather this pandemic. Read More
February 2021
Labor and Democracy
Labor has an essential and vital role in rebuilding the
economy and a democratic political culture
By Lamoin Werlein-Jaen
The foundations of American Democracy were profoundly shaken January 6 by an extremist rightwing movement that aims to impose its vision of America on all of us. While the institutions of American Democracy proved much stronger than what is still an amorphous and disorganized movement, the effects of the insurrection will reverberate well into the future. Read More
San Mateo Labor Council’s Airport Labor Coalition Unions Respond to COVID-19
The unions that represent employees at San Francisco International Airport are working with airport administration to speed implementation of the new Cal/OSHA COVID Prevention Standard. The airport directly employs a small staff to manage the airport and functions as a landlord to about 300 employers that operate on the property—the airlines and aviation services, airline catering kitchens and janitorial services, restaurants and bars, retail stores and rental cars, parking lots and shuttle buses.Read More
Our Lives Depend on Our Essential Workers
By Dan Larson, President, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 648
Since day one of this pandemic, our retail grocery and drugstore workers have kept our stores open and our families fed. While so many others were panic buying toilet paper and disinfectants, these workers were putting their lives on the line to keep up with demand. Nearly one year and more than 25 million infections later, retail grocery and drugstore workers continue to face immense risk to serve our communities. And despite all the praise these essential workers have received from politicians and public figures, they are still not being paid essential wages. Read More
Five Labor Priorities for the Biden Administration
by John Logan
President Biden, who has a stronger union background than any incoming president for decades, has promised to adopt a strong pro-worker agenda, and he has already assembled a labor-focused economic team. Read more about the five issues that the new Biden Administration should prioritize, on the CA Labor Federation website, here.
Labor Denounces Trump’s Coup Attempt
After outgoing president Donald Trump incited a mob to attack Congress January 6 in an attempt to stop the vote to certify Joe Biden’s election as President of the United States, labor union leaders quickly responded with statements of outrage and determination to hold fast to democratic values and worker solidarity. Many called for Trump to be immediately removed from office; he was impeached shortly after in the House of Representatives, and faces trial in the Senate beginning February 8. Read More
October 2020
Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay Raise the Minimum Wage
By Rayna Lehman,
Community Services Director
On February 3, 2020, the Burlingame City Council held a Study Session to assess interest in adopting a Minimum Wage Ordinance. Nine months of vigorous and passionate debate ensued. On September 21, the Council, by a 3-2 vote adopted a Minimum Wage Ordinance, proscribing $15 an hour by January 1, 2021. Read More
Prop 22 a Raw Deal for Workers
California Labor Movement Working to Defeat Measure that Would Roll Back Worker’ Rights and Protections
Proposition 22 is funded by $181 million from Uber, Lyft, Postmates, Instacart and Doordash. While these companies contend their workers want to preserve their status as independent contractors, the Partnership for Working Families and the National Employment Law Project (NELP) note that the proposition would roll back existing protections under state law giving certain workers misclassified as independent contractors full employment rights. A NELP report calls the ballot measure “regressive and deeply harmful.” Read More
Labor Council Endorsments for City Council, School Board
San Mateo County Central Labor Council delegates finalized endorsements for local ballot measures and candidates for City Councils, School Boards, and Special Districts at the September 14 delegates meeting, held online via Zoom. The Labor Council made early endorsements in some contests in July. The endorsements were based on candidates’ responses on questionnaires and in online interviews about their positions on union organizing, project labor agreements and prevailing wages, card-check neutrality in union elections, protecting pensions, raising the minimum wage, and supporting public education. The interview panel included representatives of public sector, private sector, education, and building trades unions. Read More
September 2020
Postal Workers Demand USPS Funding, Repeal of DeJoy Policies
Union Members rallied to call for Saving America’s Post Office August 25.
Postal workers; labor, civil and human rights activists; community allies; and lawmakers participated in 300 “Postal Workers Day of Action” protests across the country August 25. They demanded that members of Congress pass $25 billion in emergency COVID relief funding for the Postal Service and permanently reverse the policies Postmaster General DeJoy put into place that are causing mail delays. Read More
August 2020
Labor Council Working to Ensure Complete Census
Gov. Newsom Condemns Trump’s Attempt to Suppress the Count
By Bradley Cleveland,
Labor Council Census Project Manager
It is never easy to count the hundreds of millions of people living in the United States, but the Census Bureau could not have anticipated the challenges faced during the 2020 count. In July, as cases of COVID-19 surged across the country, the Census Bureau again postponed its field work, where enumerators visit households that have not completed their census form. This field work is key to ensuring an accurate count because less than 75 percent of households respond to the mail requests from the Census to complete the online questionnaire. Read More
July 2020
Labor Movement Stands in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter
Labor March Protests the Murder of George Floyd by Police
Union members led a protest march from Oakland to Berkeley June 13 to protest the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Union members led a protest march from Oakland to Berkeley June 13 to protest the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The march and rally was one of dozens held nationally since the end of May calling for justice for Mr. Floyd, as well as other African Americans and other people of color killed by police. Oakland activists who have called for reforms for over a decade called for re-directing funds from police departments to fund community programs, education, and social services. The march was organized by the Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa and San Mateo County Labor Councils and Service Employees International Union Local 1021. Read More
AFL-CIO Endorses Joe Biden for President
Unions Back Biden, Vow to Defeat Anti-Worker Republican Trump
The General Board of the 12.5 million-member, 55 union AFL-CIO voted May 26 to endorse former Vice President and U.S. Senator Joe Biden for President of the United States.
“Joe Biden is a lifelong supporter of workers and has fought his entire career for living wages, health care, retirement security and civil rights,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Our members know Joe has done everything he could to create a fairer process for forming and joining a union, and he is ready to fight with us to restore faith in America and improve the lives of all working people.” Read More
Schools & Communities First Qualifies for November Ballot
The Schools & Communities First initiative officially qualified for the November ballot May 28, after the campaign to revise California’s 1978 property tax measure Proposition 13 submitted 1.7 million signatures of support. The Schools & Communities First initiative will reclaim $12 billion every year for local governments and schools by closing corporate tax loopholes that corporations and wealthy investors use to avoid paying their fair share of property taxes. The measure would maintain the Prop. 13 limits for small business, agricultural land and residential property, including apartment buildings. Read More
June 2020
Labor Council Helps Families in Need with “Grab and Go” Food Distribution
Thousands of union families facing hard times
In the true spirit of labor, the San Mateo Central Labor Council/AFL CIO Community Services program, in partnership with Machinists Local 1781, conducted the first of five scheduled Union Food Distributions April 16—“Grab and Go” style. In the time of COVID 19—with thousands of union families facing hard times—this food distribution helps. The “Grab and Go” process minimizes interaction, maintains safe social distancing, and keeps volunteers and recipients safe. Read More
San Mateo County Public Sector Unions Working to Support Essential Workers
By Nadia Bledsoe, AFSCME Local 829 Delegate, SMCLC Exec-Board member
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 829, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521, and Teamsters Local 856 have been working together to address the problems public sector workers in San Mateo County are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The problems for public sector unions include determination of who is an essential worker that must report to their jobsite, reassignment of duties for those who can’t perform their customary work, and paid leave for those who become sick or are homebound caring for dependents. Read More
Save Public Education: Put Schools & Communities First
By Melinda Dart, American Federation of Teachers, AFT 3267
Teachers and classified staff at our public schools are deemed essential workers, and rightly so. Over the past weeks, all educational employees have continued to work tirelessly, deep cleaning facilities, dispensing meals to children and families, operating drive-by food banks, delivering packets of work to students, serving as a resource for housing and health needs, and teaching by “distance learning.” Online teaching works for some students, but the pandemic has clearly demonstrated that it cannot compare to the delivery of instruction, assistance and interaction of the classroom. Read More
Nurses Demand COVID-19 Protections for Nurses, Health Care Workers
National Nurses United members rallied on May Day at Kaiser hospital in Oakland. Photo by Jaclyn Higgs, National Nurses United
Nurses at 139 hospitals in 13 states representing more than 95,540 nurses held workplace actions May 1—International Workers Day— calling for optimal COVID-19 protections. Read More
May 2020
America Needs Universal Paid Sick Leave
By Martin J. Bennett
The global coronavirus pandemic is walloping California, and Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered all 40 million residents to ‘shelter in place’ except for travel to purchase groceries and prescription drugs. He also urged Californians to practice ‘social distancing’ from non-family population members. The governor banned large public gatherings and ordered all schools and non-essential businesses to close. The legislature appropriated $1 billion to fight the deadly virus. Read More
April 2020
COVID-19 and Workers: Resources, Articles and Information
The April 2020 print version of San Mateo Labor features several articles regarding the COVID-19 pandemic—highlighting some of the issues and impacts on workers as well as some of the actions and demands being made to address the health and economic crisis. Below is a list of some of the articles; click on the headlines, which link to the online versions and feature more links to information and resources.
Labor Confronts COVID-19 Pandemic
By Lamoin Werlein-Jaen
Senior Representative, IFPTE Local 21
President, San Mateo Labor Council
In the coming weeks and months our communities will be challenged by the growing spread of the COVID-19 virus. It is a stark reminder that we all live together in one small world. The American Labor Movement will face this challenge and will play an important role in overcoming it. Read More
UFCW Local 5, Safeway Reach Tentative Agreement
After 16 months of bargaining and a 95 percent strike authorization vote, the Safeway Union Bargaining Committee of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5 reached a tentative agreement with Safeway March 7. Read More
UFCW Local 5 members and supporters walked the picket line at a Safeway store in Oakland February 25.
.............
The Fight for $15 and a Union:
North Bay Cities Raise the Minimum Wage!
Across the nation, 47 cities and counties have approved local minimum wage laws to address soaring inequality. Twenty-seven are in high-cost California coastal counties and the Bay Area: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, and San Diego. North Bay cities are joining the Fight for $15 movement. Read More
..............
March 2020
SFO Airline Catering Workers Protest Unaffordable Health Care and Poverty Wages
Over 200 UNITE HERE Local 2 airline catering workers and supporters rallied at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) February 14, calling on American Airlines to take urgent and necessary steps to ensure that workers who cater its flights are able to escape poverty and access medical care. Many engaged in a nonviolent civil disobedience action, with 31 airline catering workers and supporters arrested after they blocked traffic outside the American Airlines terminal. Read More
Labor Council Working to Ensure Complete and Accurate Census
In mid-March, every household in the U.S. will receive a letter from the Census Bureau directing them to a secure website to complete this year’s survey of the country’s population. The results of the 2020 Census will reverberate over the next 10 years, impacting everything from political representation to the allocation of federal dollars to public schools and public transit, child care and health care, public health programs and senior services. Read More
APALA SF Members Say “Count Us In” at Chinese New Year Parade
Wearing sandwich boards with different Chinese Characters of family members, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) San Francisco members marched in the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco February 8, and counted off in Chinese and in English while raising their oversized hands to the count. “This is significant in this Census 2020 year,” said Norm Ten, APALA SF President and SEIU member. “All working families, immigrant or not, need to be counted. Hence, ‘Count Us In.’”
..................
A Future That Works for Workers
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the AFL-CIO is partnering with SAG-AFTRA to host the second annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit. The summit, led by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris and UNITE HERE International President D. Taylor, brings together union, technology, entertainment and media leaders to explore how these industries intersect and the potential impact for America’s workers and for the country’s creative culture.
As the voice of working Americans, unions play a critical role in ensuring that rapidly evolving technology, which will bring so many great things to humanity, doesn’t roll over humans in the process. Recognizing that this can only be accomplished by partnering with the tech industry, the second annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit brings together diverse voices for a frank conversation about where we are, where we’re going and the critical milestones along the way.
AFL-CIO Commission on the Future of Work and Unions
For the better part of four decades, workers have been more productive than ever, creating massive amounts of wealth—but rigged economic rules, unmitigated corporate greed and unrelenting political attacks have weakened our voices, stifled our wages and eroded our economic security. Yet a wave of collective action is sweeping the nation. Working people across industries and demographics are joining together for a better life. This uprising comes at a critical moment, as the astounding technologies of the digital revolution have the potential to improve workers’ lives but also threaten to degrade or eliminate millions of jobs.
The AFL-CIO Commission on the Future of Work and Unions, formed by a unanimous vote of the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention, is putting working people where we belong—at the center of shaping the economy, work, unions and the AFL-CIO. - https://aflcio.org/reports/afl-cio-commission-future-work-and-unions
.........
February 2020
TIP San Mateo Celebrates Class #12 Graduates
Plumbers Local 467 Hall was the place to be on December 20, 2019, when 28 students graduated from TIP Class #12. Plumbers JATC Coordinator Stephan Schnell welcomed the newest graduating class and the family, friends, elected and state officials and TIP supporters that filled the union hall. He congratulated the graduates on their significant accomplishment. Read More
California Unions Vow to Defend AB 5 Law
AB 5 is the most important state law in decades to address widespread inequality by raising wages for workers and holding corporations accountable. The law went into effect in California on Jan. 1, 2020. Rather than comply with the law to provide workers with basic protections and economic security, big corporations embarked on a spending frenzy to overturn it. “The lawsuit by Uber and Postmates is completely without merit and shows how little these massive tech companies care about their own workforce or workers in other industries who stand to benefit from AB 5,” said California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski. Read More
...........
January 2020
Airline Catering Workers Protest Poverty Wages at SFO
Three SF Supervisors Arrested in Civil Disobedience Action
Hundreds of catering workers and their supporters rallied at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) November 26 to protest poverty wages and call for affordable health care. Fifty people were arrested for civil disobedience when they held a sit-in near the American Airlines check-in area, including UNITE HERE Local 2 members, union leaders, and elected officials. Read More
# # #
County Supervisors Discuss Priorities with Union Members
San Mateo County Supervisors David Canepa and Dave Pine spoke with union members at the Labor Council delegates meeting December 9 about their priorities and their work to improve the quality of life of county residents. Read More
...........
December 2019
Members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5 rallied at Macy’s San Francisco Union Square store November 7
Macy’s Workers Rally for Fair Contract
Members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5 rallied at Macy’s San Francisco Union Square store November 7, as the store kicked off the holiday shopping season, to call on the company to reach a fair contract with employees. Read More
County of San Mateo Recognizes Trades Introduction Program
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors presented a Proclamation to representatives and graduates of the Trades Introduction Program/TIP San Mateo November 5, designating Nov. 11-17 as National Apprenticeship Week. Read More
California Unions Vow to Defeat Gig Corporations’ Measure to Strip Workers of Fundamental Protections
Transportation Network Companies Uber and Lyft, along with food delivery company Doordash, filed a ballot measure in October to avoid providing drivers with the protections and pay they are entitled under AB 5 and the Dynamex decision. Two other companies that routinely exploit workers misclassified as independent contractor have since joined the ballot effort: Instacart and Postmates. Each of those companies ponied up $10 million to raise the total amount the companies are spending on the measure to $110 million. Read More
Bay Area News Group Journalists Rally, Blast Anti-Journalism Business Practices of Corporate Owners
Members of the Pacific Media Workers Guild rallied in Oakland November 19 to call attention to how New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital has hurt local news and the quality of life for local journalists. Workers at the East Bay Times, San Jose Mercury News, and Monterey Herald newspapers are calling for cost-of-living wage increases, improved health coverage, and reinstatement of retirement benefits in contract negotiations with MediaNews Group, also known as Digital First Media (DFM). Read More
November 2019
Dozens of members of Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West rallied at San Francisco International Airport October 2 to demand living wages for airline workers.
