Feature Archives

After a year and a half of bargaining, custodians, gardeners, food service workers and drivers organized through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 voted to accept a historic agreement with the University of California (UC). This new agreement includes wages increases over five years of 4%, 3%, 3%, 3%, and 3%. UC service workers will have a state wide minimum wage that reaches $14.00/hour by the end of the contract.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) placed United Healthcare Workers (UHW) West in trusteeship on January 27. UHW members work in hospitals, convalescent facilities, and in home care. The International wanted to remove 65,000 members from UHW and put them into another, newly formed local, while UHW wanted the plan to be decided by a democratic vote of the members. UHW supporters held a rally and march on the evening of January 27 to protest the action.

On January 16th, 60 University of California (UC) service workers and at least ten UC student supporters from at least five UC campuses stormed the San Francisco offices of UC Board of Regents Chairman Richard Blum at his company, Blum Capital, on Montgomery St. Chanting, singing and posting images and words of impoverished UC service workers on the walls, they occupied Blum's office to ask that he and UC President Mark Yudof "agree to end poverty wages at UC."

United Brotherhood of Carpenters UBC San Francisco Local 22 rank and file members are protesting discrimination and the lack of enforcement of residency hiring agreements. Rank and file carpenters are charging that Bobby Alvarado the head of the Northern California District Council of Carpenters is hiring business agents who have never worked as carpenters and also that these business agents are not enforcing existing contracts and allowing discrimination. Problems facing carpenters have increased as a result of the growing mass unemployment in the construction industry.

On December 4th, over a hundred San Francisco school bus drivers who are members of United Transportation Union (UTU) 1741 picketed and protested the illegal firings and union-busting tactics by Scottish-owned First Student. The company, which recently purchased Laidlaw, is in a war to bust the union by firing bus drivers in violation of their contract and for incidents that have nothing to do with their driving record.

Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) latest scheme to destroy SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West was denounced by Fresno elected officials on Thursday, December 11. Henry R. Perea, chairman of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, exposed the sham election that the International is using to break up SEIU-UHW.

From Chicago IMC: The worker occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Chicago's Goose Island by members of UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) Local 1110 went into its third day on Sunday, and workers have vowed to continue the occupation until they are paid back pay and benefits, or until the plant is re-opened.