May 1, 2023

Passenger Services Workers Rally at SFO for Fair Wages

Passenger services workers at SFO rallied at the airport April 20 to call attention to their fight for fair wages. The members of SEIU United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) include security guards, baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, fuelers, and cabin cleaners who risked their health and the health of their families to keep the airport operating throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They are demanding livable wages from airport contractors including Covenant Aviation Security, Prime Flight, and ABM that will enable them to afford to care for their families and live in the Bay Area. Read More

County Workers Demand San Mateo County Change Abusive “Extra Help” Labor System

About one hundred San Mateo County “Extra Help” workers amassed in front of the San Mateo County Center in Redwood City March 30 to highlight their fight for a fair contract and to demand changes to an abusive labor system. Read More

AFL-CIO Mobilizes to Support Julie Su for Secretary of Labor

The AFL-CIO unveiled a multifaceted “Stand with Su” campaign April 21 in support of acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su’s nomination to lead the Department of Labor. The campaign includes a nationwide worker mobilization to call and email senators urging them to vote in support of Su. Read More

AFL-CIO Applauds New Executive Actions on the Care Economy

Proposed Health Care Minimum Wage Increase:
What it Would Mean for Workers, Patients, and Industry

Read the full report online

February 1, 2023

San Mateo County Extra Help Workers Rally for Equality

San Mateo County Extra Help Workers and supporters held a “Rally for Equality” January 17 at the San Mateo County Center in Redwood City to highlight their fight for a fair contract. Several union members also spoke at the Board of Supervisors meeting to demand a fair contract. Read More

United Airline Pilots and Machinists Picket at SFO

Several dozen members of United Pilots, represented by the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), held an informational picket at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) January 18 to raise awareness of the need to complete bargaining for a long overdue contract. Members of the United Flight Attendants and Machinists unions joined the picket line to show support and solidarity. The action was one of the first by the newly formed United Airlines Union Coalition, created to coordinate closely on bargaining and other issues. ALPA represents 14,000 pilots at United, with 3,000 in the Bay Area. Read More

Labor Council Delegates Elect New Officers, Executive Board

San Mateo County Central Labor Council delegates elected Officers and Executive Board members for 2023 - 2024 at the Labor Council’s delegates’ meeting December 12, 2022. The Board members were sworn January 9, 2023.

The Executive Board and Trustees are:
President: Lamoin Werlein-Jaen, Unite Here, Local #2
1st Vice President: Bart Pantoja, San Mateo County Building Trades Council
2nd Vice President: Stan Kiino, Flight Attendants, AFA-CWA
Treasurer: Rich Hedges, United Food and Commercial Workers, UFCW #648
Recording Secretary: Steven Booker, Electrical Workers, IBEW #617

Executive Board:
Danny Borelis, IATSE #16
Mark Burri, Plumbers/Steamfitters #467
Nick Doyle, Fire Fighters #2400
Charley Lavery, Operating Engineers #3
Ashley Mates, AFSCME #829
Anthony Nuanes, Carpet/Linoleum #12
Annette M. Perot, CSEA #33
Andrea Reyna, Ravenswood Teachers Association
Robert Sandoval, Teamsters #350
Mercedes Segura, SEIU #521
Leon Wong, UFCW #5
Fred Wood, Teamsters #856

Trustees:
Don Barbe, Machinists #1414
Annette Dosier, Sign Display #510
Nick King, Glaziers #718

Sergeant at Arms:
Mary Huber, Plumbers/Steamfitters #467

Labor Council President Lamoin Werlein-Jaen also thanked retiring Executive Board member Melinda Dart for her many years of service on the Labor Council Executive Board.

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AFL-CIO: Supreme Court Must Uphold the Right to Strike

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement on the Supreme Court case Glacier Northwest Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters:

“The right to strike is on trial today at the U.S. Supreme Court. For nearly a century, federal law has protected workers’ right to strike in order to improve their wages, hours and working conditions. Glacier Northwest is actively seeking to undermine this fundamental right, arguing that it is entitled to sue the union in state court and seek monetary damages for undelivered concrete product as the result of truck drivers striking for fair wages and better working conditions. Glacier’s argument flies in the face of long-standing precedent and is a direct attack on the right to strike, a pillar of any democracy.
“The Washington Supreme Court correctly held that the National Labor Relations Board should determine whether the strike was protected, not the state courts. It is crucial to the livelihoods of America’s workers that the U.S. Supreme Court affirm the lower court’s decision.”