Airline Service Workers Rally for Living Wages on Global Day of Action
Members of Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) rallied at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) October 2 to demand living wages for airline workers. SEIU-USWW represents over 4,000 workers in California, including security screeners, sky caps, baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, janitors, and ramp and ground crews for subcontractors ABM, Prospect, Prime Flight and Menses who provide services for United Airlines and American Airlines. Read More
TIP in the Community
The Trades Introduction Program (TIP-San Mateo) joined with more than 75 county and community organizations at the Annual Fun and Family Resource Expo sponsored by the SMC Department of Housing October 5. Read More
Census 2020: Be Counted
When you respond, everyone benefits
The San Mateo Labor Council has joined the San Mateo County-led effort to ensure all county residents are counted during the 2020 Census. The Labor Council is working with its member unions to ensure union members understand the importance of counting every person in each State, as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. Read More
Labor Women Convene to Build Power and Solidarity
Women union members from throughout the Bay Area attended the Labor Women Convening event at the Alameda Labor Council in Oakland September 28. Labor Women Convening was the inspiration of San Mateo Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Julie Lind Rupp and Alameda Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Liz Ortega. Read More
Assembly Members Marc Berman and Phil Ting Talk Legislative Priorities
Assembly Members Marc Berman and Phil Ting met with San Mateo County Central Labor Council delegates at the October 14 delegates meeting to discuss the recent legislative session and their priorities.Read More
May 2019
San Francisco Workers Rally to Disrupt Inequality, Call for a Fair Contract
Members of Service Employees International Union Local 1021 (SEIU) and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees, Local 21 (IFPTE) held a rally April 11 at City Hall to call for a fair contract with living wages and to “disrupt inequality.” Read More
Bay Area Legislators Offer Support for Labor’s Legislative Agenda
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and San Mateo County Building Trades Council, along with the San Francisco Building Trades Council and San Francisco Labor Council hosted a series of meetings with Bay Area legislators in Sacramento April 2. Representatives from the building trades and public and private sector unions asked Assemblymembers Kevin Mullin, Phil Ting, David Chiu, and Marc Berman and State Senators Jerry Hill and Scott Wiener to support the labor-backed bills. Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment Chair Ash Kalra, who represents the 27th Assembly District in the South Bay, also met with the Bay Area union members. Read More
April 2019
San Francisco Workers Demand Living Wages in City Contract
Members of Service Employees International Union Local 1021 (SEIU) held a rally March 7 in front of the Metropolitan Transportation Administration building in San Francisco to demand an end to discrimination in City agencies and a fair contract with living wages for City workers. The MTA building is also the site of the City’s Department of Human Resources, where some of the contract negotiations are taking place. The SEIU members were joined by members of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees, Local 21 (IFPTE), Read More
AFSCME San Mateo County Workers Reach Deal
All San Mateo County workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 829 have ratified a new multi-year contract with the County, as the Human Services Bargaining Unit ratified their unit agreement March 21. Read More
New Proposal Would Keep Millions of Working People from Getting Overtime
The Donald Trump administration is proposing a new overtime regulation that would protect at least 2.8 million fewer workers than the overtime regulation proposed by the Barack Obama administration in 2016. Read More
.......
March 2019
States, Congress Take Action to Overturn Trump’s Emergency Declaration
Donald Trump’s declaration of a “national emergency” February 16 was met with nationwide protests as people rallied in hundreds of communities across the United States February 18, and swift legal action by Attorney Generals in 16 states who filed suit to challenge Trump’s move to circumvent Congress and build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Read More
Nurses Union Organizing for Medicare for All
Medicare for All Act of 2019 Introduced in Congress
California Nurses Association members at the union’s organizing event in San Francisco February 12. Photo courtesy of National Nurses United.
National Nurses United (NNU) members organized a series of “barnstorming” actions Feb. 9–13 as part of the Medicare for All week of action, with over 5,000 people attending 150 events across the country. Read More
Everyone Counts and Needs to be Counted in the 2020 Census
The San Mateo County Manager and Board of Supervisors will hold a San Mateo County’s Census Day 2020 countdown April 1 with leaders from nonprofit, business, civic, local government, and community organizations. Read More
Building Trades Council: Project Labor Agreements Will Benefit Working Families in San Bruno, San Mateo
The San Mateo County Building Trades Council recently completed negotiations for project labor agreements for construction work in San Bruno and San Mateo/Foster City. Like the PLA for the Civic Center project in South San Francisco, the two new PLAs include provisions for hiring local workers and contractors, employing union apprentices, and providing career pathways to graduates of the Trades Introduction Program that has provided pre-apprenticeship training to local workers and placed over 150 graduates in union apprenticeship programs. Read More
February 2019
Bay Area Unions Rally for Federal Workers, Call for an End to Government Shutdown
Dozens of union members rallied at Oakland International Airport January 25 to protest Donald Trump’s shutdown of the federal government—the longest in U.S. history, extending to over 35 days. The rally came as news broke that Trump had agreed to sign a compromise deal reached in Congress that paused the shutdown for three weeks beginning January 28—after asserting for over a month that he would not sign any bill that did not include funding for his unnecessary wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Read More
South San Francisco OKs Project Labor Agreement for Civic Center Development
Project will create hundreds of construction jobs
with union wages and benefits
The South San Francisco City Council approved a project labor agreement January 10 for the city’s Civic Center Plaza development. The project at the northeast corner of El Camino Real and Chestnut Avenue will consist of new state-of-the-art facilities: a Police Station, a Fire Station, and a combined Library and Parks & Recreation Community Center, with parking and landscaping improvements. Read More
January 2019
Flight Attendants Call Out United’s Corporate Greed
Association of Flight Attendants members picketed at San Francisco International Airport December 13 to protest United Airline’s newly-announced staffing cuts on international flights.
January 2019
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) members picketed at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) December 13 to protest United Airline’s newly-announced staffing cuts on international flights. Flight Attendants are calling on United to invest in the people on United Airlines’ flights and stand up for increased staffing across the industry, noting that airlines are making record profits. In the last two years alone, Delta, American, Southwest, and United have allocated $12 billion in profits to stock buybacks. None of those profits are being reinvested in the airline or the people on planes. The flight attendants said the flying experience will continue to erode as long as airlines only answer to Wall Street. Read More
Daly City to Raise Minimum Wage to $15
The City Council in Daly City voted December 10 to raise the minimum wage in the city to $15 an hour by January 2021. After a second vote January 14, San Mateo County’s most populous city will join San Mateo, Belmont, and Redwood City in passing a minimum wage ordinance that brings minimum wage earners up to $15 before the state of California’s goes to $15 in 2022. Read More
UNITE HERE Local 2 Hotel Workers Reach Agreement with Marriott
After more than two months on strike, nearly 2,500 UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel workers reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with Marriott December 2. The agreement ended the longest large-scale work stoppage that San Francisco’s hotel industry has seen in decades. The union members ratified what they called a “historic and life-changing contract” by a 99.6 percent vote December 3. The historic deal includes life-changing wage standards, affordable health care coverage, job security protections, and relief from unsafe workloads. Hotel workers returned to work December 5—63 days after the strike began under the slogan, “one job should be enough.” Read More
Selected Articles, October 2018
SF Marriott Hotel workers vote to strike
for higher wages, job security, safety
October 2018
San Francisco police arrested 75 people on Labor Day for obstructing traffic near the San Francisco Marriott Marquis during a civil disobedience action in solidarity with hotel workers. UNITE HERE Local 2, which represents hospitality workers in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, organized the rally to demand better working conditions and livable wages for Marriott hotel workers. Nearly 1,000 people turned out for the protest. Many wore T-shirts proclaiming “One Job Should Be Enough,” as many hotel workers need to work a second job because working full time for Marriott isn’t enough to be able to live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read More
Labor Leaders Map Out 2019 Climate Strategy at Labor in the Climate Transition Conference
October 2018
The UC Berkeley Labor Center hosted the “Labor in the Climate Transition: Charting the Roadmap for 2019 and Beyond” conference in Berkeley September 12. The conference was an official affiliate event of the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit that took place in San Francisco in mid-September. The conference brought together labor leaders, legislators, climate justice organizations, and policy experts to showcase best practices for worker-friendly climate policy for 2019 and beyond. Read More
Selected Articles, September 2018
September 2018
San Mateo county and court workers rallied at the County Center in Redwood City September 12 to call for a fair contract as the county prepares its Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 members also planned to rally at the County Board of Supervisors meeting September 25, where the Board was scheduled to adopt the budget. The union members said they are united in asking for justice and respect. Read More
September 2018
Candidates for local office heard from union members at a candidate orientation meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building and Construction Trades Council August 20 at the IBEW Local 617 union hall in San Mateo. Many candidates for City Councils and School Boards attended. Read More
Selected Articles, August 2018
With attention squarely fixed on the more than 3,000 children cruelly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, Labor joined with thousands of community organizations and faith partners across the country in a national Day of Action to protest the Trump Administration’s policy of separating immigrant families June 30. Read More
TIP (Trades Introduction Program) Graduations have become major labor-community events, drawing crowds of family, friends and TIP supporters. TIP Graduation #9, held on June 29 at the Plumbers 467 Union Hall, was no exception. Read More
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council celebrated union and community leaders at its annual COPE Banquet July 20. Nadia Bledsoe, Senior Business Agent, AFSCME Council 57 and Local 829, received the Labor Council’s Unity Award for her longtime advocacy and work for public sector employees. Dana Stoehr, CEO of the San Mateo County Event Center, was honored with the Labor Council’s Community Award for her leadership in improving labor relations at the Event Center. Read More
Selected Articles, June 2018
Airline Food Workers Protest United Airlines
June 2018
Airline catering workers who prepare meals for United Airlines flights, along with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) terminal food and beverage workers and supporters from other unions, rallied at SFO May 23 to protest the airline’s treatment of food service workers. The protest was part of a national day of action coinciding with United’s annual shareholder meeting in Chicago that included worker-led actions in Chicago, Newark, Houston and Denver. Read More
I Work with Mark Janus. Here’s How He Benefits from a Strong Union
June 2018
By Donnie Killen, AFSCME Local 2600.
Like everyone else in the labor movement, I’m nervously awaiting the Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which would weaken public sector unions by letting workers receive the benefits of representation without contributing toward the cost. But I’ve got a unique vantage point: I work in the same building as the plaintiff, Mark Janus.We’re both child support specialists for the state of Illinois, where we do accounting on child support cases. I do this work because it’s fulfilling to help kids and single parents get the resources they need to support themselves. Read More
The SCOTUS Epic Fail and How California Can Fight Back
June 2018
by Steve Smith, California Labor Federation
Collective action is a worker’s best friend. When you stand together with your co-workers to tackle injustice on the job, you’ve got a fighting chance. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration and the conservative justices on the Supreme Court seem hell bent on taking that right away from as many workers as they can. Read More
........................
Selected Articles, May 2018
Hotel Workers, Community Allies Call for Fair Process for Unionizing Pullman SF Bay Hotel
May 2018
Hotel workers rallied at the Pullman San Francisco Bay Hotel in Redwood City April 20 to call on the hotel’s ownership to agree to a fair process to let them decide on a union without fear of retaliation. Workers have been calling on the hotel’s owners, the $86 billion investment firm CBRE, for a majority sign-up, card-check agreement since May 2017. Read More
Federal Workers and Their Union Under Attack by Trump Administration
May 2018
In June 2017 President Trump fulfilled a campaign promise to make it easier to fire employees of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA). The law was sold as a means to hold everyone, especially medical center directors, accountable for misbehavior and dishonesty. The “VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act” stripped VA workers of due process rights. The bill allows managers to fire workers based on “substantial” evidence that “the performance or misconduct of the covered individual warrants such removal, demotion, or suspension.” Read More
................
Archived news:
Selected Articles, February 2017
Hundreds Attend Community Action Rally in Redwood City
In San Mateo County, hundreds attended a Community Action Rally in Redwood City, inspired by and held in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington. Read More
.......
Regional Coalition Stepping up Efforts to Fight Wage Theft
A coalition of organizations, many of which led campaigns to raise the minimum wage in Bay Area cities, are stepping up their efforts to enforce local wage laws and to fight “wage theft” that robs workers of the pay they have earned. Read More
.......
Massive Worldwide Protests Kick Off Resistance to Trump
More than three million people around the world joined protests and rallies January 21 against the reactionary agenda of the Trump administration. The Woman’s March on Washington drew half a million, while 100,000 rallied in San Francisco, 60,000 in Oakland, and 750,000 in Los Angeles. Protests in New York, Chicago and many cities in Europe and worldwide also drew massive crowds. Read More
.......
ACA Repeal: Worse than the Drought for San Joaquin Valley Jobs
California saw large increases in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as 3.7 million adults enrolled in the Medi-Cal expansion and 1.2 million Californians enrolled in subsidized insurance through Covered California. Repealing the ACA threatens not only to leave millions without health insurance, but also to eliminate 209,000 jobs and cost the state economy $20.3 billion in GDP. Further negative impacts could occur depending on how the federal government restructures federal payments for the entire state Medi-Cal program.
For the San Joaquin Valley economy, we estimate that 24,000 jobs would be eliminated. That’s more lost jobs in the San Joaquin Valley alone than the estimated 21,000 jobs lost in 2015 in the entire state due to the drought. More than 470,000 San Joaquin Valley residents—or 11.2 percent of the region’s population—enrolled in the ACA Medi-Cal expansion, more than the share that enrolled statewide (9.4 percent). More than 100,000 residents in the region receive federal subsidies averaging $3,700 per year that help them afford private insurance through Covered California. These health insurance gains would be reversed if the ACA is repealed without a comprehensive replacement.
The loss of health insurance under ACA repeal would lead to reduced demand and funding for healthcare services, resulting in 17,000 fewer jobs in the region’s healthcare industry. Healthcare workers would spend less at local businesses, creating a ripple effect of job loss throughout all industries. The region is already suffering from a higher than average unemployment rate of 8.8 percent, compared to 5.3 percent statewide. Just as San Joaquin Valley residents cannot afford the loss of health insurance that would occur under ACA repeal, the region cannot afford the loss of 24,000 jobs.
-UC Berkeley Labor Center
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/aca-repeal-worse-than-the-drought-for-san-joaquin-valley-jobs/
.....
Selected Articles, January 2017
The Fight for $15 and a Union Continues
With a rallying cry of “Poverty Doesn’t Fly,” Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members joined hundreds of working people at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) November 29 to demand $15 an hour and union rights for all workers. SEIU members from Local 1021, 521, USWW, and 2015 joined Uber drivers, fast food, home care and child care workers and contingent faculty and immigrant justice activists to call attention to the plight of the chronically-underpaid at a time when more and more wealth is being shifted to the richest in our economy. Read More
..........
