February 22, 2008 - Volume 1, Issue 48
New LA Policy Boosts Hiring of Local and Low-Income Construction Workers
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) approved a landmark policy that will require certain CRA-funded projects to hire more local and low-income residents from the communities in which the project is being built. In addition, the policy includes a Project Labor Agreement that will encourage partnership between CRA-subsidized developers and contractors and the Building Trades Council.
“This policy is good for the construction industry, good for workers, and good for the community,” said Richard Slawson, executive director of the LA/OC Building and Construction Trades Council.
Visit http://launionaflcio.org/news/08_02_21-Construction.php for more information.
The Future of Union Organizing: Majority Sign-Up
Union organizing under the traditional NLRB election system can be a long, tedious process with plenty of time and opportunity for the employer to bully workers out of joining the union. Majority sign-up, or “card check”, is a new way to organize that gives workers the opportunity to talk to each other about the union without facing employer harassment or intimidation.
Under this system, workers who want a union simply sign cards asking the union to represent them in collective bargaining, without having to go through the drawn-out election process.
The California Labor Federation has just released a new brochure on union organizing using majority sign-up. Learn how majority sign-up works, the steps of an organizing campaign under majority sign-up, and what workers in California and across the country are doing to expand majority sign-up provisions and give workers a real right to organize.
Learn more and download the brochure at www.calaborfed.org/organizing/index.html
Picket For UC Berkeley Workers
On Thursday, February 28th, AFSCME 3299 members and supporters will be picketing for a new contract at the Berkeley campus of the University of California.
Show your solidarity by participating in Thursday’s picket. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the picketers will be at the intersection of Hearst and Gayley in Berkeley, and from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. the picket will be at Bancroft and Telegraph.
For more information, contact Seth Newton at (510) 486-0100.
New Legislative Scorecard Reveals Labor-Friendly Legislators
Every year, the California Labor Federation releases its “Force for Progress” legislative scorecard, which shows how all state legislators voted on labor issues in the last year.
We are proud to commend those legislators that achieved a perfect labor voting record on the 2007 bills that mattered most to California’s working families. Senators Ellen Corbett (D- San Leandro), Christine Kehoe (D- San Diego), Carole Migden (D- San Francisco), Darrell Steinberg (D- Sacramento) Patricia Wiggins (D- Santa Rosa), and Assembly members Julia Brownley (D- Santa Monica), Mark Desaulnier (D- Martinez), Mike Eng (D- Monterey Park), Edward Hernandez (D- Baldwin Park), Dave Jones (D- Sacramento), Mark Leno (D- San Francisco), Fiona Ma (D- Sanf Francisco), Ira Ruskin (D- Redwood City), Lori Saldana (D- San Diego) and Sandre Swanson (D- Oakland) all stood in strong support of working families last year by voting with labor 100 percent of the time.
Visit www.calaborfed.org to download the scorecard.
San Diego Film Screening of “A Union Man”
Tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., IATSE Local 122, Activist San Diego & San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council are sponsoring a film screening of “A Union Man: The Life and Work of Julius Margolin” at the San Diego Art Sculpture Garden Theater in Balboa Park at 2:00 p.m.
"A Union Man" is the story of Julius Margolin, a rank-and-file union activist who is still fighting for justice at the age of 91, and has become a living legend in New York City. The film depicts Margolin’s life through his eyes as well as those he's met along the way.
All are welcome to the screening. The film’s producer, George Mann, will sing a selection of labor and folk classics and answer questions after the film. A $5-$10 donated is suggested.
For more information, visit www.georgeandjulius.com
Register Today for Building Workforce Partnerships Conference
Building Workforce Partnerships, a collaboration of the Federation’s Workforce and Economic Development Program (WED), the State of California, and other partners, will be holding its annual conference on June 11th to 13th, 2008 at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim.
The conference brings together a diverse and increasingly national group of practitioners, academics, policy makers, labor, and industry leaders to debate and explore the realities of the labor market, the current and future state of our economy, and the challenges of maintaining access to good jobs.
This year's conference, entitled “Adapting to Change,” will explore how our nation's response to new climate change policies will affect the labor market, and how we can transition to a green economy during a time of economic insecurity.
Register today at www.wed-works.org/info.html