On Saturday. September 27th at 11am, nearly a hundred workers from local UC campuses - including members of UPTE, the University Professional and Technical Employees union- converged in the Oakland hills to make pancakes for newly appointed president Mark Yudof at his Oakland Hills mansion on Woodmont Way. They demanded Yudof come out and explain how he intends to end poverty wages at the University of California.

AFSCME workers at all ten campuses and five hospitals have been in contract negotiations with UC management for nearly a year and even though ninety percent of the workforce is eligible for public assistance, UC executives have not moved.

Photos | Previous Coverage | UPTE | AFSCME Local 3299

On Friday, Sept. 26th and Saturday, Sept. 27th, members of United Healthcare Workers West (UHW) will protest in San Mateo against an attempt by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) leadership to take over their local. SEIU President Andy Stern has called for a hearing at the San Mateo Events Center that could put the local under trusteeship. UHW supporters are condemning the move as an attempt to silence dissent and stifle union democracy.

Oakland-based UHW is calling SEIU's move retaliation for the local's opposition to a plan that would have moved 65,000 UHW members into the United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) union, a Los Angeles-based local led by Stern appointee Tyrone Freeman. Freeman was recently removed from his post and charged with corruption after reports that he improperly used union funds to benefit himself, family, and friends.

UHW has also led a dissident faction within SEIU, disagreeing with the Washington DC-based leadership on how to organize workers, union democracy, what health care legislation to support in Sacramento, and the balance between growth and securing good contracts for members. The Oakland-based local represents 150,000 members working in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and homecare. In the last year, it has organized more new workers than the rest of SEIU combined and it has won reforms in needle-stick protection and nurse-patient ratios.

Read more: 1 | 2 | 3 | SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West | SEIU Voice

Previous Coverage on Indybay

On September 4th, nearly 300 hotel workers of the labor union Unite Here! Local 19 rallied in front of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center to draw public attention to the daily struggles of hotel service employees. They then marched to three downtown hotels that are currently undergoing contract negotiations - the Marriott, the Hilton and Towers, and the Crowne Plaza.

The hotel workers' march coincided with the 2008 Leadership Conference of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) United Healthcare Workers - West, taking place in the San Jose's McEnery Convention Center. Hotel workers marched through the convention center, chanting slogans of solidarity with health-care workers. In return, some SEIU-UHW healthcare workers joined in solidarity with the hotel workers march.

The hotel workers' 2008 contract campaign is aimed at achieving three objectives: to transform below-subsistence wages into liveable wages, to achieve humane workloads, and to win affordable family healthcare.

Altogether, Unite Here! Local 19 is negotiating contracts with six hotels in Santa Clara County, affecting well over 1000 workers and their families. The other hotels undergoing contract talks are the Wyndham and Holiday Inn hotels in San José, and the Hilton Hotel in Santa Clara. If successful, organizers say the contract settlements could be a milestone in establishing limits on workloads and improved wage levels that will likely set an industry standard for Silicon Valley.

Photos | Hotel Workers Rising

On September 6th, more than 4,000 members of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and other SEIU locals marched in downtown San Jose on Saturday to oppose a planned takeover by national union officials.

On August 25th, national SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger announced their intent to put UHW into trusteeship, which would replace elected rank-and-file UHW leaders with handpicked appointees accountable only to Stern and Burger. UHW members, who work in hospitals, nursing homes, and private homes across California, have been leading an effort for democratic reform within SEIU and opposing Stern's efforts to centralize power in Washington, D.C.

A letter to Andy Stern from leading labor scholars and historians was presented by Cal Winslow, a labor history fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. The letter declares that a takeover of UHW would be "a disaster for the California labor movement and for SEIU nationally."

"This is a desperate attempt by Stern to distract attention from the growing scandal involving local union presidents he appointed and promoted," said Maria Martinez, an elected shop steward for 15 years at Fifth Avenue Healthcare Center in San Rafael. "In UHW, members elect our leaders and they are accountable to us."

Pat McGinnis, director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said that the trusteeship could lower standards for nursing home care across the state by limiting caregivers' voice to advocate for residents.

Read More With Photos: 1 | 2 | United Health Workers West | SEIU Voice

Organized labor in Fresno faces significant challenges as residents celebrate Labor Day 2008. Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is now the largest and most influential union in Fresno County. SEIU-UHW is the "local" affiliate of SEIU - International, which is the largest and fastest growing union in the country. But, the rapid pace of growth has not been easy for SEIU. The local (SEIU-UHW), with approximately 10,000 workers in Fresno County and150,000 workers statewide, is under attack. The attack is not only coming from corporations that would like to weaken organized labor's influence at the workplace, but by the International, which would like to dismantle the local and give a significant number of SEIU-UHW's members to a local in Los Angeles.