...

Prevailing Wage Repeal Shrinks Pay, Increases Dangers and Leads to More Workers on Public Assistance

According to a new study from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, repealing prevailing wage laws leaves workers with less earnings, less productive, more likely to rely on public assistance and at an enhanced risk of dying on the job.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year designated billions of dollars for construction projects across the nation. Contractors in states that have repealed prevailing wage laws are facing problems staffing up that are likely to increase. Six states repealed their prevailing wage laws between 2015 and 2018: Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The three states with full prevailing wage repeals saw hourly wages decline at the same time prevailing wage states saw an average wage growth of more than 12 percent.

“What prevailing wage does is standardize and stabilize the industry of a local market,” said researcher Larissa Petrucci. “When you repeal that, you have contractors who are able to undercut wages and pay workers far below the training that they have developed to get these kinds of jobs. Naturally, you’re going to see wages decrease.”

In repeal states, worker productivity and hours worked grew at a much slower rate than states that kept prevailing wage laws in place. Similarly, repeal states saw an increase in the on-the-job fatality rate.
- Kenneth Quinnell, afl-cio.org

January 1, 2023

Rich Hedges Appointed to San Mateo City Council

The San Mateo City Council appointed union leader and labor council board member Rich Hedges to fill a two-year vacant term on the five-member City Council at its December 12 meeting. Hedges was selected to replace Councilmember Diane Papan, who was elected to the state Assembly in November. Read More

Union Janitors Protest Twitter Boss

Janitors represented by Service Employees International Union Local 87 rallied at San Francisco City Hall with Mayor London Breed and other elected officials December 15 to protest being fired illegally from their jobs at Twitter. Read More

October 1, 2022

CA Labor Federation Backs Kevin Mullin for Congress

Assembly Member Kevin Mullin is endorsed for Congress in District 15 by the California Labor Federation. Incumbent Jackie Speier announced earlier this year that she would not seek re-election. Rep. Speier endorsed Mullin in February.

Mullin’s positions on federal legislation and policies are fully aligned with the AFL-CIO on trade policy, immigration reform, infrastructure funding, protecting workers’ rights to organize, establishing a single-payer Medicare for All health care program, protecting and expanding voting rights, and supporting public education. Read More

Labor Council Endorses Stone and Mueller for County Board of Supervisors

Belmont Council Member Charles Stone and Menlo Park Council Member Ray Mueller are endorsed by the San Mateo Labor Council for County Supervisor in Districts 2 and 3. Labor’s endorsements are based on candidates’ track records in support of key labor union issues, and their responses in candidate questionnaires and in interviews conducted earlier this year. Read More

Labor Council Endorses Candidates for City Councils, School Boards

San Mateo County Central Labor Council delegates voted September 12 to endorse candidates for City Council in Belmont, Burlingame, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, Pacifica, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo and South San Francisco and for School Boards in the Jefferson Elementary School District, Ravenswood City School District, San Mateo-Foster City School District, and South San Francisco Unified School District. Read More

September 1, 2022

Labor Day 2022: Our Unions Are Stronger and More Active Than Ever

Most folks have heard the saying/seen the bumper sticker: “Unions – the people who brought you the weekend.” This Labor Day weekend, we ask you to remember why we celebrate and reflect on the positive impact that unions have had and continue to have on our society. Read More

Eight Ways the Inflation Reduction Act Helps Working People

In August, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) announced an agreement with Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) to bring a slimmed-down version of the bill previously known as the Build Back Better Act to the Senate floor before the start of the August recess. The Senate passed the bill August 7, and the House of Representatives passed the legislation August 12—with zero support or votes from Republicans. President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law August 16. Read More

Labor Council Honors IBEW Local 617 President Dan Pasini & Second Harvest of Silicon Valley at COPE Banquet

Read More

High-Speed Rail Board Completes Environmental Clearance in Northern California

Nation’s First High-Speed Rail Project Now Environmentally Cleared Between San Francisco and Northern Los Angeles County

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) Board of Directors certified the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR/EIS) August 18 and approved the approximately 43-mile project for the San Francisco to San Jose section. This action completes the environmental clearance for high-speed rail in Northern California and extends environmental clearance to 420 miles of the project’s 500-mile alignment from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim. Read More

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