Bay Restoration Authority Votes for Project Labor Agreement on Bay Restoration Work
The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority’s (SFBRA) Governing Board voted November 30 to require that work on SF Bay restoration projects costing $500,000 and above be done under terms of a Project Labor Agreement with Bay Area Building Trades Councils. In June of this year, voters in all nine Bay Area counties approved Regional Measure AA, which will fund restoration of wetlands throughout the Bay Area through a $12 annual parcel tax. The tax will raise $25 million per year ($500 million over 20 years)—“enough to build 20 miles of new levees and restore an estimated 15,000 acres of wetlands,” according to the SFBRA. Read More
Selected Articles, November & December 2016
Mourn … and Organize!
Labor Makes Gains at Local and State Level as Anti-Union Tycoon Elected President
In an election that saw a right wing business tycoon wholly unqualified to be President take enough Electoral College votes to win and Democrats fail to gain enough seats in Congress to take control of either house, there were a few bright spots and victories at the local and state level. Read More
Fighting Back Against Trump’s Agenda:
Students, Union Leaders, Elected Officials Speak Out
In the weeks since the November 8 election, opponents of right wing millionaire Donald Trump’s extremist agenda have protested, spoken up, or called for Americans who value progress and civil rights to continue to organize. Read More
Assembly Labor Committee Chairman Tony Thurmond Meets with San Mateo County Union Members
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council hosted a meeting with State Assemblymember Tony Thurmond, the recently appointed Chair of the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment.
Julie Lind Rupp, San Mateo County Central Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer, said the East Bay Assemblymember had asked to meet with SMCLC delegates to get a better understanding of regional labor issues and challenges union members in San Mateo County face that can be addressed legislatively. Read More
..................
Selected Articles, May 2016
San Bruno City Council OKs Hotel Deal Despite Unions’ Objections
Workers Protest as Developer Fails to Commit to Union Labor
Opponents of the sale of city land to OTO Development spoke at the San Bruno City Council’s special meeting March 29.
The San Bruno City Council voted March 29 to approve the sale of city land to developer OTO for construction of a luxury Marriot hotel. The South Carolina-based developer has refused to meet with representatives of the Hotel Workers union, UNITE-HERE Local 2, to work out a card-check agreement and has not agreed to a Project Labor Agreement with the Building Trades for construction work on the project. Read More
Supreme Court Reaffirms Collective Bargaining in Landmark Case
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association March 29, affirming that public employers have a compelling interest in having strong and effective collective bargaining. The 4-4 decision leaves intact the sound law of Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that has been working for nearly four decades. Read More
Governor Brown Signs Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15
California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation April 4 that will raise the state’s minimum wage in steps over the next six years to $15 an hour. Read More
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo Announces She Will Vote NO on TPP
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo told Labor and fair trade activists last month that she will vote against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) when it comes before the House. Eshoo joins Rep. Jackie Speier in opposition to the trade agreement.
Pictured. left to right, at the meeting: Julie Lind, San Mateo County Central Labor Council; Paul George, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center; Shelley Kessler, San Mateo County Central Labor Council; Rep. Eshoo; Xiomara Castro, Citizens Trade Campaign; and Jeremy Malcolm, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Selected Articles, April 2016
Flight Attendants and Teamster Mechanics Picket United Airlines at SFO
Members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) and Teamster mechanics rallied at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) March 17 to demand fair contracts at United Airlines (UAL). The action was the fifth in a series of rallies held since last December to call attention to the failure of UAL management to reach an agreement with the unions in contract negotiations. Hundreds of Teamsters rallied at the United Airlines Maintenance Base February 19 and again on February 28 at the UAL terminal. AFA members rallied in December and January to demand an industry-leading contract. Read More
San Mateo County Unions Meet with Local Legislators
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council hosted a breakfast meeting with State Senator Jerry Hill and Assemblymembers Kevin Mullin and Phil Ting March 4 to discuss Labor issues and concerns. Hill and Mullin are among the 37 state legislators with 100 percent pro-Labor voting records; Ting’s voting record is 96 percent pro-Labor. Senator Hill said he respects Labor and that, “It isn’t difficult to support Labor’s bills—we are on the same side and want workers to be treated well.” Read More
Selected Articles, December 2015
San Mateo City Council Backs Raising Minimum Wage to $15
The San Mateo City Council began the process of raising the minimum wage in the city at its November 16 meeting. All five council members agreed to start setting a process to raise the minimum wage in San Mateo to $15 per hour, and directed city staff to consider further policy options, including enacting living wage standards and expanding prevailing wage requirements to cover private developments. Read More
Workers from SFO Contractors Rally for Better Working Conditions
Cabin cleaners and other contracted airport workers picketed at the United Airlines terminal at San Francisco International Airport November 19 in solidarity with airline contract workers who were on strike at airports around the US. The national day of action by SEIU airline workers saw wheelchair attendants and cabin and terminal cleaners in Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Newark, New York City and Philadelphia go out on strike. Read More
Labor Council’s Election Work Gets Results
The efforts of San Mateo County Central Labor Council union members to get out the vote paid off with positive results in many races in the November 3 elections. The Labor Council was successful in winning 79 percent of endorsed local ballot measures and candidate races. Over 280 volunteers made phone calls, walked precincts, and talked to fellow union members to urge votes for labor-endorsed candidates and measures. Read More
Underpaid Workers across California Mobilize to Win $15 and a Union
Thousands of underpaid workers across California mobilized November 10 in a historic show of solidarity for higher wages, social justice and equality in cities from San Diego to Sacramento. There are 3.2 million workers in California paid less than $15/hr. Read More
Hundreds of fast-food, home care, retail and child care workers gathered in Oakland November 10 to call for a $15 an hour minimum wage and union rights.
Selected Articles, November 2015
Airline Catering Employees Win Coverage Under Quality Standards Program at SFO
Over 1,200 employees of the companies who supply on-board food for airline passengers at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will see improved benefits through the airport’s wage and benefit policy, known as the Quality Standards Program (QSP). The San Francisco International Airport Commission voted October 13 to expand the QSP to include airline catering employees. Read More
High-Speed Rail Authority Presents Plan for Peninsula Rail Corridor
The California High-Speed Rail Authority held a Community Open House in Burlingame October 7. CHSRA officials presented updated information on plans for the rail line that will eventually connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, focusing on the route from San Francisco to San Jose that will run through the Peninsula. The meeting was one of four held in Northern California designed to provide up-to-date information on the statewide High-Speed Rail program and the next phase of planning and environmental review. Read More
Selected Articles, September 2015
Activists Rally to Protect, Improve, Expand Medicare
Hundreds of union members, seniors and health care advocates rallied in Oakland July 30 to call to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Medicare program.
Thousands of union members, seniors, and activists rallied across the country July 30 in a National Day of Action celebrating the 50th anniversary of Medicare, which provided health care for 50 million Americans last year—covering health care costs and stabilizing finances in households on fixed budgets. Read More
Labor Working to Raise Wages
The “Fight for $15” movement has caught fire nationally, expanding beyond the fast food industry. Community and labor activists and local elected officials are heeding the call to “Raise the Wage,” so working families can meet their basic needs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read More
...........
Bay News Rising Covers Workers’ Struggles, Unon Campaigns
The Pacific Media Workers Guild recently completed the fourth yearly edition of Bay News Rising, the union’s summer internship program for journalism students that brings together professional and college reporters in a collaborative training for the future of Bay Area journalism.
“We had eight sharp young people from San Francisco State and San Francisco City College this year,” said Bay News Rising Editor Bill Snyder, chair of the Local’s Freelance Unit. “They focused on stories about the struggles of working people and unions in the Bay Area. Take a look at their work on the program’s Web site. It’s damn good.”
Recent stories include, “Is the gig up? Contract workers vote to unionize,” “Bay Area workers cry foul as Staples, U.S. Postal Service team up” and “Union cabbies give mayors an earful at Uber soiree: ‘We pay high fees, they pay zero’.” See http://baynewsrising.org for recent and archived stories.
Selected Articles, July & August 2015
United Airlines Flight Attendants Rally for Fair Contract
United Airlines Flight Attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), rallied at the San Francisco International Airport July 16 to call on United Airlines to negotiate a fair contract and finish the operational merger with Continental Airlines. Read More
United Flight Attendants and supporters from throughout the industry called on United management to recognize the hard work of Flight Attendants.
............
The “Sharing Economy” Leaves Out Middle Class Jobs
Apps like AirBnB and Uber bad for Workers
Don’t the let the term “sharing economy” fool you. There is no sharing. It’s really just the 1 percent making money by stripping workers of the rights for which the labor movement has fought so hard to secure. Read More
Senate Votes for Fast Track
13 Democrats back corporate trade agenda despite protests by Labor
Union members, environmental activists, and representatives of human rights campaigns protested the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Fast Track outside Senator Dianne Feinstein’s San Francisco office June 22.
The Senate voted 60-38 June 24 to grant Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to the Obama Administration that will fast track trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).The House of Representatives passed fast-track trade legislation June 18 on a 218-208 vote, with 28 Democrats voting yes. Unlike a version rejected earlier in June, the bills passed in the House and Senate were not tied to the Trade Adjustment Assistance bill meant to provide aid to workers displaced by trade agreements. Read More
SM County Moving Forward on Community Choice Energy Plan
San Mateo County Supervisors Dave Pine and Carole Groom spoke about the County’s plans for Community Choice Energy (CCE) at the Labor Council’s delegates meeting June 8. County Supervisors voted earlier this year to study setting up a CCE agency, and recently appointed an advisory committee to help guide the process. Read More
...................
CEO Pay and the 99 Percent
The 2012 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch site—now called “CEO Pay and the 99%”—includes the most comprehensive data accessible on 2011 executive pay. CEO Pay and the 99% shows that a CEO of a company in the S&P 500 Index, on average, received $12.9 million in total compensation in 2011. That’s nearly a 14 percent raise over the previous year. And that’s on top of a 23 percent increase in 2010.
In stark contrast, the average wage for workers hovered at $34,000 in 2011. Median household income fell $3,700 over the past decade. And those who are employed received an average 2.8 percent raise—barely keeping up with inflation.
The new site also features data on:
• Swelling corporate cash stockpiles. Corporations have a record $2.2 trillion in cash on their balance sheets, according to the Federal Reserve. But rather than reinvest this capital to grow our economy and create jobs, CEOs are not deploying these resources.
• The widening gap between CEO and worker pay. Last year, this ratio of CEO-to-worker pay had widened to an astonishing 380 times. In 1980, CEOs of large U.S. companies made 42 times the average wages of workers.
• Mutual funds’ votes on executive pay. Mutual funds wield enormous clout on CEO pay issues in part because of the new “say-on-pay” requirement that shareholders cast an advisory vote on CEO pay. In this new section, investors can look up how their mutual funds voted and ask their mutual funds to vote against runaway CEO pay levels.
• The shady world of private equity, which Mitt Romney’s candidacy has brought to light.
All of the data available is searchable by industry, by state and by the top 100 highest-paid CEOs. See www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-the-99/ for more details.
Selected Articles, May & June 2015
San BrunoTeachers, School Staff Reach Agreements with District
Teachers and Classified school staff members rallied April 28 in San Bruno for a fair contract with the San Bruno Park School District (SBPSD). Read More
AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust Creates Good Union Jobs in San Mateo County
The AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust hosted a tour of the 888 San Mateo Apartments for labor representatives May 11. The $70 million project consists of two four-story buildings on three acres with 158 rental apartments, including 15 units designated as affordable units. Read More
Thousands Unite with Underpaid Workers Across CA on Fight for 15 Day of Action
Thousands took part in strikes and protests April 15 in one of the largest mobilizations of underpaid working people in history. Actions across California from Los Angeles to Sacramento gave working people the opportunity to stand with low wage workers who bravely went on strike and walked out mid-shift to send the message: we will not stop until we win $15 an hour and a union. Read More
Remembering Rana Plaza
Activists and workers protested at the Children’s Store at Tanforan Mall in San Bruno April 15 to call on the clothing retailer to pay fair compensation to the victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh and sign a safety accord. Read More
Selected Articles, March & April 2015
South San Francisco Adopts Downtown Station Area Plan
Three years of work by the San Mateo County Union Community Alliance-led Community Benefits Coalition paid off in South San Francisco January 28 when the City Council passed the Downtown Station Area Plan by a unanimous vote. Read More
Rick Bonilla Appointed to San Mateo City Council
The San Mateo City Council voted unanimously to appoint retired carpenter and Carpenters Union business representative Rick Bonilla to the City Council January 26. Bonilla had served on the city’s Planning Commission since 2012, after six years on the Public Works Commission. Read More
Training Provides Tools for Fighting Employer Retaliation
All workers expect that they have a right to a safe work environment, and that when they report unsafe conditions or workplace hazards, their employer will fix the problem. Most do not expect to be fired, laid off, transferred or demoted for exercising their workplace rights. Dealing with retaliation by bosses was the subject of an Occupational Safety and Health Anti-Retaliation Training by Worksafe January 22 in San Mateo. Read More
Labor Council Calls for Labor-Friendly Principles in Community Choice Aggregation Projects
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council adopted a Resolution at its March 9 delegates’ meeting supporting a Labor-friendly Community Choice Aggregation proposal for San Mateo County. The Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) concept allows local governments to procure electricity for its residents and businesses; CCA was created by AB 117—passed by the state Legislature and signed by Governor Gray Davis in 2002. Read More
San Mateo County Building Trades Council Business Manager Bill Nack Retires
April 205
Bill Nack retired as the Building Trades Council Business Manager March 1 after 16 years. Nack served as Business Manager for the SMBCTC starting in 1999, and led the Council in winning new Project Labor Agreements, helping elect Labor-friendly candidates to local and state office, and unifying the building trades unions. Read More
James Ruigomez Elected Business Manager of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council
James Ruigomez, newly elected Business Manager of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council, and Bill Nack.
James Ruigomez was elected as Business Manager of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council in February. Bill Nack announced in December that he would be retiring as the Building Trades Council Business Manager and nominated Ruigomez in January for the term of 2015 to 2018.
Ruigomez joined Painters and Drywall Finishers Local 913 in 1995 and has served as Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Trustee and President of the Local. In 2005, he was hired as an Organizer for District Council 16 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and elected Business Rep. in 2007. He was appointed Regional Director for DC 16 in 2013 and also serves on the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee for the drywall finishers and as a trustee for the union’s pension plan. Ruigomez is also an Executive Board member of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council.
“James is energetic, experienced, and committed to the the union cause, and understands the importance and value of solidarity among the different unions of our Building Trades Council,” Nack said. “He is the right person to build on our reputation of being the best Building Trades Council in California, if not the nation.” Bill Nack served as Business Manager for the SMBCTC starting in 1999.
