Feature Archives

Flyers were posted in the windows of San Francisco's 24th Street Real Food grocery store as a reminder that this Labor Day was the 6th anniversary of the store closure that shut down their efforts to join a union and cost all 31 employees their jobs. The "Real Food Company" was a popular community natural food store in the heart of Noe Valley. Terminated employees, however, said that the closure was undertaken to prevent them from joining a union. The workers have gone on with their lives, as they await a related court decision.

On Friday, August 14th, hotel workers from Unite Here Local 2 rallied and marched for a new contract that preserves affordable health care and job security. Contracts covering 9,000 Local 2 members are expiring, and hotel workers are gearing up to fight employer attempts to undermine work and living standards in the San Francisco hotel industry. In their 2004 contract negotiations, more than 4,000 Local 2 members endured a 53-day strike and lockout that ultimately led to the contract now expiring.

On Monday, July 6th, labor activists gathered at Harry Bridges Plaza in the Embarcadero to remember the day, July 5, 1934, when two strikers were gunned down and killed by police. Several hundred union members and their supporters, many from around the world, marched in a reenacted funeral procession of the fallen men, Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise. As the procession passed the memorial at Mission and Steuart Streets, across the street from the site of the deaths, they took off their hats.

Fresno County homecare providers reported scores of incidents of voter intimidation, illegal threats, and ballot manipulation by SEIU staff in an election for workers to quit the scandal-plagued union and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). SEIU spent an estimated $10 million on attack mailings, robo-calls, TV and radio ads, but failed to win enough support from workers to win the election without breaking the law.

June 1st is the first day of a highly contested union election for 10,000 homecare workers in Fresno County who are trying to leave the Washington, D.C.-based SEIU, a union that has been condemned by the AFL-CIO for using violence in inter-union conflicts. The stakes have never been higher for SEIU officials, who are desperately trying to stop a movement of nearly 100,000 healthcare workers in California who are organizing to quit SEIU and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

On May 28th, students, staff, workers, and faculty rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the UC administration’s decision to cut Community Studies department staff, Latin American Latina/o Studies professors, and director positions at the American Indian Resource Center and the Women’s Center. The rally was organized by the New UC coalition to ensure universal access to education, and to promote freedom of thought in the university.

On May 26th, a delegation of janitors who were laid off from their jobs at Cisco Systems' corporate headquarters met with San Jose City Council members. More than 75 were laid off despite the tech company's enormous profitability. Since then, the janitors and hundreds of Silicon Valley community supporters have launched a series of escalating mobilizations to urge the corporation to be responsible and put the janitors back to work.