Search: Cities, 06/2018
Results
Solidarity and Member-Led Actions Lead to Greater Safety Measures at the City of Berkeley
After a tremendous show of solidarity from their fellow City of Berkeley coworkers, community leaders, and members of other unions, a citywide strike was averted in the late hours of Friday, June 15.
Days leading up to their contract expiration, Berkeley workers held actions almost every day, often drawing hundreds of workers and their families to rallies. From solid waste workers, analysts, parking enforcement officers, clerical staff to librarians and public nurses, workers came out in full force and assembled picket signs in the city hall lobby. They brought together local elected leaders, members from IBEW, AFSCME 3299, Local 1, and IAFF 1277, and fellow SEIU 1021 members from other chapters to join them in a fight for a fair and equitable contract.
A Lesson from West Virginia
West Virginia teachers have shown that despite the failure of politicians to protect the rights of working people to organize, working people standing together are unstoppable. Striking teachers have shown that no court case or legislation can stop the power of solidarity and the willingness to stand up for justice.
West Virginia is among the handful of “right to work-for less” states, a fate that may soon be shared by California after the Supreme Court rules on Janus v AFSCME.
We Won’t Be Divided by Billionaire Bullies
Bay Area Elected Leaders Pledge Support for Working Families Against Billionaire-Backed Assault
Berkeley Citywide Strike Looms
To Date, More than 900 City of Berkeley Workers Have Authorized A Strike
(Berkeley, CA)—More than 400 hundred Berkeley city workers voted to authorize a strike if city administrators fail to reach an agreement with clerical and maintenance workers over safer working conditions and cost-of-living allowances. More than 400 librarians, public nurses, mental health professionals, and city planners and attorneys represented by SEIU 1021 voted on June 14 to join clerical and maintenance workers in a strike if necessary.
Addressing Understaffing and Long Patient Wait Times
On April 18, more than a dozen radiology and ultrasound technicians testified before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee. The technicians work at Zuckerberg SF General (ZSFGH) and Laguna Honda Hospitals, where patients are suffering long wait times because of understaffing in radiology and ultrasound departments.