October Issue: Elections
The Bay Area working class is on the ballot
|
With ballots due in just over a month for the November 8 general election, we wanted to highlight some of the issues up for a vote that will have a direct impact on the Bay Area working class.
First, in San Francisco, DSA SF is campaigning hard for its People First slate of ballot measures: Proposition M would impose a tax on landlords for keeping housing units vacant to fund affordable housing and rental subsidies. Prop O, spearheaded by AFT 2121, would impose a new parcel tax targeted mostly at large commercial properties to provide a stable funding source for City College of San Francisco, a critically important working class institution in the city. Prop H would move big city elections (including Mayor and DA) to even-numbered years, when voter turnout is roughly twice that of odd-numbered years. Props M, O & H have all received the endorsement of the SF Labor Council. If you are in San Francisco, we urge you to vote YES on Props M, O & H, and consider joining a lit drop or phone bank in support of the slate. At City College SF, several seats on the Board of Trustees are up for grabs, and there are some real friends of labor seeking positions: Susan Solomon, former president of United Educators SF, Anita Martinez, former president of AFT 2121, and Vick Chung are running to restore classes and stop layoffs of CCSF faculty and other workers. All three have the support of many labor unions as well as student organizers and activists.
In Oakland, after pro-charter and pro-developer members of the school board betrayed teachers and students earlier this year by approving racist school closures, there are three crucial school board races underway. The Oakland Education Association has endorsed Jennifer Brouhard in District 2, Pecolia Manigo in District 4, and Valarie Bachelor in District 6. Also on the ballot: Measure V would expand Just Cause eviction protections for tenants, and Measure S would allow undocumented Oakland parents to vote in school board races.
In Berkeley, housing is on the ballot: For rent board, there’s a pro-tenant Right to Housing Slate, which was chosen through a democratic and working-class endorsement process at the Berkeley Tenant Convention. Slate candidates include Negeene Mosaed, Soli Alpert, Ida Martinac, Nathan Mizell, and Vanessa Danielle Marrero. Plus, two ballot measures: Modeled after San Francisco’s Empty Homes Tax, Measure M in Berkeley would address the housing crisis by penalizing speculators and house flippers who leave units vacant. Measure N in Berkeley is a referendum to allow the city to build social housing.
And in Richmond, voters have a chance to elect socialists Eduardo Martinez as mayor and Jamin Pursell to city council. Martinez worked for decades as a public school teacher and has been outspoken about holding Chevron accountable and working toward a just transition off fossil fuels.
These are just a few important issues up for a vote. Join fellow workers in door-knocking for some of these East Bay races and housing measures at upcoming events.
|
|
|
San Franciscans will vote on a measure to tax landlords who keep homes empty. Photo: @DSA_SF
|
|
|
Alcatraz City Cruises Workers Win Their Union Despite Union Busting Efforts
Savannah Kuang, SF Independent Journal, 10-1-2022
Q&A with Jack Calvin, deckhand at Alcatraz City Cruises, on what’s next for the union.
Kaiser made $8 billion in profits last year. So why are patients struggling to get mental health care?
Nanette Asimov, SF Chronicle, 9-28-2022
Mental health workers at Kaiser are still on an open-ended strike.
San Francisco Airport Workers End Strike After Pay Victory
Jake Johnson, Truthout, 9-30-2022
In late September, around 1,000 SFO food service workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 2 went on strike over low pay and increased workload due to short-staffing. They were joined by United flight attendants picketing over staffing. The food service workers secured a $5 raise and free family healthcare coverage in a tentative agreement ratified with 99.5% of members in support.
SFUSD members protest persistent payroll problems at school board
SEIU 1021, 9-26-2022
Workers in SFUSD rallied to fix payroll problems that have pushed staff “to the breaking point.” Plus, SFUSD workers are still having their health insurance arbitrarily canceled. The district blames its payroll system and says it will cost millions to fix.