Selected Articles, February 2015
Trades Introduction Program Celebrates First Group of Pre-Apprenticeship Graduates
The first 20 graduates of the Trades Introduction Program (TIP San Mateo) were honored at a completion ceremony January 9 at the IBEW Local 617 union hall in San Mateo. TIP San Mateo is a certificated, 90-hour pre-apprenticeship training course that introduces the trainees to the wide variety of construction trades in partnership with area union apprenticeship programs, community and education partners. Read More
Labor, Community Groups Call for Maintaining Safe Staffing Levels and Charity Care at Seton Medical Center, Seton Coastside
The California State Attorney General’s office held a series of public hearings in January on the proposed sale of Seton Hospital and Seton Coastside by Daughters of Charity Health System to Prime Healthcare Services. Representatives from the San Mateo County Central Labor Council’s non-profit Union-Community Alliance spoke at the two hearings held January 9 in Moss Beach and Daly City. Read More
Selected Articles, January 2015
Home Care Workers, Union Leaders Arrested in Civil Disobedience Action
Home care workers stepped up their campaign for a livable wage with a civil disobedience action at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors meeting December 9. Several home care workers and union leaders were arrested when they refused to leave the board chambers after Supervisors shut down the meeting. Read More
UNITE HERE Local 2, SFO Restaurant Owners Reach Deal
New contract protects jobs and health care, increases wages
UNITE HERE Local 2 announced December 18 that the union has reached a tentative agreement with restaurant owners at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). UNITE HERE Local 2 represents nearly 1,000 food service workers employed as cooks, cashiers, dishwashers, food servers and bartenders working at cafes, bars and restaurants at the airport. Read More
Union Community Alliance Working to Ensure Access to Health Care
Four years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health care reform remains a contentious issue. For all its flaws, “ObamaCare” has extended affordable health coverage to millions of people who previously had few, if any, options. Read More
Archived Articles, 2014
December 2014
Low-wage Home Care Workers Rally for a Higher Wage
A diverse group of home health care workers, including parents of disabled youth and caregivers with elderly clients, gathered at the San Mateo County Courthouse November 18 to demand that the County Board of Supervisors negotiate a more livable wage with San Mateo County’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers. Read More
Postal Workers Unions Protest Mail Service Cuts
Four postal worker unions united for a national Day of Action November 14 to protest cuts that will cost jobs and slow down mail delivery. The National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), and National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA) are urging their members and postal customers to send a message to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and the USPS Board of Governors to “Stop Delaying America’s Mail.” Read More
Nurses Union Calls for Stronger Protections for Patients and Nurses
Thousands of nurses represented by the California Nurses Association rallied in Oakland November 12 to call on hospitals to provide adequate staffing levels and improved safeguards in the face of the deadly Ebola virus. The CNA held a two-day strike November 12 and 13 that affected nearly 20,000 registered nurses at 86 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics, a Sutter hospital in Tracy, and Watsonville Community Hospital. Read More
Labor Council’s Election Work Gets Results
The efforts of San Mateo County Central Labor Council union members to get out the vote paid off with positive results in many races November 4. Over 240 volunteers made phone calls, walked precincts, and talked to fellow union members to urge votes for labor-endorsed candidates and measures. Read More
Selected Articles, November 2014
Silicon Valley Shake-up: Google Drops SIS
Google shook up the tech industry in early October when it announced it was parting ways with its security contractor, Security Industry Specialists (SIS), and would instead provide quality, full-time work for its security officers. The change comes after broad worker protests in Silicon Valley calling on tech companies to do a better job providing opportunities to all tech workers. The Wall Street Journal called the decision “a move that could reverberate around Silicon Valley.” Read More
Larry Mazzola Reappointed to SF Airport Commission
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee reappointed Larry Mazzola to a sixth term on the San Francisco Airport Commission in September. Mayor Lee’s Communications Director, Christine Falvey, said Mazzola, “has served the commission for years, and the mayor recognizes his contributions that have helped make the airport an international model.” Read More
Selected Articles, October 2014
Unionists Support Good Jobs for Tech Industry Security Workers
San Mateo County Central Labor Council union members met at the Apple store in Burlingame September 19 to support the campaign for good jobs for security officers in Silicon Valley. Left to right, Tony Tofani, Painters and Allied Trades District Council 16; Shelley Kessler, San Mateo Labor Council; Adrienne Zanini, AFT Local 3267; Rich Hedges, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5; Melinda Dart, AFT 3267; Julie Lind, San Mateo Labor Council; Susan Charles, San Mateo Labor Council; Donna Laws, IAMAW LL 1782 and Ann Clifford, IAMAW LL 1782.
Labor union members ramped up the campaign to support good jobs for security officers in Silicon Valley last month. As Apple debuted its latest version of the iPhone 6, service workers and unionists leafleted customers at Apple stores around the Bay Area September 19, including at the Burlingame store. Many customers were sympathetic to the calls for a living wage and better working conditions for security workers in the technology industry. Read More
Labor Backs Tom Torlakson’s Re-election
Teachers Unions: Stakes Are High in the Race for CA Schools Superintendent
October 2014
A second-generation public school teacher, Tom Torlakson is seeking a second term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He was elected in 2010 after serving in the State Senate and Assembly. Torlakson has used his classroom experience to make schools safer, help more students graduate with real-world skills, and put more decision-making over education dollars in the hands in the hands of parents, teachers and communities.Read More
Labor Council Endorses Candidates for City Councils and School Boards
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building Trades Council are mobilizing union members to get out the vote for labor-backed candidates in the November 4 election. Phone banking and precinct walks began in September and continue up to and including election day. The Labor Council has endorsed candidates for City Council in Daly City, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, and Pacifica, and for School Board in the Jefferson Union High School District and South San Francisco Unified School District, and for the Sequoia Health Care District and County Harbor District. Read More
County Board of Supervisors Appoints Stan Kiino to New LGBTQ Commission
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved the appointments of 11 residents to the first California city or county commission dedicated to the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community September 9. The LGBTQ Commission was established to promote programs and policies that foster the well-being and civic participation of LGBTQ individuals in San Mateo County. Read More
Selected Articles, August 2014
U.S. Supreme Court Rules on “Partial Public Employees”
The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote handed down its decision in the Harris v. Quinn case June 30. The court ruled that Illinois home care workers who benefit from higher wages and better working conditions that their union negotiated for—but who choose not to join—do not have to pay their fair share of the cost of the union’s bargaining for and representation of all workers. Read More
Activists Learn about Changing the Narrative to Counter Anti-Union Forces and Tell Labor’s Stories
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council hosted a training session for union members June 28 on “Changing the Narrative” to help beat back the attacks on unions and put labor on the offense. The California Labor Federation’s Communications Director, Steve Smith, and Communications Organizer, Krista Collard, presented a new narrative about unions based on public opinion research and expert analysis that can be used to counter the anti-union propaganda and tell the truth about what unions are. Read More
America’s Working Families Need Unions to Stay Strong
Unions help families secure prosperity and opportunity
The July 4th holiday provided a chance to celebrate with our loved ones—and to remember how unions have helped American families secure prosperity and opportunity, and why we should consider unions a basic form of democracy Read More
Selected Articles, July 2014
Unions to Apple: Develop a Conscience, Pay Your Taxes and Be a Good Neighbor
Union members engaged customers outside the Apple store in Burlingame June 18 with leaflets that highlighted the ways Apple shirks its responsibility to communities in its home state. An ongoing campaign by the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West calls on the tech giant to end its practices of putting billions of dollars in profits in offshore accounts and contracting with a security company that perpetuates low-wage security jobs. Read More
Union Members Discuss Labor Issues with Assembly Member Kevin Mullin
Assembly Member Kevin Mullin met with union members to discuss labor concerns at a meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council June 6. Mullin was asked about his positions on the state budget, education funding, and problems at the San Mateo County Events Center and SF International Airport. Read More
Teachers Sound Alarm over Court’s Anti-Public Education Ruling
In a ruling with broad implications for public education across the United States, a California court struck down key workplace protections for the state’s public school teachers June 10 by siding with student plaintiffs—backed by powerful political forces— who claimed such policies negatively impacted the quality of their learning. Read More
Selected Articles, June 2014
Union members protesting President Obama’s visit to the Mountain View Walmart included Julie Lind, SM Labor Council; Nadia Bledsoe, AFSCME Local 829; Rayna Lehman, SM Labor Council; and UFCW Local 5 members Mike Frenna, Efran Aguillera, Kenny Scanlon, and Julian Perez.
Unions, Low Wage Workers Protest Obama's Walmart Visit
Several hundred members of labor unions from throughout the Bay Area converged at the Walmart in Mountain View May 9 to protest an appearance by President Barack Obama. In California to raise funds for Democrats, Obama chose Walmart as the site for a talk on how companies can be more energy efficient, praising the mega-retailer’s record on clean energy use. Read More
Postal Workers, Supporters Ramp Up Stop Staples Campaign
Carrying signs and chanting, “The U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale,” members of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and supporters rallied at the Staples store in Foster City April 29 to call attention to a deal between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples that threatens local post office jobs. The office supply retailer now displays a USPS logo on its façade and a knock-off post office inside staffed by low paid workers at many of its stores nationwide. The pilot program could expand, undermining the wages and benefits of the unionized USPS workforce and threatening jobs. Read More
Union Community Alliance Improving the Quality of Life for Workers
The San Mateo County Union Community Alliance (SMCUCA) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for all workers and their families in San Mateo County. The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building Trades Council created SMCUCA in 2003. Read More
Labor Council Endorses Candidates in June 3 Primary Election
Vote for Carole Groom and Don Horsley
for San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building Trades Council recommendations for the State Assembly and U.S. Congress were endorsed at the California Labor Federation’s convention April 10. Read More
Shelley Kessler Appointed to Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation
Shelley Kessler was officially sworn in as a member of the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation by San Mateo County Supervisor Carole Groom at the San Mateo County Central Labor Council’s delegates’ meeting May 12.
Treasurer of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council, was appointed to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation by Assembly Speaker John Perez last month. The Commission (CHSWC) is a joint labor-management body created by the workers’ compensation reform legislation of 1993. Commissioners are appointed by the Governor and the Legislature, with four members representing employers and four representing labor.
CHSWC is charged with examining the health and safety and workers’ compensation systems in California and recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operation. The Commission conducts an ongoing examination of the workers’ compensation system and the state’s activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational illnesses, and examines similar programs in other states. CHSWC also administers the Worker Occupational Safety and Health Training and Education Program (WOSHTEP), which sponsors workplace health and safety training programs and distributes educational materials on job safety.
Other Commission members representing labor are Angie Wei, Legislative Director, California Labor Federation; Doug Bloch, Political Director, Teamsters Joint Council 7; and Christine Bouma, President, Capitol Connection. Kessler replaces Faith Culbreath, Director of Strategic Partnerships, SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) as the fourth labor representative on the CHSWC.
Ms. Kessler was officially sworn in by San Mateo County Supervisor Carole Groom May 12 at the San Mateo County Central Labor Council’s delegates’ meeting.
..............
Selected Articles, May 2014
South San Francisco Passes Ban on Big Box Retail Stores
The South San Francisco City Council voted unanimously April 16 to prohibit superstores city-wide and large-format retail stores with a grocery component East of Highway 101. The ordinance banning big box stores was recommended by City Staff. In January 2013, South San Francisco enacted a 16-month moratorium on new permits for large format retail stores—slowing a potential move by Walmart to bring one of its supercenter big box stores to South City. Read More
Schools Superintendent Torlakson has Earned, and Needs, the Support of the Building Trades
The tenacious and overwhelming unity of California's Building Trades unions and workers during the past few election cycles has served us well, resulting in the elections of state officials who care deeply for working families, and who enact policies that reflect that concern. Read More
Union Members Meet with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo
Representatives from the San Mateo County and South Bay Labor Council’s met with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo March 31 to discuss issues in the district. Read More
Labor and Covered California 2014
To date, more than 1.3 million Californians have enrolled in healthcare through Covered California, our “Obamacare” health exchange. The first Open Enrollment period officially closed on April 15. Read More
Selected Articles, April 2014
Teachers Union Brings Educators and Families Together for Student Success
The Jefferson Elementary Federation of Teachers, AFT 3267, hosted a learning festival March 8 to provide useful resources for students, parents, and teachers and promote collaboration between educators and Daly City area parents. The “Reclaiming the Promise of Quality Public Education” conference, held at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, featured workshops for parents and educators on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), improving literacy and helping students who are English language learners. AFT 3267 partnered with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), California Federation of Teachers, and the Jefferson Council PTA to organize the conference. Read More
Bay Area Legislators Support Pro-Labor Bills
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council and San Mateo County Building Trades Council hosted a series of meetings with Bay Area legislators in Sacramento March 18 along with the San Francisco Labor Council and SF Building Trades Council. State Senators Jerry Hill, Leland Yee, and Mark Leno and Assembly Members Rich Gordon, Kevin Mullin, Phil Ting and Tom Ammiano were asked to support the labor issues and bills by representatives from the building trades, public sector, and private sector unions. Read More
Teamsters United Airlines Mechanics Join Labor Council
Airline Mechanics at United Airlines at San Francisco International Airport are again part of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council. The re-affiliation of the mechanics comes six years after they voted for representation by the Teamsters. Teamsters SFO 856/986 represents the over 3,000 United Airlines Mechanics and related workers at the SFO SFO Maintenance Base. Read More
Selected Articles, March 2014
Speier, Gordon, Mullin Discuss Income Inequality, Labor Issues
Income inequality was a major theme at a meeting with Congresswoman Jackie Speier and Assembly Members Rich Gordon and Kevin Mullin hosted by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council February 7. Read More
Bay Area Rallies Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Fair trade activists, workers, environmental activists and others rallied January 31 in San Francisco against the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Activists marched from the federal building where House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has her office to the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein to mark their opposition to the Fast Track legislation which would circumvent ordinary Congressional review and speed up the approval of the TPP. Read More
Selected Articles, February 2014
First Phase of SFO Terminal 3 Project Completed
San Francisco International Airport officials led a tour of the airport’s newly renovated Terminal 3 Boarding Area E January 17 for San Mateo County labor leaders and union members. The new T3 Boarding Area was built with union labor under a Project Labor Agreement. Union general contractor Hensel Phillips began work on the $138 million project in 2012 and completed work in December 2013. Read More
Dave Pine Elected as President of County Board of Supervisors
Supervisor Dave Pine was elected president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors during the Board’s first meeting of 2014. Pine was elected in May 2011 to represent District 1, which includes Burlingame, Hillsborough, parts of San Bruno and South San Francisco and the unincorporated San Mateo Highlands and Burlingame Hills neighborhoods. He made a brief speech at his swearing-in as Board president in which he called for “more risk taking, innovation and efficiency in 2014.” Read More
Stemming Income Inequality Hinges on Investing in California’s Middle Class
There’s a new narrative emerging from right-wingers like Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio on the growing problem of income inequality. Rubio and California Republicans like Assemblymember Dan Logue are blaming inequality on taxes on the wealthy and government regulations that protect workers and the environment. Problem is, this new narrative is pure fantasy. Read More
Selected Articles, January 2014
Unions Reach Deal with BART
The Bay Area Rapid Transit District’s largest unions, SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555, announced December 21 that a tentative agreement had been reached with BART Management’s negotiators on a disputed contract provision on paid family medical leave. Read More
U.S. Postal Service Can Survive with Your Support!
“Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This familiar creed has illustrated how our nation has trustworthily received its mail delivery service since 1775. Now what Mother Nature has been unable to hinder for over 200 years, some members of the United States Senate are trying their best to dismantle through deeply flawed legislation. Read More
Another Missed TPP Deadline Calls Pact’s Agenda into Question
As negotiators for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) missed yet another deadline for completing the pact in Singapore December 10, labor, environmental, consumer and Congressional leaders held a media briefing that called the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) agenda for the pact into question. Pointing to the TPP’s significant threats to jobs, the environment and consumer safety, they called for release of TPP texts and voiced strong opposition to “Fast Track” authority for the pact. Read More
Northern California Court Interpreters Reach Deal with Courts
The California Federation of Interpreters Region 2 announced December 9 that the union, which represents courtroom interpreters in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, had reached an agreement with the courts that calls for raises and the ability to bargain over the impact of Video Remote Interpreting (VRI). Read More
The Fight Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Heats Up
Opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement has increased over the past few months as some of the language in the proposed trade treaty has been made public and many members of Congress have expressed opposition to Fast Tracking the deal. The AFL-CIO also called for a “New Approach to Trade and Globalization” in a Resolution at its convention in September. Read More
Selected Articles, December, 2013
Labor Council’s Election Work Gets Results
The efforts of San Mateo County Central Labor Council union members to get out the vote paid off with positive results in many races November 5. Over 200 volunteers made phone calls, walked precincts, and talked to fellow union members to urge votes for labor-endorsed candidates and measures. Read More
Union Members Meet with State Senator Jerry Hill
State Senator Jerry Hill met with representatives of several unions November 20 at the Plumbers Local 467 union hall in Burlingame. Sen. Hill talked about his work on Enterprize Zone reform and his support for labor-backed legislation. Union members discussed concerns about the use of non-union workers by contractors on trade shows at the San Mateo County Events Center, ensuring that building trades union members are employed on construction projects in San Mateo County, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the attacks on public sector workers’ pensions, and education funding.
State Senator Jerry Hill met with representatives of several unions November 20 at the Plumbers Local 467 union hall in Burlingame.
Workers’ Combined Pennies Fight Billionaires’ Efforts to Silence Workers
Through all my years as an Ironworker, I made regular contributions to our political action committee. My contribution was at first three, and then five cents per hour. I contributed those pennies every hour of every day that I worked to support our cause. So did my brothers and sisters in our trade, and all the workers in all the Building Trades affiliates. Working in unity, all of us combined our pennies together for a common purpose, into enough dollars to fight effectively for a decent quality of life for workers. That is who we are. That is how we do things. Read More
Selected Articles, October-November, 2013
Stationary Engineers Local 39 On Strike at Sequoia Hospital
Members of the Stationary Engineers Local 39 rallied at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City October 17 to call on Dignity Health to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair and equitable agreement. Local 39 members went on strike October 1 at Dignity Health’s four hospitals—Sequoia Hospital, St. Mary’s Medical Center, St. Francis Hospital, and Dominican Hospital—after rejecting the company’s last, best, and final offer. Read More
BART Unions End Unfair Labor Practice Strike
After more than five months of contentious negotiations, BART’s largest unions reached a tentative agreement with the transit agency October 21 and announced the end to a four-day unfair labor practice strike. SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555 issued statements after the tentative agreement was reached. Read More
SJ Mayor Teams Up With Enron Billionaire to Gut Californians’ Retirement
It’s official. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a career politician with backing from a Texas billionaire and former Enron trader, has filed a ballot measure to strip away retirement security from current teachers, firefighters, sanitation workers and other public servants. Read More
Unions Seek Community Benefits in South City Plan
Dozens of union members from the Building Trades and public sector unions participated in a public workshop on South San Francisco’s Downtown Station Area Plan (Downtown SAP) September 17. The community meeting featured presentations from city leadership, staff and the Citizens Advisory Group on the city’s plans to develop the downtown area, and interactive workshops on the specifics of the plan. About one quarter of the participants were union members, most either residents of South SF or city employees. Read More
AFL-CIO Calls for Broad, Inclusive Labor Movement & Assisting All Workers to Organize
In a culmination of months of listening sessions and reflection, the AFL-CIO announced September 9 that any U.S. worker can join the labor movement and that the labor federation will develop several new pathways for workers to join the labor movement, either through affiliate unions, AFL-CIO’s community affiliate Working America, worker centers or as students. In addition to opening the labor movement to all and the commitment to building enduring community labor partnerships, the AFL-CIO passed two other important resolutions in the Monday morning session at its quadrennial convention in Los Angeles. Read More
Legislature Passes Historic Minimum Wage Increase
California made history last month. With the support of California’s unions, the Legislature voted to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10 an hour, the highest minimum wage in the country. The wage will be implemented in two steps: an increase to $9 per hour in July of next year, followed by another one-dollar increase to $10 in January of 2016. Read More
CA Legislative Session Delivers Big Gains for Workers
Big things are happening in California. The end of the California legislative session brought huge gains to workers and their families that boost our state’s economy and bolster the middle class. Read More
Selected Articles, September, 2013
Hundreds of building trades union members rallied at the jobsite of the new housing development in Redwood City being built by BRE. The developer has gained notoriety for using non-union contractors and construction crews and paying well below the area standard wages to build hundreds of units in Redwood City and around the Bay Area. Read More
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) announced August 8 that it is affiliating with the AFL-CIO. UFCW President Joe Hansen said, “We join the AFL-CIO because it is the right thing to do for UFCW members, giving them more power and influence. It is about fostering more opportunities for workers to have a true voice on the job. It is about joining forces to build a more united labor movement that can fight back against the corporate and political onslaught facing our members each and every day.” Read More
Candidates for local office heard from union members at a candidate orientation meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building and Construction Trades Council August 15 at the IBEW Local 617 union hall in San Mateo. Over 40 candidates for City Councils, School Boards and Special Districts attended. Read More
by Paul Burton, September 2013
In the Labor paper’s office, a framed copy of the August 5, 1938 edition our predecessor, Volume I, Number I of the San Mateo County Union Gazette, proclaims in its first headline, “UNION SCALE BECOMES PREVAILING WAGE RATE.” This and other front-page stories from 1938 still resonate 75 years on. And the newspaper’s motto of that time. “That community thrives best when Labor prospers most,” certainly still has relevance today. Read More
by John Logan,
San Francisco State University
The sixty-day cooling off period in the BART dispute has resulted in a temporary break in contract negotiations—we don’t yet know at this writing when the parties will meet again—but it is less likely to end BART management’s relentless P.R. campaign against its own employees. If one believes BART management’s media campaign, the problem at the heart of the contract dispute is straightforward: its employees are overpaid, greedy, strike happy, inflexible, uneducated, and unworthy of middle-class wages and benefits. Read More
The Labor paper is celebrating 75 years as the voice of labor in San Mateo County; at its founding the country was eight years into the Great Depression. California was crowded with hungry, unemployed workers; economic and environmental refugees from the dust bowl states hoping to find relief from the stock market crash. The Great Depression of the 1930’s inflicted a great deal of pain and suffering on working people but it also provided a foundation we have built on locally. Read More
Selected Articles, July 2013
Former Obama Administration Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was introduced as the COPE Banquet keynote speaker by Labor Council president Lamoin Werlein-Jaen as “the peoples’ Secretary of Labor.” He said she had been a champion for labor and in particular had advocated strongly for the Hyatt Hotel workers. “She is living proof that good people can do good things in public office,” Werlein-Jaen said. Read More
The Transportation Security Administration on June 5 dropped a new policy change that would have allowed knives on planes for the first time since the 9/11 hijackings.Read More
Selected Articles, Mar.-June 2013
The all-union construction crew at the new 888 San Mateo Apartments project in San Mateo was recognized at a worker appreciation event May 16, hosted by the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust (BIT), in partnership with the San Mateo County Building Trades and Sares Regis Group of Northern California. The $69.9 million development that broke ground in June 2012 is funded by the BIT, which invests union pension funds in building projects around the country. Read More
Understanding the impacts of the federal Affordable Care Act on union health care plans was the subject of a training session on May 18 conducted by California Labor Federation Public Policy Coordinator Sara Flocks. “Obamacare”—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)—goes into full force and effect on January 1, 2014. Read More
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council passed a resolution May 13 supporting efforts of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) to prevent the re-introduction of knives on planes and pass HR 1093, the “No Knives Act of 2013.” The AFA resolution states that the Flight Attendants at 20 airlines strongly believe that potentially dangerous items like knives and club style sporting equipment should never be allowed in the cabin of an aircraft. Read More
State Senator Leland Yee made a surprise visit to the Labor Council delegates meeting May 13, where he announced that he had named Shelley Kessler as 2013 Woman of the Year for the 8th Senatorial District. Read More
Hundreds of workers descended on the Capitol April 16 as part of the California Labor Federation’s legislative conference lobby day with a simple message for both Democrats and Republicans in office: “End the Corporate Gravy Train.” They were referring to the state’s wasteful enterprise zone program, which takes money away from schools, infrastructure and other valuable services to line the pockets of corporate CEOs at Walmart and other large, profitable corporations. Read More
A delegation of union members from the San Mateo County Central Labor Council met with local staff of Congressmembers Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo last month to share concerns about the proposed immigration reform legislation. Read More
Over the past couple of months, lead stories on every media outlet across this nation have covered the “gloom and doom” angle of six-day postal delivery. But on Sunday, March 24, thousands of Letter Carriers, union members and allies came out to set the story straight on the real crisis that is facing the United States Postal Service. In San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno and San Francisco, rally participants let the communities they serve know that if the overzealous plan by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to eliminate Saturday mail delivery is allowed to happen, it would be one of the biggest mistakes our government would ever make.Read More
State Senator Jerry Hill unveiled his new legislation to fix the enterprise zone system at a press conference outside the old VWR facility in Brisbane March 26. The location held significant meaning for the laid-off workers in attendance, many of whom worked at that facility for several decades. Read More
The 68 employees of VWR in Visalia voted affirmatively February 14 to join Teamsters Local 948 in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. The election punctuates a very high profile and controversial move by the company from the Bay Area to Visalia and continues the Teamsters struggle with the company. Read More
Selected Articles, Feb. 2013
The South San Francisco City Council voted January 23 to extend a moratorium on new permits for large format retail stores for another 16 months. The City Council voted December 12 to impose a 45-day moratorium—slowing a potential move by Walmart to bring one of its supercenter big box stores to South City. Read More
The New Priorities Network recently launched the Jobs Not Wars campaign. The effort includes an online petition calling on the President and Congress to end the Afghanistan war, bring the money home, and invest in good jobs, hurricane Sandy reconstruction, social programs, and diplomacy. Read More
Other Labor News:
California Labor Embraces Governor’s Bold Vision for Future
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis: A Champion for All Workers
“Gonna Take Us All”
Remembering Jon Fromer, May 11, 1946-Jan. 2, 2013
Selected Articles, Dec. 2012 - Jan. 2013
The South San Francisco City Council voted December 12 to impose a 45-day moratorium on new permits for large format retail stores—slowing a potential move by Walmart to bring one of its supercenter big box stores to South City. Read More
Walmart workers were joined by union members and elected officials at a rally at Walmart’s San Leandro store on Black Friday—the biggest shopping day for U.S. retailers. Read More
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1574 held a day of action to promote public transportation and to urge people to “vote transit” in the November 6 election by supporting candidates and ballot measures that enhance transit. ATU 1574 represents more than 700 SamTrans bus drivers, mechanics, customer service representatives and Paratransit operators on the Peninsula, who serve thousands of the county's transit riders, including the elderly, disabled and youth. Read More
Members of the Pacific Media Workers Guild at the San Francisco Chronicle picketed the newspaper October 25 to call on the Hearst Corporation to bargain in good faith. The union, which represents reporters, editors, librarians, graphic artists, office workers, salespeople, and other SF Chronicle employees pointed out that “while our union’s negotiating team has presented proposals to Hearst Corp. in several meetings about our healthcare plan, Hearst Corporation negotiators have cancelled bargaining sessions FIVE times.” Read More
Selected Articles, Oct.-Nov. 2012
The Amalgamated Transit Union recently kicked off a campaign to urge voters to support ballot measures to fund public transit and candidates who support increasing access to mass transit. The union is part of the Votetransit coalition of transportation advocates and riders who have launched a national movement to promote public transit in the United States. Read More
Registered nurses at Sutter Mills-Peninsula have voted to accept a new collective bargaining agreement, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced October 4.
Key to the two-year agreement was the decision by local hospital officials to withdraw more than three dozen substantial reductions in patient care protections and nurses’ economic and contract standards, as well as agree to improvements in safe staffing, the RNs said. CNA represents some 750 RNs in the health system, which has facilities in Burlingame and San Mateo. Read More
Candidates for local office heard from union members at a candidate orientation meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building and Construction Trades Council August 29 at the IBEW Local 617 union hall in San Mateo. About 40 candidates for City Councils, School Boards and Special Districts attended. Read More
You may remember VWR International as the now-infamous chemical supply company in Brisbane that was bought by private-equity firm Madison-Dearborn, which promptly cut a sweetheart deal to move the company to Visalia. The deal meant the company would recieve numerous public subsidies and tax breaks, including hefty Enterprise Zone hiring credits, which put state taxpayers on the hook to pay for. Read More
Selected Articles, Aug. - Sept. 2012
Registered nurses at seven San Mateo and Alameda county hospitals operated by the Sutter corporation held a one-day strike July 3, once again protesting a long list of concession demands that they say would undermine patient care protections as well as health and living standards for the RNs. Read More
On July 24, I joined hundreds of California labor activists, along with U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen, in San Francisco’s Union Square, where we rallied, chanted and danced to get our simple message across: Bring Our Jobs Home. Read More
Selected Articles, June - July 2012
Elected officials and county transportation leaders spoke up in support of modernizing Caltrain at a press conference at Caltrain’s Sequoia Station in Redwood City June 12. The event coincided with the release of a new study by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute that found that electrifying the Caltrain system at a cost of $1.5 billion would generate as much as $2.5 billion in benefits to the region while creating thousands of new jobs. Read More
United Airlines’ Machinist union (IAMAW) members and retirees picketed an appearance by United CEO Jeffery Smisek in Burlingame May 9 to protest the company stalling contract negotiations for almost three years and to call attention to the airline’s cuts to retiree benefits. Read More
Registered nurses went on strike May 1 at eight hospitals that are part of the wealthy Sutter corporate chain to protest Wall Street-type demands for reductions in nurses’ standards and workplace conditions. The members of California Nurses Association had offered to call off the strike if Sutter agreed to withdraw the concession demands. In addition to the concession demands, the strikers protested Sutter’s reductions in patient care services throughout the region. Read More
Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 were joined by elected officials and other labor union allies for a day of action May 17. Read More
Selected Articles, May 2012
Over 1,000 people marched to the Wells Fargo shareholders meeting in San Francisco April 24 to protest the bank’s business practices. Activists from housing rights organizations, labor union members, and faith leaders converged on the Merchant’s Exchange Building after a rally at Justin Herman Plaza near the site of the former Occupy San Francisco encampment. Read More
A delegation of union members met with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo last month to discuss a range of issues and concerns. Read More
Selected Articles, April 2012
Union members and other activists protested at a fundraiser Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City March 26. The former Massachusetts Governor has openly attacked unions and the working class in his campaign speeches and proposed policies that would harm working families. Read More
After months of consistent pressure from Occupy Redwood City, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Occupy San Jose, and concerned community members, JPMorgan Chase has offered a trial loan modification for Redwood City homeowner Gloria Takla. Read More
Selected Articles, March 2012
Over the objections of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council and affordable housing advocates, the City Council upheld the Redwood City Planning Commission’s approval of a new residential development by Urban Housing Group. The 2.5 acre site at 2580 El Camino Real formerly occupied by Mel’s Bowl will become a 141 unit, four-story condominium complex. Read More
Members of Stationary Engineers Local 39 picketed Seton Medical Center last month after being locked out by hospital management February 15. Read More...
