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After months of protests aimed at protecting the residents of the Adult Residential Facility, members of SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21, together with SF Supervisors Ronen and Haney, reached an agreement with the SF Department of Public Health and the Mayor London Breed to protect the facility and its severely mentally ill residents on October 11. 

Over 1000 SEIU members, and workers not-yet-members from the Fight for $15 and a Union Campaign, gathered at the Unions For All Summit in Los Angeles on Oct. 3-6 to interview the 2020 presidential candidates and hear their plans for ensuring that every working American has the right to have a union.
 
At the heart of the ‘Unions for All’ demand is the idea that if everyone was in a union, working people would have the power and resources to achieve economic justice, eradicate anti-Black racism, fund public services and fix our environment.

SEIU 1021 members stood on the picket line with Registered Nurses during their one-day strike at San Leandro Hospital on September 20. Nurses called out management’s unfair labor practices and bad faith bargaining after negotiations stalled.

John Pearson, ER nurse and SEIU 1021 chapter president of Alameda Health Systems, felt it was important to show solidarity with the Nurses.

“We are in the exact same fight with Alameda Health Systems and we know that management is going to treat us the same way during our contract negotiations.”

On September 12, over 250 hospital workers rallied to address chronic understaffing at Laguna Honda Hospital and the Adult Residential Facility (ARF) at San Francisco General Hospital’s campus. Holding signs that read “A Patient Care Solution is Safe Staffing Not Scapegoating,” workers criticized the SF Department of Public Health (DPH) for outsourcing jobs to save money.

On August 26, SEIU 1021 President Joseph Bryant, Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg and community supporters stood with hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers caravanning to draw attention to their lack of worker protections.  The caravan stopped in front of Uber headquarters in San Francisco to a protest low wages and highlight their demand for a union. The caravan of gig workers started in Los Angeles on August 24 and was headed to Sacramento to lobby elected officials on AB 5 –the gig worker protection act– on August 27.

On August 13, Mendocino County members approved their agreement with the county that includes a 9% base wage increase over three years and additional equity wage adjustments for a majority of SEIU 1021 represented positions.  Public services have suffered as the County’s workforce investments have lagged behind comparable employers.  The deal was approved by the Board of Supervisors on August 20.

City of Oakland workers led the community charge last night as hundreds of Oaklanders stormed Oakland’s City Council meeting to speak out in favor of good services for city residents. Previously, Mayor Libby Schaaf had proposed a budget that the community had roundly rejected for making parks dirtier and less safe by cutting Parks and Rec staffing, ignoring homelessness and the affordable housing crisis, and making city workers poorer while costs of living continue to skyrocket.