‘The System Failed Him’: SF Educator Battled Insurance Glitches Before Dying From Cancer
Ida Mojadad, SF Standard, 9-14-2022
|
SFO food service workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 2 won a $5/hour raise after a courageous strike. Photo: UNITE HERE
|
| Bills, bills, bills: Governor Newsom waited until the last moment to sign or veto a slew of bills passed by the legislature. It was a mixed bag for the working class. Newsom, widely seen to have presidential hopes, seemed to make choices designed to thread the needle by not pissing off labor unions too much while still maintaining pro-business bona-fides that national Democrats rely on for donations. In the win column: Newsom reluctantly signed into law AB 2183, the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act, after pressure from Biden and, more importantly, from UFW, who held a historic 335-mile march and a long vigil at the Capitol. Newsom also signed a bill requiring employers with 15+ workers to publish salary ranges & gather diversity data, and another that allows more poor workers to access paid leave. However, Newsom vetoed a bill to extend unemployment benefits to undocumented workers, and another that would have expanded paid leave for university faculty, saying CSU should address it with labor during bargaining instead. |
What It Will Take to Build a Broad-Based Movement for a Just Transition
David Bacon, Sierra Magazine, 8-31-2022
California employers will soon be barred from testing employees for marijuana use
Andrew Sheeler, Sacramento Bee, 9-19-2022
State Says Long Beach Home Care Agencies Owe Nearly $2 Million For Wage Theft
Josie Huang, LAist, 9-28-2022
An in-home care agency stole over $1 million in wages from mostly Filipino workers forced to work 24-hour shifts below minimum wage, and will now have to pay up.
|
U.S. & International Labor News
|
Remembering Saladin Muhammad, founder of Black Workers for Justice
UE, 9-30-2022
Saladin Muhammad was a retired international representative for United Electrical Workers and a major force in organizing Black workers, especially in the South. Read this recent interview with him on the importance of organizing with or without a union, and why systemic racism is a class issue.
The Chicago Teachers’ Strike Ten Years On: Organizing for the Common Good, Then and Now
Eric Blanc, New Labor Forum, 8-15-2022
Company Asked Employees to Bring Family, Pets to Office to Work Through Hurricane Ian
Paul Blest, Vice, 9-28-2022
Industrial Policy Without Industrial Unions
Lee Harris, The American Prospect, 9-28-2022
Democrats have pushed for electric vehicles. But workers’ rights in the industry have been an afterthought, including at companies like Rivian and Tesla.
Ilhan Omar’s Staff Wins Union As Part of Union Push Among Congressional Staffers
Jacqui Germain, Teen Vogue, 9-30-2022
Staff for Reps Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar, and Andy Levin have now won their union elections.
“30 Years in the Making”: U.S. Rail Strike Averted by Tentative Deal as Workers Decry Grueling Conditions
Democracy Now!, 9-15-2022
Longtime organizer Ron Kaminkow describes the left movement within rail workers’ unions and the crisis of industry greed. You can support Railroad Workers United, an inter-union, cross-craft solidarity caucus, with a 1-year $25 solidarity membership.
Home Depot Managers Descend Upon Philadelphia Store Considering Union
Dave Jamieson, HuffPost, 9-27-2022
|
|
|
Education and Events
So many events this month!
|
🛠 The Jobs Program Working Group of East Bay Democratic Socialists of America will be holding its first ever jobs fair, for jobs in food service, logistics, and education — areas with great potential for democratizing unions and winning gains in the workplace. October 16, 2PM-4PM in Berkeley. RSVP for location.
📗 UMass Amherst Labor Center is hosting a virtual open house on Zoom at 4PM Pacific on October 11 about their master’s degrees and labor studies programs. Details here.
💾 Tech Workers Collective is hosting a Teach-In on tech, labor and organizing October 19-21, via zoom.
🎧 Podcast: Good interview on The Valley Labor Report with Joe Demanuelle-Hall, a Labor Notes staff organizer, on the role of stewarding and effective stewarding up to about the 44 min mark. The back half is on the finances of organized labor.
📞 DSA Labor is holding a “Striketober” call on Sunday, October 16, at 3:30PM Pacific. Hear from workers at John Deere, Nabisco, UPS, Starbucks, and the University of California.
The largest armed labor uprising in American history was 101 years ago. It’s still relevant as ever
Kenzie New-Walker, SF Chronicle, 9-5-2022
Marilyn and Elvis: Dead Labor in the Age of Streaming
Kathy M. Newman, 9-19-2022
History of the Elaine Massacre of 1919, when white supremacists killed Black farmers attempting to unionize
Democracy Now!, 10-4-2022
|
|
|
|
|
The Picket Line 
Leave a comment