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted February 14 to not renew a five-year lease to run the Burlingame Long-Term Care center. Many residents, family members, health care workers, and union leaders spoke at the Board meeting to urge the Supervisors to keep the facility open in its current location. More than 55 supporters of keeping the facility open spoke at the meeting. Read More..
Selected Articles, January - February 2012
The Redwood City Planning Commission voted December 13 to approve the final environmental impact report for a new residential development by Urban Housing Group. The 2.5 acre site at 2580 El Camino Real formerly occupied by Mel’s Bowl will become a 141 unit, four-story condominium complex. The San Mateo County Building Trades Council filed an appeal of the decision. Read More ...
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is urging the Justice Department to lead a comprehensive investigation with state Attorneys General to prevent banks from engaging in future unlawful and deceptive practices that could exploit homeowners and put the economy further at risk. Read More ...
The Occupy Oakland Day of Action drew ver 20,000 people who participated in what is reported to have been the biggest protest in the East Bay since the Vietnam War. Read More ...
Thousands of postal workers and their supporters held rallies in 492 locations across the country September 27 to protect the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and save 120,000 jobs. Read More ..
Selected Articles, October 2011
Dozens of Registered Nurses staffed a soup kitchen at the San Francisco federal building September 1 to call attention to the need for new priorities that help Main Street, not Wall Street. The nurses’ union said it would call on legislators, Republicans and Democrats alike, to sign a pledge to support a Wall Street transaction tax that will raise sufficient revenue to make Wall Street pay for the devastation it has caused on Main Street, and help create jobs. Read More ...
San Mateo County union members leafletted at San Mateo and Burlingame stores September 9 in a show of support for the striking workers. They passed out leaflets and urged consumers to not shop at the stores until the Verizon workers are treated fairly. Read More ...
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council hosted a breakfast meeting with Congressmember Jackie Speier in San Mateo September 1. Several union members were able to ask the Congresswoman about labor issues and hear her thoughts about President Obama, defense spending, job creation efforts, and her efforts to ensure pipeline safety. Read More ...
Selected Articles, September 2011
 Seniors, students, union members and disabled people rallied in San Francisco August 17 in front of the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Activists presented the senator’s staff over 1,000 personal stories about how Social Security helps her constituents survive in tough economic times. Read More ...
Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) at Verizon Communications returned to work on August 23 after the unions reached an agreement with the company on renewing contract negotiations. The union members went on strike August 6 after the company refused to budge from the same list of unreasonable concessionary proposals it put on the table when contract talks opened in June. Read More ...
Assemblymember Jerry Hill Sought to Close Corporate Tax Loophole You’d think the priority of the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy would be creating and protecting jobs. You’d never know it after a committee vote August 23 on AB 1278. By voting against AB 1278, Committee Chair V. Manuel Perez (D-Imperial Valley) stalled important legislation that would have prevented companies from laying off workers to claim big tax breaks as part of the flawed Enterprise Zone program. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), sought to protect jobs in today’s harsh economic environment while helping end the practice of rewarding companies that lay off workers with taxpayer subsidies. The bill failed to get out of the committee on a 3-3 vote. Perez joined the two Republicans on the committee in voting against the bill. Read More ...
Candidates for local office heard from union members at a candidate orientation meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building and Construction Trades Council August 22 at the IBEW Local 617 union hall in San Mateo. About 40 candidates for City Councils, School Boards and Special Districts attended. Read More ...
The Saltworks Project in Redwood City has received a lot of attention in recent months, both from media outlets and from various unions. The San Mateo County Central Labor Council, within whose jurisdiction the project lies, has only taken the position to support the Environmental Impact Review (EIR) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process. After a great deal of discussion in council meetings, we feel it is important to have an analysis that actually examines the plan and reveals additional issues that will need to be addressed if the project is to move forward. Once completed, we can review the results to determine what, if any, the position of our council should be. Read More ...
Hotel Workers Protest Hyatt
Over a 1,000 hotel workers and community allies protested Hyatt’s unfair treatment of workers at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco’s Union Square July 21. A group of 80 hotel workers and supporters were arrested after engaging in non-violent civil disobedience—blocking the street in front of the hotel
As part of a nationwide action, thousands of hotel workers protested at Hyatt hotels in nine cities. The union said that Hyatt is abusing housekeepers by cutting jobs, replacing experienced employees with minimum wage temporary workers and imposing dangerous workloads on the remaining housekeepers.
The actions followed months of strikes, public demonstrations and boycotts, which show no signs of slowing down. The Hyatt workers have been supported by community allies, faith groups and members of other unions. Several members of San Mateo County unions participated in the march and rally at the Hyatt.
According to the Hotel Workers union, housekeepers at some Hyatts clean as many as 30 rooms a day, nearly double what is typically required at union hotels. This leaves room attendants as little as 15 minutes to clean a room, resulting in fewer jobs and dangerous working conditions for housekeepers.
In a statement, the union noted that, “Hotel workers are the invisible backbone of the hotel industry. The grittier aspects of our jobs—scrubbing toilets, changing sheets, cleaning dishes—are the hidden foundation on which the atmosphere of luxury and comfort are built.”
Demonstrations took place in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Honolulu. The San Francisco demonstration was organized by UNITE HERE Local 2.
The union has called on the public to boycott the Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf, and Hyatt Regency Embarcadero.
For more information and updates, check www.onedaylongersf.org/.
Selected Articles, July 2011
For more than 50 years, members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 6 have worked at a liquor bottling plant in Menlo Park that packages some of America’s best-known drinks. They include Johnny Walker, Hennessy, Jose Cuervo, Smirnoff, and Captain Morgan—plus Guinness and Red Stripe beer and wine labels Rosenblum Cellars, Blossom Hill, Sterling Vineyards, Chateau and Estates, & Moet Chandon. Diageo is the British-based corporation behind all these and other brands. Read More ...
Representatives of Teamsters Local 856 spoke out against plans by the Town of Atherton to privatize the Building Department and the Public Works Department at the Atherton City Council meeting June 15. Town workers, former Mayor Malcolm Dudley, and members of the public also called on the Council to reconsider the move. Read More ...
A broad coalition of Bay Area and state-wide single payer advocates rallied in favor of “Medicare-for-all” and in opposition to the health insurance industry in San Francisco June 16. Over 200 single payer supporters protested at the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Conference to call for removing private insurance companies from the nation’s health care system. Read More ...
Selected Articles, June 2011
The San Carlos City Council voted unanimously April 25 to merge its Fire Department with Redwood City, rejecting a bid to privatize the department and outsource fire services to the private security firm Wackenhut Services Inc. Read More ...
Teamsters Local 856 union members presented testimony at a hearing in Brisbane May 9 on the impacts of the planned move by the medical supply firm VWR from Brisbane to Visalia. The hearing—billed as “A Federal-State Inquiry Into Job Losses and Misdirected Tax Policy”—enabled workers at the Brisbane distribution center to make the case to state and federal officials that the state’s Enterprise Zone program subsidizes a race to the bottom. Read More ...
Thousands of teachers, students, school employees, public sector workers and others joined together for the “State of Emergency”—a week of action aimed at preventing the devastating budget cuts that have decimated public schools and vital public services. Read More ...
Air Line Pilots Association members from United and Continental Airlines marked the one-year anniversary of the announced merger between the two airlines May 3 with rallies at several airports around the US. Read More ...
Selected Articles, May 2011
Local unions and community organizations join workers across the country for April 4 “We Are One” solidarity rally
A spirit of solidarity sparked by the resistance to attacks on public sector workers in Wisconsin, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and California was on display April 4 in Redwood City. San Mateo workers and community members packed into Courthouse Square, demonstrating local support for the national movement rising up across the country to fight in defense of collective bargaining rights as a tool for social justice. Read more ...
The Millbrae City Council delayed approval of Safeway’s plan to expand their Millbrae store April 12. Four council members expressed concerns about the increased number of vehicles and asked for further study of traffic impacts. Read more ...
The San Mateo County and San Francisco Labor Councils hosted a series of meetings with Bay Area legislators March 22 along with the San Francisco and San Mateo County Building Trades Councils. State Senators Mark Leno, Joe Simitian, and Leland Yee and Assembly members Tom Ammiano, Rich Gordon, Jerry Hill, and Fiona Ma were asked to support the labor-backed bills. Read more ...
The Campaign for New Priorities brings together organizations and individuals from diverse constituencies, communities and movements to demand of our public officials a change of direction for the U.S. — one that prioritizes putting people back to work, restoring and fully funding essential public services, rebuilding and repairing infrastructure, funding the development of new alternative energy technologies, cleaning up and protecting the environment, developing a sustainable peace economy, reducing poverty and inequality, and generally meeting important social and other human needs. Read more ...
Report on Living Wage Policies & Big-Box Retail
A new report: “Living Wage Policies and Big-Box Retail: How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers,” is available from the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education
The study uses the most recent data available to update the 2007 report on the impact to workers and shoppers if Wal-mart increased its minimum wage. It finds that a $12 per hour minimum wage would provide substantial benefits to Wal-mart workers in low-income families, while the costs would be dispersed in small amounts among many consumers across the income spectrum.
Download the report from http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/.
Selected Articles, April 2011
The Labor Council’s Airport Labor Coalition met with Congresswoman Jackie Speier in February to discuss issues of concern to airline unions. Read more ...
The South San Francisco Unified School District Board voted unanimously March 10 to enter into a Project Stabilization Agreement with the San Mateo County Building Trades Council for work done under the Meaure J bond passed by voters last November. Read more ...
Hotel Workers, Hilton Reach Settlement in San Francisco
UNITE HERE Local 2 and Hilton San Francisco Union Square announced a tentative agreement March 7 to end an 18-month labor dispute in San Francisco. The settlement comes as similar agreements were reached in Chicago and Honolulu with Hilton Worldwide, and signals a major breakthrough in citywide hotel negotiations.
“Hilton has shown itself to be a real leader in San Francisco’s biggest industry,” said Mike Casey, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “With this agreement, workers and the company alike can look forward with confidence as the hospitality sector continues to emerge from the recent recession.”
The contract settlement—which is subject to a ratification vote March 11—was reached during negotiations March 3 and finalized over the weekend. The four-year agreement goes back to August 2009 (when the last contract expired) to August 2013.
While terms of the settlements vary in each city, the contracts include wage increases, improved job stability language and reduced workloads for housekeeping staff and others. Significantly, the new contracts also preserve low-cost, high-quality health care and pension benefits for Hilton workers and their families at a time when, nationwide, these employee benefits are being cut. The three tentative agreements cover nearly 4,000 workers.
With this settlement, UNITE HERE has called an end to the boycott of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and is encouraging customers to book events at this property.
The union continues to seek contract settlements with other employers in the hospitality industry, and maintains a boycott at several Hyatt and Starwood hotels.
“This is a big step forward for us,” said Guadalupe Chavez, a room cleaner at the San Francisco Hilton and executive board member of Local 2. “I’m so glad the contract is settled with Hilton, but we’re going to keep on fighting for our brothers and sisters at other hotels.”
UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm said in a statement: “We are pleased to have achieved a fair settlement for all sides—one that allows workers to move forward and share in the robust recovery that the hotel industry is experiencing.”
Nationwide, the hotel industry is already rebounding faster and stronger than expected. PKF Hospitality projects that hotel revenues will rise an average of 8 percent annually from 2010 through 2014.
For a list of hotels to patronize or to boycott, check the union’s website: www.unitehere2.org
Selected Articles, March 2011
Health care activists, led by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) rallied outside Blue Shield’s San Francisco corporate headquarters Feb. 1 to protest the health insurance giant’s premium hikes of as much as 59 percent for California consumers. Read more ...
Assemblymember Jerry Hill of San Mateo County introduced legislation Feb. 11 in response to San Francisco’s “local hire” ordinance. Joined by several local elected officials and labor union members at a press conference just south of the San Francisco International Airport, Hill said his bill (AB 356) would prohibit the use of state funds on local hire projects in counties within 70 miles of San Francisco. Read more ...
A recent article in the Economist magazine titled “Tough Times for Everyone – Except Public Sector Workers” states that taxpayers are now learning about “the banquet public sector workers have been having at the expense of everyone else” and that many public employees can “retire in their mid-50s on close to full pay.” Read more ..
• • • • • • • • •
Call 2-1-1 to get the services you need
With the launch of 211 San Mateo County, the 211 Bay Area network now serves 12 counties, connecting people in need with health and human services.
“This easy-to-remember, round-the-clock service will help San Mateo residents quickly navigate the maze of government and nonprofit agencies that serve their county,” said Anne Wilson, CEO of United Way of the Bay Area, which operates 211 in San Mateo and four other counties. She noted that without 211, people often call several agencies before getting through to the correct service, while many give up before finding the help they need.
Callers to the 211 service can quickly and easily reach a trained, caring specialist who will match their needs with local community services and help individuals find food, housing, health care, senior services, child care, legal aid and much more.
At the event celebrating the launch of the service on Feb. 11, County Sheriff Greg Munks said that the service was also important for public safety and a tool that can be used in case of a disaster. He said that when 911 phone lines were overwhelmed with calls during the San Bruno fire last summer, the 211 service was used to get information out to San Bruno residents. “It is a tremendous tool in the event of a disaster, and in our day to day work police can use it to give out information and referrals to connect people to important services,” he said. “It frees us up to do other work.”
SMCLC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Shelley Kessler, a United Way board member, said that for people in a crisis, having one phone number to call was important and the follow-up done by call center staffers was of great help. Learn more at www.211BayArea.org/san-mateo.
Menlo Park Firefighters Local 2400 participated in the launch of the 211 service in San Mateo County, donating the use of an antique fire truck that was driven along El Camino Real February 11 displaying the 2-1-1 banner. Pictured here at the celebration to publicly launch 211 San Mateo County are SMCLC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Shelley Kessler, firefighter Tom Neylan, SMCLC Community Services Director Rayna Lehman, firefighter Jeff Barile, and on the truck, firefighters Lance Lutticken and John Wurdinger.
• • • • • • • • •
Selected Articles, February 2011
United Airlines Flight Attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA Council 11) held a rally at San Francisco International Airport January 7 to protest the failure of United Airlines management to negotiate a new contract a year after their contract became amendable. United pilots from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA Council 34), as well as members of other unions who stand in support of Flight Attendant efforts to secure an industry-leading contract, joined the picket line. Read more ...
In January, Governor Jerry Brown released his plan to address the estimated $25.4 billion gap in the state budget through the end of fiscal year 2011-2012. It is a mixture of cuts, a five-year extension of tax measures set to expire this year, and realignment of many services currently shared by the state and counties to full administration by county governments. Brown is expected to call a Special Election to seek voter support for extending certain taxes that were part of the previous budget deal. His budget reduces the state’s $25.4 billion deficit by about $13 billion. Unless the tax extension measures pass, the state will face a $12 billion deficit, resulting in more cuts to services. Read more ...