SEIU-UHW's dispute with the International, which has heated up in recent months, is about differences in how to organize workers, union democracy, what health care legislation to support in Sacramento, and the balance between growth and securing good contracts for workers. SEIU-UHW president Sal Rosselli, the local's president, elaborated on these issues earlier this year, when he wrote a letter to Andy Stern, the president of the International. Rosselli wrote, "In United Healthcare Workers West (UHW), we have always believed that our international union should be about more than numbers and headlines. Over the past two years, a stark difference has evolved between SEIU's projected image and its real world practices. An overly zealous focus on growth - growth at any cost, apparently - has eclipsed SEIU's commitment to its members. As labor leaders, we are obligated to place the needs of our members first and to uphold democratic principles not only in the workplace, but also in our union. That is increasingly being blocked, circumvented and manipulated."

Read More

Union laborers, community representatives, and neighbors of La Bahia Hotel in Santa Cruz want to upgrade the distressed beachfront site with a hotel. But they all demand something better--and smaller--than the plan currently being proposed by Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company.

According to Don Webber, a longtime neighbor of La Bahia, "There's a lot of support for building a hotel at La Bahia that is built in scale with the Beach Hill area, in conformance with the zoning law and more in line with community values." Neighbors have been asking city officials for story poles to demonstrate the height and placement of the 125-room luxury hotel up for approval by the City Council in September. Labor unions aren't happy with Swenson's plans since the company hasn't committed to building as a union shop or to a card count union election process for hotel staff. Historic preservationists are unhappy with the decision to totally demolish the aging landmark currently on the site instead of trying to restore even part of it. Community representatives don't like the City Council riding roughshod over the general plan, the zoning law, and a host of other city policies intended to protect the quality of life in Santa Cruz. But Swenson wants to demolish a city landmark and build 30 feet above the legal height limit, so he definitely needs to have the city change a number of important planning laws.

A rally was held in front of La Bahia on August 21st to protest the project as it is currently being proposed. Read More with Video and Photos | More Photos

Radio Trabajadora escribe, "Este es un show de radio en Radio Libre Santa Cruz, escuchen a 101.1 FM o freakradio.org todos los martes de 6-7:30 pm. Durante este show hablamos sobre AFSCME Local 3299 y las ultimas noticias de la pelea por un contrato. Tambien hablamos de los trabajadores de la union UNITE HERE! en Oakland y la accion que el 8 de Agosto van a tener en el aeropuerto de Oakland. Y de la accion que los Teamsters tubieron hace como dos semanas en los Puertos de Oakland. Y finalmente tuvimos una entrevista con James sobre los trabajadores de El Balazo que fueron detenidos por la migra. escuchen! Listen!"

On the July 25th indynewswire on Freak Radio, danielsan spoke with Carmina Eliason, curator of the multimedia exhibit Remembering the Struggle, opening August 1st in Watsonville, which showcases art and history about the Watsonville Cannery Strike of 1985-87.

Carmina speaks about the strike itself, which put more than a thousand workers on the picket line for 18 months back in the mid-80's. She describes the end result as something like a tie, but talks about the lasting impact of the strike, where twenty years later there are still strong feelings on both sides. Carmina also discusses the roots, evolution and process of the upcoming exhibit and the ongoing gathering of materials to display and present at the Pajaro Valley Gallery to educate people about the strike and its impact. Read More and Listen to Audio

Viernes Cultural of Watsonville will be hosting a community celebration event to honor the former strikers, also on August 1st at 5pm at the Watsonville Downtown Plaza, with a procession from the Plaza to the Gallery at 6:30pm. Remembering the Struggle will run July 30th through September 21st and admission is free.

For ten months Bay Area News Group (BANG) executives threatened journalists with pay freezes and cuts in benefits if they organized a unit for collective bargaining on pay, benefits and work conditions. Despite an anti-union campaign by management, non-supervisory news workers voted in June to form a unit of the Northern California Media Workers Guild.

Less than one month later, at least 20 journalists who had been visibly supportive of organizing a union were summarily terminated.

Last week the Guild filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, calling the firings retaliatory and citing other anti-union actions against the newly formed unit.

The 230-member Bay Area News Group East Bay (BANG-EB) bargaining unit includes the Oakland Tribune and other East Bay papers, as well as the San Mateo County Times on the peninsula. Among those terminated was Sara Steffens, newly elected chair of the unit and one of the main Guild organizers.

