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As members of the California State Assembly and the California State Senate return for the 2022 state legislative session, so will fast-food workers, union members, and grassroots activists. On Wednesday, January 12, 2022, supporters of Assembly Bill 257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or FAST Recovery Act, will rally on the steps of the California State Capitol building.

For years, the City of Oakland had a simple, common-sense approach to drug and alcohol use: if a worker was thought to be impaired at work or under the influence, they would be sent for testing. However, in recent years, some members of the City’s administration started to try to impose a new standard, with a long list of specific job classifications and reduced flexibility for departments. Worst of all, the testing under the new policy was a urine test that would show only the presence of cannabis in the worker’s system, not impairment.

In conjunction with app-based drivers across Los Angeles, Brussels, and cities across nine different countries, and amid an international swell of worker protests, workers with We Drive Progress (WDP) set up Support Hubs in San Francisco, including at a popular South of Market ghost kitchen. Ghost kitchens are food preparation and cooking facilities set up to prepare delivery-only meals that are often utilized by food-ordering and delivery apps, including Uber Eats, DoorDash, Postmates, Grubhub, Club Feast, and more.

Dec. 20, 2021: “I can think of a half a dozen employees that the County has offered jobs to here on the coast, but they had to turn down the offer, because they couldn’t find anywhere to live,” reported one Mendocino County employee in a survey. “The average apartment rents for about $1200 to $1300 per month. The rental agency requires your income to be three times the rent. I make around $35 per hour, and I can’t even afford that. How is someone who makes minimum wage or is a single parent supposed to find a place to live?” laments another survey respondent.

SEIU 1021 members at the City of Chico showed up with their families in large numbers at the City of Chico council hearing on Dec. 7th in a strong showing of union power and solidarity.

Dec. 14, 2021: 

Folks who know SEIU 1021 Sonoma County Chapter President Jana Blunt and are familiar with her work with the union agree: She is an amazing leader who gets s*%t done. Her fierce, persistent, and creative organizing and advocacy was crucial in successfully saving 45+ County workers’ jobs in less than a year and, most recently, winning hazard pay for all County employees for their work and sacrifice throughout the pandemic. And she is still fighting hard for an equitable countywide telework policy.

City of Richmond part-time workers ratified their new Memorandum of Understanding unanimously last week. The new agreement brings the part-time contract into alignment with the fulltime agreement for the first time in years, and brings big wins to the group, including their first COLAs since 2015, a pro-rated signing bonus, a classification and compensation study, improved bilingual pay and shoe allowances, a simplified, strengthened grievance procedure, and new, stronger union rights.

In 2009, the City amended the Charter to deliberately rig the collective bargaining system in the City’s favor by creating an arbitrary deadline to complete contract negotiations and a harsh penalty for the unions and their members that do not meet the deadline. These changes to the Charter also made it effectively impossible for workers to use the strongest tool available to us – the right to strike – to advocate for ourselves and the community we serve. As a result, the scales have been tipped in management’s favor for years each time we go to the table to bargain a new contract.