Members of Engineers and Scientists of California, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 20, who create manuals and work documents for mechanics and engineers at United Airlines, will retain their jobs now that the airline has backed off from its plan to outsource the work. The engineers, technologists and specialists who would have lost their jobs are part of a team that works with about 3,000 mechanics at the UAL maintenance base to ensure that proper designs and plans are applied when building and repairing aircraft there. Read more ...
NAFTA-Style Korea Trade Deal Protested
Kim Kyng Ran, of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, right, spoke about the impacts of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement on Korean workers. Alexandra Suh of the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance in Los Angeles, left, served as translator.
Union members, fair trade advocates, environmentalists, and representatives from Korean trade unions held a rally to stop the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement at the Federal Building Annex in San Francisco January 14.
The Korea-U.S. FTA will be the second largest trade agreement since NAFTA. Not only will it cost tens of thousands of jobs and weaken worker rights, the FTA strengthens the rights of corporations over public interest laws intended to protect our health and environment.
Speakers included Kim Kyng Ran, director of external relations for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Anuradha Mittal of the Oakland Institute, Tim Robertson of the California Fair Trade Coalition.
Robertson said that President Obama had campaigned on a promise to negotiate new trade deals with protections for workers, farmers, and the environment. He said that the Korea-U.S. FTA (KORUS) was bad for workers in both countries, bad for consumers, farmers, and the environment.
Kim Kyng Ran of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions spoke about the impacts of the trade deal on Korean workers. She said that, “Only a small minority of capitalists benefit from this agreement. At a time of grave financial crisis, do we really want a trade agreement that deregulates financial markets in our countries?”
Kim said that there are 85 million “irregular workers” in South Korea who lack the protection of union contracts and have no job security. She said the lives of those workers will get worse if KORUS passes.In San Mateo County, Congressmember Jackie Speier has voiced opposition to the deal; the fair trade coalition is urging Congressmember Anna Eshoo to do the same. For more information, check www.citizenstrade.org/.
Tim Robertson of the California Fair Trade Coalition.
• • • • • • • • •
Selected Articles, January 2011
Members of UNITE HERE Local 2 who work for LSG Sky Chefs rallied December 2 at the Sky Chefs Kitchen in Burlingame, along with other union allies. Similar rallies have been held at Sky Chef facilities around the U.S. as part of a national effort to highlight the Sky Chefs workers’ fight for a contract. Local 2 members in San Mateo are part of national contract covering In-Flight Kitchens across the country, which expired in April 2010. The workers prepare and deliver meals, beverages and snacks to aircraft for domestic and international flights. Read more ...
Redwood City hosted a series of meetings in November seeking public input on the planned development of the Saltworks site in Redwood City. For nearly four years, developer DMB Associates has been engaged in a community outreach process to help plan the future for the Redwood City Saltworks site—a 2.2 square mile salt factory. Read more ...
Lending a Helping Hand for the Holidays
Volunteers helped to distribute food for union families at the San Mateo County Central Labor Council’s annual holiday food distribution at IAM Local 1781 in Burlingame December 17.
Many volunteers helped to organize toys for the San Mateo County Central Labor Council’s annual holiday toy distribution. Pictured, left to right at IAM Local 1781 in Burlingame December 16 are Jackie Watkins, and Local 1781 members Brenda Hattin, DJ Smith, Natalie Carrillo, and Natasha Carrillo.
Volunteers help distribute food to out of work union members at the Labor Council's food distribution at IAM Local 1781 November 19.
• • • • • • • • •
Selected Articles, December 2010
Members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) picketed at Seton Medical Center in Daly City November 17 to protest the hospital’s plan to lay off 44 health care workers. The hospital, operated by the Daughters of Charity, is poised to lay off 44 nurses and other caregivers just before the Christmas holiday. Read More ...
The work of union members to get out the vote was a crucial factor in the victories of labor-endorsed candidates November 2, and the defeat of Republican CEOs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. Worker power helped to elect Jerry Brown to a third term as Governor and return Barbara Boxer to the U.S. Senate—over the big bucks campaigns of their opponents. Read More ...
Selected Articles, November 2010
Bill Approved to Assist San Bruno Fire Victims
The California State Senate approved a bill to assist victims of the San Bruno fire. The deadly gas pipeline explosion and fire devastated a neighborhood in San Bruno September 9 and left 49 families without homes and killed seven people.
The San Bruno relief bill is similar to previously approved legislation to assist other communities such as those impacted by the fires in southern California.
The bill would allow a continuation of the $7,000 property tax exemption for homeowners who would have qualified for the exemption if their home had not been damaged or destroyed. In addition, the bill allows taxpayers (personal and business) to deduct income loss as result of the incident.
It also includes assistance to the County of San Mateo, City of San Bruno, and local schools by providing a one-year reimbursement from the State for any tax losses related to the lower property assessments of damaged or destroyed homes. The state would be reimbursed by the entity responsible for the fire once the National Transportation Safety Board completes its investigation to determine who is responsible for the fire.
The bill was originally authored by State Senator Leland Yee, but after he voted against the state budget that includes cuts to education, social services, and health care, the Senate killed his bill in order to remove his authorship of the legislation. A new bill was introduced without Yee’s name and was passed with bipartisan support after Yee told his colleagues the issue was too important and that the bill should still be approved despite being stripped from him.
On October 4, KCBS news reported that, “In the nearly one month since the San Bruno pipeline explosion, a number of lawmakers and city leaders have expressed frustration about the seeming lack of information from PG&E about its network of gas lines throughout the Bay Area. In response, some elected officials launched an aggressive push for changes.”
After a series of meetings with officials from PG&E that revealed that there were only two automatic shutoff valves in the Peninsula region, Rep. Jackie Speier introduced legislation to mandate automatic shutoff valves in residential areas so gas could be turned off more quickly. Fighting the San Bruno fire was delayed by the amount of time it took to turn off the gas in the neighborhood.
San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane testified before a Senate Committee in Washington at the end of September.
Rebuilding U.S. Transportation Could Create 3.7 Million Jobs
By rebuilding our nation’s transportation infrastructure, we could create 3.7 million jobs, 600,000 alone in manufacturing, according to a new action plan released by the Apollo Alliance.
The Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan (TMAP) calls for an investment of $40 billion a year over the next six years to modernize and shore up our nation’s roads, bridges, mass transportation and advanced vehicles. The plan was developed by a bipartisan group of union members, business owners, environmental and community activists and political leaders.
For decades, the United States has all but ignored mass transit. In fact, since 2005, U.S. companies and governments have spent more than $10 billion to purchase rail cars, tracks and other mass transit equipment overseas, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard said. That $10 billion is money that should have been spent here.
Today, existing U.S. public transit bus, rail vehicle and clean truck supply chains support some 40,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs. There are more than 375 existing companies that could scale up to meet expanded demand if Congress is willing to put TMAP into action, Gerard said. “This is an opportunity to rebuild the important transportation infrastructure of this country….The benefit we get from this—the triple bottom line—is that we get to create good, family supporting jobs, we get to spend dollars in a way that’s going to grow the economy, we take carbon out of the air.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said that the nation risks losing middle-class jobs and weakening our national defense if we don’t have a national manufacturing strategy, with rebuilding transportation as a key part of the plans.
Gerard pointed out that those who are concerned about the deficit should back this plan: “The best way to eliminate the deficit is to put people back to work [so that] they’re contributing to the system that we’ve got. [And we have] employers who are producing something that can be sold and create some real wealth as opposed to importing stuff we used to make that is now being made in China and then borrowing money from China to pay for what we used to make.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka urged President Obama and Congress to use the TMAP blueprint as a blueprint for rebuilding our infrastructure “and get America back to work. The TMAP will transform the legacy of our past into a practical vision and plan for the 21st century,” Trumka said. “Their plan will foster innovation and new technology while creating good jobs and ensuring that our manufacturing sector is competitive in a dynamic global economy.”
Inspired by the Apollo space program, the Apollo Alliance is a coalition of labor, business, environmental and community leaders working to start a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs.
-James Parks, http://blog.aflcio.org/
• • • • • • • • •
Selected Articles, October 2010
Approximately 200 hundred union members turned out to protest a fundraiser for Republican Meg “Megabucks” Whitman in Burlingame September 21. While billionaire CEO Whitman and her special guest of honor—Bush Administration Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice—greeted guests who shelled out $2,500 to $25,900 for the dinner and reception, attendees were greeted by the chants of workers protesting Whitman’s corporate agenda. Read More...
Hotel workers with HERE Local 2 held an informational picket at the Hyatt Regency SFO in Burlingame September 2, to “give the hotel operators a taste of what to expect if they do not deal fairly with the union,” according to Local 2 President Mike Casey.The Local’s contract with the Hyatt expired at the end of August; the union has not called for a boycott of the hotel while negotiations are underway. HERE has called for a boycott of the three Hyatt hotels in San Francisco—the unionized Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt, and the non-union Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf. Contracts for the union hotels in San Francisco expired in August 2009. Read More...
The deadly gas pipeline explosion and fire that devastated a neighborhood in San Bruno September 9 left 49 families without homes and killed seven people.
As some families returned to their homes once they were declared to be safe, many local agencies offered assistance to the families. In the short term, PG&E has set up several funds to assist these families. Several community agencies are providing information, referral and other assistance. The Labor Council’s Community Services program is also working to identify affected union families, assess needs, and provide case management, advocacy and hardship as needed. Read More...
• • • • • • • • •
Selected Articles, September 2010
California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski presented Mateo County Central Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Shelley Kessler a Resolution from the California State Assembly honoring her for 25 years with the Labor Council September 13. Kessler was hired by Pulaski when he was SMCLC Executive Secretary-Treasurer.
• • • • • • • • •
Members of the San Mateo Labor Council’s Airport Labor Coalition were given an update on the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) at the group’s July meeting by Brandy Davis, policy coordinator for the Labor Project for Working Families. Ms. Davis explained the changes to the FMLA that apply to airline industry workers. Read More...
An official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Transbay Transit Center at First and Mission in San Francisco was held August 11. Officials from the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) said that the event was the beginning of the creation of the “Grand Central of the West,” connecting the San Francisco Bay Area to the rest of the State. The new Transbay Transit Center will replace the outdated Transbay Terminal and serve as a hub for local and regional public transit systems, linking busses, trains, and BART—centralizing the region’s transportation network by accommodating nine transportation systems under one roof. It will also serve as the first modern High-Speed Rail station in the nation as the terminus of the high-speed rail line from southern California to San Francisco. Read More...
Members of UNITE HERE Local 2 who work for LSG Sky Chefs rallied August 11 at the Sky Chefs Kitchen in Burlingame, along with other union allies. Similar rallies have been held at other Sky Chef facilities around the U.S. as part of a national effort to highlight the Sky Chefs workers’ fight for a contract. Local 2 members in San Mateo are part of national contract covering In-Flight Kitchens across the country, which expired in April 2010. The workers prepare and deliver meals, beverages and snacks to aircraft for domestic and international flights. Read More...
LABOR NEWS BRIEFS:Report: More Poverty, Less Health Coverage In California
New numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that California’s poverty rate jumped to 15.3 percent in 2009, the highest level in 11 years. That translates to one in seven—or 5.6 million—Californians living below the federal poverty level. The national average is a full point lower, at 14.3 percent.
Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, a nonpartisan public policy research group, said the report is proof of just how hard the recession has hit the Golden State: “The collapse of the housing sector in California was much deeper than in many other states; we still have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country; and a lot of what we’re seeing really results from the weakness in the labor market.”
As the number of people living in poverty increased, so did the number without health insurance; more than one out of five Californians under the age of 65 lacked coverage in 2009.
Meanwhile, California has now set a record for the longest the state has gone without a state budget plan in place. Ross says the new poverty report emphasizes the importance of making smart budget choices that help create jobs and move the economy forward.
“The governor, for example, proposes to eliminate all state child care assistance. That would hit the same families that we’re talking about here. Those child care programs allow families with incomes at or just above the poverty level to work.”
Ross says the report also highlights the need for policy changes and continued federal aid. She points to a study by her group that found unemployment insurance benefits kept 3.3 million people across the nation out of poverty in 2009.
-Public News Service
Real National Security Requires a Change in National Priorities.Delegates to the San Mateo County Central Labor Council passed a resolution July 12, “Real National Security Requires a Change in National Priorities.” The resolution, initiated by U.S. Labor Against the War, calls on Congress and the President to shift national priorities to meet human needs, restore vital social programs and public services, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and create living wage jobs through developing sustainable alternatives to carbon-feul dependent technologies. The resolution notes that 58 cents of every tax dollar spent by the federal government on discretionary appropriations pays for past, present and future wars and military operations, consuming $30.25 billion in 2009. For every $1 billion spent on the military, 11,600 jobs are created, while $1 billion spent on clean energy development would create 17,100 jobs, $1 billion spent on education would create 29,000 jobs and $1 billion spent on funding healthcare creates 19,600 jobs. For more information, see www.uslaboragainstwar.org/ and www.nationalpriorities.org.
Help Available for Loan Modification & Avoiding Foreclosure
Union members who want more information on foreclosure process basics, predatory lending, alternatives to foreclosure (loan modification, short sales, and other workouts), foreclosure rescue scams, and legal rights and options can contact Housing and Economic Rights Advocates at (510) 271-8443, ext. 302. Mention that you were referred by the SMCLC. More information is online at www.heraca.org.
CA Workers’ Rights Handbook Available
The UC Berkeley Labor Center has released its latest version of the California Workers’ Rights Handbook, a basic overview of the legal protections for workers under California and federal law, designed for use by workers and those who represent them. California Workers’ Rights: A Manual of Job Rights, Protections and Remedies is a new and up-to-date 4th edition by David A. Rosenfeld, Miles E. Locker, and Nina G. Fendel.
Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, California Labor Federation, said the manual is, “One of the most useful books California workers will ever encounter…Union stewards, advocates, leaders and working people will find the answers to hundreds of burning questions. California Workers’ Rights always reminds me of how hard we fought for these rights, and why we must continue to defend them.”
Discounts are available for bulk purchases of the handbook. For more information, see http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/publications/cwr.shtml.
Online Information To Help Unemployed, Uninsured Workers
Through the combined efforts of government agencies and worker advocates, new information to help unemployed and/or uninsured workers find and receive assistance has been posted online.
The federal government has created an interactive website outlining the provisions of the Obama Administration’s new health care reform law. The site tailors information for a worker’s specific circumstances and location. It can be found at www.healthcare.gov.
Additionally, the Safety Net for the Unemployed Workgroup, a coalition of human service, labor, state department staff, and legislative staff, has produced a very useful document with a long list of resources for laid off workers whose benefits have exhausted. The document also describes the 2-1-1 assistance line that can direct people to various appropriate resources. (See article on page 3.) This document can be found at www.edd.ca.gov/unem.
Know Your Rights! Family Leave Laws in California
A new guide for unions will help Shop Stewards, Union Representatives and Organizers to get the facts about California’s family leave laws, understand the difference between federal and state laws and how they interact with each other, and advocate for members’ rights. To order a print copy or for information on family leave law training for your union, contact Jenya Cassidy: (510) 642-5498 or jenya@working-families.org. Download a FREE copy at www.working-families.org/learnmore/ca_paidleave.html.