"I think they wanted me out of the newsroom," Steffans said. "They wanted to keep me from continuing to engage co-workers as we push for our first contract and they hoped this would send a message to scare people away from further union activity. But they made a big mistake -- so far it's only made our newsroom understand why it's important to have a contract to protect us."

Read More | Bay Area Guild Unit Files NLRB Charge Over Layoffs | One Big Bang (Union Website)

On July 22nd, over 3,000 people rallied at the Port of Oakland to protest against pollution and poverty. The event was co-sponsored by the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, the California Labor Federation, and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums were among those who spoke at the protest.
Photos

Many truck drivers at the port are classified as "independent contractors" and make as little as $8 an hour while receiving no benefits. The port trucking system requires drivers to sit idle in their trucks for hours everyday while their trucks spew out diesel emissions. Port diesel pollution is associated with high rates of cancer and asthma. Diesel pollution is five times higher in West Oakland than in other parts of Alameda county. As a result, cancer and asthma rates are higher in West Oakland than other parts of the Bay Area.

The Port of Oakland is developing a Comprehensive Truck Management Plan (pdf). In March, 2008, the Port Commission began the process of instituting a new trucking model to reduce diesel emissions. In an effort to achieve an 85% reduction in health risk from its operations by 2020, the Commission voted unanimously to levy fees on containers passing through the Port. The fees are expected to generate $520 million and will be used to mitigate air pollution by retrofitting and replacing dirty trucks.

The Commission directed Port staff to hire a consultant to conduct an Economic Impact Study on making drivers employees of the trucking companies, and to report back to the Commission on the next steps to phase in the Comprehensive Truck Management Program by the end of June. The Commission, however, failed to include any language that addresses how to institute an effective local hire program. Questions also remain as to how much of the old dirty truck fleet will be replaced through the container fees and how much of the costs of truck replacement, upgrades and maintenance will be shouldered by low-wage truck drivers.

Big Trucking Deal | Coalition For Clean and Safe Ports | Port Of Oakland

On June 1st, auto technicians and service advisors represented by the International association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union, IAM Local 1101, went on strike after their contract with Allison BMW expired.

Allison BMW was recently purchased by the Florida based corporation, Autonation. According to picket captain Larry Rondeau, the new owner demanded that workers accept a contract that would, "bring them into line with the rest of the nation." This would require cuts in hourly wages, no paid sick days, fewer paid holidays and higher health premiums and deductables. The issue of greatest concern is that of the flat rate. The company wants a system where the technician is given a time limit for each task. If the worker completes the job within that time frame they are paid the full amount, However, if they don't, for whatever reason, they must complete the work on their own time. The workers see this as a speed-up that would reduce the quality of their labor and erode their pay.

The striking workers are determined, they have a strike fund and the support of fellow workers in the community. The picket line is on the El Camino Real in Mountain View, Near HWY 237, every day until the contract is settled. Meanwhile the company is using replacement workers, aka, scabs.

Striking workers showed up in force on the morning of July 19th to support negotiations scheduled for 10 am at the Mountain View dealership. At the last minute, Autonation inc., the parent company of Allison BMW, demanded the location of the talks be moved to a Dublin Ca. According to Jim Schwantz, the Area Director of local 1101, of The International Association of Machinists, the union representing the striking workers, Autonation scheduled negotiations for 10 am Saturday, July 19, at the Mountain View dealership. However, at 11 pm the previous evening Autonation notified him that the location must move across the bay; the strike comittee agreed to the last minute changes. Meanwhile, at least eighty strikers, their families and supporters lined the street in front of the dealership.

Read More With Photos | Strike at Allison BMW update | Autonation NO-SHOW at the Bargaining Table | Police Link Crimes to Strike at BMW Mtn View

8,500 University of California workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) initiated a five-day strike at UC’s ten campuses and five medical centers. The strike, which began on July 14th, concluded on July 18th. At issue are poverty wages as low as $10 per hour. Many employees work 2-3 jobs and qualify for public assistance to meet their families’ basic needs.

UC wages have fallen dramatically behind other hospitals and California’s community colleges where workers are paid family-sustaining wages that are on average of 25% higher. In addition, when workers have stood up for better lives for their families and better working conditions, the University has retaliated by violating labor laws.

96% of service workers are eligible for at least one of the following forms of public assistance: food stamps, WIC, public housing subsidies and subsidized child care, creating a potential burden for CA taxpayers. Increasing wages would not only help lift workers out of poverty, but could positively impact CA and the low- and moderate-income areas where UC workers live as they contribute more to their local economy. Read More

Coverage: UC Berkeley | UC Santa Cruz 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | AFSCME on FRSC | UCLA | UC San Diego 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Video: Facing Poverty At UC | AFSCME Local 3299 | Previous Coverage

On July 2nd, under the close watch of hotel security, more than 300 demonstrators circled the entire front entry access of the Santa Clara Hyatt Regency where they passed out leaflets to hotel guests and visitors. Armed with handouts, banners and placards, protesters called on the hotel giant to treat workers with respect and reiterated that Hyatt employees deserve a fair process to choose a union.

Last month workers at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara publicly announced that they had formed a union committee, asking the Hyatt for a fair process to choose a union, or a card check agreement. A card check agreement is a fair, simple process to choose a union by signing a card; the cards are then counted by a neutral third party to determine if a majority of workers want to have a union. It allows workers to organize while management remains neutral regarding unionization. It is considered less litigious than NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) elections, which often wind up bogged down in years of back-and-forth appeals.

Workers report that Hyatt is retaliating with intimidation, interrogation, and surveillance of its workers. It has also allegedly circulated misinformation about unions to its employees. Many organizations hearing of the hotel's heavy handed tactics came out to support the workers in their plight with UNITE HERE Local 19 at the helm bolstered by SEIU, CWA and other unions. Community organizations from Hip Hop Congress to the Raging Grannies added their voices for justice in the workplace.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Levantando trabajadores hoteleros

On July 1st, Starbucks announced that it will be closing 600 stores. Most of the stores designated for closure are ones that opened in the past three years.

Starbucks has been expanding for the past two decades and in many cases bought out other chains resulting in stores located within blocks or even on the same block as each other. Consumers in San Francico and New York have been vocal about the urban blight created by a Starbucks on every corner. Performance artist and consumer rights activists Reverend Billy became so fed up with the proliferation of Starbucks outlets in New York City that he, along with his Choir of Stop Shopping, went to some of the worst offending locations where Starbucks are bunched up together and started performing exorcisms to make his point. He is now prohibited from entering Starbucks outlets by court order.

600 Starbucks to Close, Hope Anew for Fair Trade? | Reverend Billy: A Note On Starbucks Closures

The IWW Starbucks Workers Union has responded to the closures saying they are deeply troubled that management's numerous missteps are resulting in more serious hardships for baristas, bussers, and shift supervisors. Starbucks has a history of anti-union activity and the IWW held a global day of action against Starbucks on July 5th.

Global Day of Action in Grand Rapids | NYC: Starbucks Union Demands Reinstatement of Fired Baristas | Global Starbucks Day of Action in Philadelphia | Belfast Picket | Starbucks Union Demands Clarification | Starbucks Union

LaborFest will take place this year between July 15th and July 31st.

LaborFest was established in 1994 to institutionalize the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film and arts festival. It begins every July 5th, which is the anniversary of the 1934 “Bloody Thursday” event. On that day, two maritime workers Howard Sperry, member of the ILA and George Coundourakis of the Marine Cooks and Stewards were killed by the police attack on strikers and their supporters. This touched off a general strike and led to the complete shutdown of the city. This was one of the most important general strikes in the history of the United States and led to hundreds of thousands of workers joining the trade union movement.

LaborFest Website | Laborfest 2008 Calendar Of Events | All Events On Indybay

Past Indybay Labor Coverage:
2007 | 2006 ( 1 | 2 ) | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

On June 6th, George Blumenthal was inaugurated as the 10th Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz during a ceremony on the East Field overlooking the Monterey Bay. Students and workers, organized through the Student and Worker Coalition for Justice (SWCJ) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), rallied at UCSC, marched to the Chancellor's Inauguration and blocked California Highway One at Mission and Bay during a 10-hour day of action to deliver a loud and clear message -- end poverty wages at the University of California. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Video

"As the inauguration activities are occurring, we want our new Chancellor to see all the workers, all the students and our supporters and know we will not back down until we get equal pay for equal work, said Nicolas Gutierrez, Senior Custodian at UCSC, "So many of us are struggling to make ends meet—we can’t afford to wait any longer.”

see also: UC Graduation Speakers to Cancel Statewide Unless 20,000 UC Workers are Guaranteed a Fair Contract || UCSC Inauguration or fenced in Coronation? || Previous Coverage: AFSCME Strike Postponed -- What's Next?