• • • • • • • • •
Selected Articles, August 2010
Union members and their families, community allies, and elected officials celebrated the contributions of Adrienne Zanini and Carl Bunch to the betterment of working people in San Mateo County at the San Mateo County Central Labor Council’s 31st Annual COPE Banquet July 9. Read More...
In the face of major cuts to public transit services across the country, transit workers and community supporters have formed the national “Save Our Ride” alliance, to advocate for federal legislation to address the nationwide transit crisis. Read More...
The Labor movement has stepped up its campaign against Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and her anti-worker agenda. The California Labor Federation has launched a website, WallStreetWhitman.com, that exposes Whitman’s Wall Street agenda and her support of corporate economic policies that have harmed California’s families. The federation has also begun to mobilize union members in a grassroots effort to register new voters, educate union members about the threat that Whitman’s policies pose to workers’ rights, and get union voters to the polls in support of Democrat Jerry Brown. Read More...
Selected Articles, July 2010
Representatives from labor, faith, environmental, fair trade, family farm and fishing groups joined elected officials in San Francisco June 14 to call on President Obama and his trade negotiators to replace the NAFTA-style approach to trade deals with the promised new American trade policy designed to create jobs and protect the environment, food safety, and human rights. Read More...
Selected Articles, June 2010
A coalition of labor, faith and community groups led a march of over 1,000 people through San Francisco’s financial district April 27 to rally outside the shareholders meeting of Wells Fargo. The action was part of a series of protests organized by the AFL-CIO and community allies to “bring Main Street to Wall Street” and demand accountability from the big banks responsible for their actions that led to the economic ruin of millions of American families. Workers across the country spoke out against Wall Street’s corporate greed. The aim of the San Francisco march and rally was to highlight the role of Wells Fargo and hold the big bank accountable for its role in the loss of 5 million homes and 8 million jobs during the economic meltdown. Read More...
Over 40 local elected officials attended a presentation on public employee pensions organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council May 8. The seminar featured presentations by Terry Brennand, Senior Policy Analyst for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Bob Brownstein, Research and Policy Director of Working Partnerships USA. Read More...
Selected Articles, May 2010
United Airlines Flight Attendants picketed at San Francisco International Airport April 6, an international “Day of Action” that marked one year since Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) began negotiations at the airline. Over the past year, United has refused to address the deep cuts flight attendants agreed to accept in 2003 to help their airline stay afloat as it entered bankruptcy. After the airline filed for bankruptcy protection several years ago, the union accepted cuts of more than $3 billion in pay and health care coverage. The airline also used the bankruptcy to terminate workers’ pensions. Read More...
After triggering a financial meltdown that caused historic job losses and required a taxpayer bailout, big banks said they had learned their lesson. Instead, they paid out $145 billion in total 2009 compensation, spent millions of dollars lobbying against meaningful financial reform and have cut back on lending to consumers and small businesses, according to a new online database and case studies released by the AFL-CIO. First launched in 1997, this year’s AFL-CIO 2010 Executive PayWatch exposes the egregious compensation and lobbying efforts against reform from the ‘big 6’ Wall Street banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Read More...
Selected Articles, April 2010
A mass rally to support public education and oppose state budget cuts drew over 12,000 students, educators, unionists, and families to the San Francisco Civic Center March 4th. The rally was organized by United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), the California Faculty Association, American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, and the San Francisco Labor Council. It was part of a Day of Action that was proposed last fall by students and educators during the UC campus mobilizations, and supported by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), Cal. State University, community college, and K-12 educators, as well as other UC employee unions. Read More...
The California Labor Federation and State Building and Construction Trades Council held their annual Joint Legislative Conference in Sacramento March 8 and 9. This gave union members an opportunity to learn about Labor’s legislative priorities for 2010 and meet with local legislators to advocate for bills that benefit California workers. Read More...
• • • • • • • • •
Labor News Briefs
Building Green Skills:
Construction Unions and the Green Economy
A new video from the State Building and Construction Trades Council shows how union workers are leading California into the new green construction economy, and that with their superior training, are best positioned to continue to build a greener state. Federal and state laws designed to stem global warming are mandating that buildings be retrofitted to be more energy and water efficient, and that new sources of energy must be utilized.
Audiences who should see the nine-minute video include: union contractors, who should know that the green economy is here to stay, local and municipal governments and project owners, who should make their projects union, and environmentalists and community based organizations who need to know the role unions are playing.
The video takes viewers across California to see the different kinds of green work being done by every union construction craft, including Insulators who keep the pipes at a constant temperature, saving energy; Plumbers and pipefitters installing gray water systems, motion-activated sinks and waterless urinals; Cement Masons installing pervious concrete, and are doing concrete polishing; Boilermakers and Laborers manufacturing wind towers; Roofers installing living roofs, reflective roofs and solar shingles; Plasterers using new products made of recycled materials; Iron Workers installing wind turbines and structures for solar power; Electricians installing advanced lighting and motor controls, as well as solar systems; Sheet Metal Workers installing smart HVAC systems; and Glaziers installing new types of windows, including solar windows.
The video also looks at how workers get trained in union apprenticeship programs to do the work of the green economy.
To see the video on-line, see www.sbctc.org. For a DVD, email your name and mailing address to: tgeren@sbctc.org. For more information about the video, call Debra Chaplan at 510-832-6450.
New Online Degree, Training Programs for Working Families
Organized labor has been a leader in helping workers gain college degrees and the latest in career training through affordable online degree programs.
The AFL-CIO and the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., are expanding educational opportunities for working families through a new “College for Working Families” will offer a range of degree programs and will allow union members and their families to build on their previous training, education and job experience. Read more about the National Labor College at www.nlc.edu/
Selected Articles, March 2010
Profits for the nation’s 10 largest health insurance companies increased 250 percent between 2000 and 2009—10 times faster than inflation—but that hasn’t stopped the private insurance industry from trying to reach even deeper into consumers’ pocketbooks with huge premium increases. According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the nation’s five largest insurance companies took in combined profits of $12.2 billion last year, up 56 percent over 2008. Read More...
By Leah Sugarman,COPE chair, AFT 3267 Jefferson Elementary Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO On March 5th in Los Angeles, the California Federation of Teachers will hold a demonstration to kick off an unprecedented six-week long march to demand better funding for California’s public schools. The March for California’s Future will begin in Bakersfield on March 6 and end with a rally in Sacramento on April 21—bringing teachers and our community allies together to maximize public awareness of three urgent issues: the need to restore the promise of public education, the demand for a government and an economy that works for all people, and the assurance that our government will promote a fair, progressive taxation policy to fund California’s future. Read More...
Selected Articles, February 2010
Union members turned out in force for the State Senate Committee hearing on High Speed Rail January 21 in Palo Alto. State Senators Joe Simitian and Alan Lowenthal from the Senate Joint Budget and Transportation committees heard public input from proponents and opponents of siting the rail line on the Peninsula. When built, it would move passengers from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. Read More...
United Airlines Flight Attendants picketed at San Francisco International Airport January 7 as part of an international day of action to protest the failure of United Airlines management to negotiate a new contract on time. The company and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) at United Airlines had agreed last year that January 7, 2010 would be the date for having a new flight attendant contract in place. In a press release announcing the action, AFA United president Greg Davidowitch said that, “Negotiations began last April, but United has shown no interest in discussing improvements or reaching a new contract unless we agree to concessionary demands. Flight attendants are angry because management seems only interested in delaying a new contract, refusing to discuss any improvements.” Read More...
San Francisco hotel workers kicked off the New Year with a spirited march and rally January 5 to highlight their struggle for a fair contract with the city’s hotels. Members of UNITE-HERE Local 2 were joined by members of many unions who marched in solidarity with the hotel employees whose contracts expired last August. About 1,000 hotel workers and another 500 union members and supporters from community organizations rallied at the Local 2 Plaza between the Marriott Hotel and Four Seasons Hotels, and marched to the San Francisco Hilton, where 142 union members and labor leaders were arrested after blocking the entrances to the hotel, including UNITE-HERE International President John Wilhelm and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Read More...
Selected Articles, January 2010
While holiday shoppers bustled joyously around San Francisco’s busy Union Square shopping district, a diverse group of religious leaders and health care advocates stood in stark contrast as they quietly gathered in the center of the square to solemnly commemorate the 45,000 Americans who lost their lives this year because they didn’t have health insurance. Read More...
With the Senate’s version of health care revision apparently going from bad to worse for workers, unionists on Dec. 10 rallied and lobbied on Capitol Hill against one of the worst ideas in it: Taxing their health benefits. Read More...
Gary Saunders, Plumbers, Steamfitters and Refrigeration Fitters Local 467 Business Manager and Labor Council Executive Board member, announced his retirement last month. Saunders represented that union for 8 years as a business agent, and 22 years as the Business Manager. Read More...
Selected Articles, November 2009
More than 500 union members and health care activists packed the sidewalks in front of and across the street from the meeting of the giant health insurance lobby group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) in Washington, D.C., October 22 in support of health care reform. Read More...
Despite recent negative news reports, the activist group ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) continues to advocate for poor and working class people in California and around the U.S. Read More...Labor News BriefsHelmets to Hardhats Launches ‘Good to Go’ Site for Returning Troops
Making the transition from military life to a civilian life is not easy. Many veterans and their families are unprepared when that day comes. Now Helmets to Hardhats, a nonprofit program of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), has launched a new website to help veterans better prepare for re-entry into civilian life.
Good to Go (www.areyoug2g.com) provides service members with customizable checklists that cover everything from employment and housing to setting goals for the future. “The best welcome home for a returning service member is a seamless transition into a quality civilian career,” said Darrell Roberts, executive director of Helmets to Hardhats. Helmets to Hardhats helps match vets and soon-to-be vets with apprenticeship and training programs offered by the BCTD’s 15 unions. Veterans can use their G.I. Bill education benefits as they complete the certified apprentice programs. Helmets to Hardhats has helped more than 5,000 military vets find new careers as electricians, plumbers, roofers and other skilled trades.
Selected Articles, October 2009
President Barack Obama had a strong, inspiring message for delegates to the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention: We’re going to make this country work again. Read More...
In a historic vote that adds the nation’s leading voice of American workers to a broad national campaign, the AFL-CIO voted unanimously at its national convention to endorse the enactment of single-payer, universal healthcare for all Americans. Read More...
The last day of the AFL-CIO Convention September 17 opened with a big bang as newly elected AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stood on stage with UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm to make the dramatic announcement that UNITE HERE is reaffiliating with the federation. The 250,000-member UNITE HERE was one of the unions that left the AFL-CIO in 2005 to form a new federation. Read More...
Candidates for local office heard from union members at a candidate orientation meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building and Construction Trades Council August 20 at the IBEW Local 617 union hall in San Mateo. About 40 candidates for City Councils, School Boards and Special Districts attended. Read More...
Selected Articles, September 2009
Hotel workers and their allies took UNITE-HERE! Local 2’s contract campaign to the streets of San Francisco Aug. 14. Over 1,700 union members and supporters from community organizations rallied at the Local 2 Plaza between the Marriott Hotel and Four Seasons Hotels, marched along Market Street and made a loop to Union Square, passing the Parc 55, Hilton, St. Francis, Grand Hyatt and other hotels along the way. Read More...
California workers have been hit hard as the national economic crisis has resulted in layoffs, home foreclosures, bankruptcies, and declining revenues for the state and local governments. The recent state budget deal cuts billions of dollars from education and state programs that provide vital services to Californians. Line-item vetoes by the governor will reduce those essential services even further. And as the state’s unemployment rate approached 12 percent and state workers are ordered to take unpaid furlough days, California families have less money to spend, with the resulting ripple effect of more businesses closing, and further declining tax revenues for the state. Read More...
The active participation of union members helped to change the tone of the health care reform town hall meetings held during the August congressional recess. What began as forums for anti-Obama propaganda become platforms for real debate over what kind of reform is needed. Read More...
For most working families, the idea of a health care public option is just a notion. But in San Francisco, it’s reality. And it works. Read More...
After a protracted battle, striking members of the International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) Columbus, Ohio Local 12 and Knoxville, Tennessee Local 197 reached a settlement agreement in July with the George Fern Company, a general service contractor with warehouse facilities in seven major cities. Read More..
The San Mateo County Central Labor Council honored retired Glaziers Local 718 Business Representative Doug Yamamoto, the UC Berkeley Labor Center, and striking mechanics and service reps at Grace Honda in San Bruno at its annual COPE Banquet August 7. The COPE (Committee on Political Education) banquet is the Labor Council’s fundraiser for the political work. Funds raised at the banquet enable the Labor Council to produce campaign materials, pay for phone banking operations, and provide meals for volunteers. Read More..
Selected Articles, August 2009
Union Leaders Meet with President Obama on Employee Free Choice Act, Health Care Leaders of the 11 member unions of the National Labor Coordinating Committee met with President Obama in July to discuss the status of health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. This group includes leaders of the National Education Association, AFSCME, SEIU, United Steelworkers, United Food and Commercial Workers, Laborers’ International Union of North America, American Federation of Teachers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO and Change to Win labor coalition.
Read More...Thousands Protest Gov’s Mismanagement of Budget On July 15 a diverse coalition of workers, educators, health care advocates, people with disabilities, students, community leaders, legislators and others who are effected by the Governor’s draconian budget cuts joined in a state-wide protest outside each of Schwarzenegger’s five offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Read More...Airport Workers, SFO Officials Speak Out Against Increased BART Surcharge Employees at San Francisco International Airport and SFO Commissioners spoke out against an increase in the fares BART riders pay to commute to the SFO BART station at the Airport Commission meeting July 7 and a press conference at the airport July 8. On July 1, BART raised fares by 6.1 percent and increased the one-way surcharge levied on riders using the SFO station from $1.50 to $4. Read More...
Selected Articles, July 2009
Assemblymember Jerry Hill:Labor’s Voice Needs to be Heard in Sacramento
About 50 union members attended the meeting to discuss labor issues and legislation with Assemblymember Jerry Hill May 29. Read More...
Workers Hungry for Justice, Fast for Employee Free Choice Act
As part of the labor movement’s campaign to win passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress, workers congregated outside the offices of Sen. Dianne Feinstein across the state June 3 to urge her stand up for workers and get behind the Employee Free Choice Act. Read More...
Selected Articles, June 2009
Selected Articles, May 2009
Selected Articles, April 2009
Selected Articles, March 2009
Selected Articles, February 2009
Study Finds State’s Green Policies Bring Job Growth
California’s energy-efficiency policies created nearly 1.5 million jobs from 1977 to 2007, according to a new study from UC Berkeley’s Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability.
California’s green energy policies also improved overall compensation in the state by $44.6 billion, including $1.2 billion in the light industrial sector, $11.2 billion in wholesale and retail trade and $17.8 billion in the service sector. According to the study, the energy-efficient policies have allowed consumers to reduce energy spending, and the savings are being diverted to other sectors.
To learn more, see http://are.berkeley.edu/~dwrh/CERES_Web/index.html.
Selected Articles, January 2009
Selected Articles, Dec. 2008
Selected Articles, Nov. 2008
Selected Articles, Oct. 2008
Selected Articles, September 2008
|
e-mail
September 5. 2022
Copyright 2007 - 2022
San Mateo County Labor
