Newswire
SEIU 1021 stands with community members fighting to save Oakland schools
KTVU: Parents still occupying Oakland elementary school after confrontation with guards
For more than two months, a coalition of parents, students, and community members have been engaged in a nonviolent sit-in occupation to save Oakland’s Parker Elementary. On Thursday, the Oakland Unified School District deployed a private security team to forcefully and violently remove the protestors.
Felton workers march to speak out on issues, fight for union
Last Wednesday, July 27, workers at the Felton Institute marched and rallied at a lunchtime break action outside the Felton Institute’s Family Developmental Center building in San Francisco to speak out on the understaffing and burnout issues they are facing.
300 Tenderloin Housing Clinic workers stage a powerful 24-hour strike
Read about our strike in the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED.
Last Wednesday, nearly 300 workers at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC) went out on a 24-hour strike as efforts to secure a new contract with management continue to drag on.
Fast-food workers turn up the heat, fighting for a FAST Recovery
As the heat turns up in fast-food restaurant kitchens across California, so does the fight to pass Assembly Bill 257 in the California State Senate. AB 257 would enact the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, or FAST Recovery Act.
The bill is a monumental piece of legislation for fast-food workers. It would create a first-of-its-kind industry standards board and give workers a seat at the table with global corporations like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Jack in the Box to set industry-wide standards like wages, benefits, and working conditions.
We fought and we won a temporary suspension of patient transfers at Laguna Honda
The situation regarding Laguna Honda Hospital’s certification status with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been stressful for us all—patients, staff, and community members alike. After notice had been given that CMS was going to be terminating their Medicare and Medicaid funding, the hospital was required to begin transferring patients. If the hospital failed to begin those transfers right away, they were told their funding would be cut off immediately.
SEIU 1021 Executive Board Votes by Supermajority to Appoint Theresa Rutherford as President
August 22, 2022, SEIU 1021 will welcome our new president, Theresa Rutherford. At the executive board meeting last Saturday, July 23, the board voted by a landslide to appoint the current San Francisco regional vice president to replace the local’s current president, Joseph Bryant, who was elected executive vice president of the SEIU international union last month.
Support Tenderloin Housing Clinic workers heading out on strike
Tenderloin Housing Clinic workers are crucial to keeping San Francisco’s homelessness and supportive housing system functioning. Around 300 people there work as desk clerks, janitors, case workers, maintenance staff, and more at 24 of the city’s single-room occupancy hotels (SROs).
Exploratorium workers showcase their collective power in their fight for a new contract
Congratulations to Exploratorium members who recently ratified a new contract! Management opened negotiations by giving a presentation projecting a five to seven million dollar deficit, but members made it clear that they won’t let the boss balance the budget on their backs.
They instead got organized and brought the fight from the bargaining table to the shop floor to showcase their unity — and it paid off.
City of Oakland members ratify strong tentative agreement with 14% COLA over 3 years
Congratulations to SEIU 1021 members at City of Oakland, who voted by almost 97 percent last week to ratify their tentative agreement, which will provide substantial improvements at a time when city workers need them most.
Hear ye, hear ye! The labor movement goes medieval.
Imagine, if you will, strolling through an eleventh-century Spanish town. A towering person donning knightly armor, including a helmet, cuirass, gauntlet, and shield, stands before you. In a deep voice, the knight, a loyal servant and defender of the Kingdom of Castile, demands,“Are you part of the American Guild of Variety Artists?”
Why “Staff Up” is the theme of 2022 — and what it means for worker power
If you’ve been following the SEIU 1021 Newswire and/or social media accounts this year, you have undoubtedly noticed a common theme: From San Francisco to Mendocino County to Sacramento City schools, 1021 members are demanding their employers do more to alleviate severe staffing crises that are burning out workers and harming the public services they provide.
The unionization wave hits REI in Berkeley
As the summer season continues, so does a new heat wave of union organizing. The latest retail services corporation to feel the heat of workers fighting for a fair and just contract is Recreational Equipment, Inc., at its Berkeley location. More commonly known as REI, the company sells camping gear, hiking, climbing, cycling, water, running, fitness, snow, and travel equipment. The consumers’ cooperative operates 165 retail stores across 39 states.
Mendocino County workers rally at board of supervisors, demand action to address staffing crisis
With vacancy rates as high as 67% in critical positions, the County cannot afford to lose another worker and needs desperately to recruit – but it is doing nothing to plug the drain.
About 80 Mendocino County workers flooded the board of supervisors meeting in a sea of purple this morning, protesting the county’s inaction in the face of a major staffing crisis.
Family and Children’s Services social workers: 40 percent vacancy rate. Mental health clinicians: 67 percent vacancy rate. Public health nurses: 29.6 percent vacancy rate. Department of Transportation road crews: 32 percent vacancy rate. Employment and family services eligibility workers: 20 percent vacancy rate.
Working People in Oakland Picket for Good Union Jobs
On Thursday, June 30 a coalition of working people from three unions, IBEW, IFPTE Local 21, and SEIU Local 1021, rallied and picketed outside Oakland’s City Hall to call for an end to the understaffing crisis.
With help from SEIU 1021 clinic workers, another victory for SB 1014
SB 1014 will provide community clinic workers livable wages and a voice on the job.
Last Tuesday, June 28, marked another milestone for SB 1014, a bill that will ensure that community clinics have the necessary funding to improve patient care and raise clinic worker wages to at least $25/hour and make sure clinic workers have a stronger voice in making improvements and more training opportunities to further their careers.
SEIU Local 1021 President Joseph Bryant speaks about the fight for fast-food workers’ rights on national Our Revolution broadcast
If unionizing your workplace is anything, it is a revolutionary act that unites us across racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and class lines. Last week Our Revolution, the progressive political action organization spun out of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, hosted an organizing call titled Building Worker Power. SEIU Local 1021 President Joseph Bryant, speaking alongside fast-food workers, members of the Communications Workers of America, and U.S.
Congratulations to SEIU 1021 President Joseph Bryant on his election as SEIU international executive vice president
Friday, June 24, in Chicago, SEIU 1021 President Joseph Bryant was unanimously elected by the SEIU International Executive Board to serve as executive vice president on President Mary Kay Henry’s leadership team.
Workers at Maryland Apple Store become the first to unionize in the United States
The wave of new organizing continues! Apple’s retail store workers at Maryland’s Towson Town Center sealed a historic win last week, becoming the only U.S. workers in the company’s 46 years to gain the right to labor representation. The final vote tally showed 65 of the store’s 112 eligible workers voted in favor of unionization and 33 against. The workers initially organized into a group called the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees before working with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union to reach victory.
Santa Clara University adjuncts and lecturers win their union election in resounding victory!
Welcome to SEIU 1021!
In 2017, adjunct faculty and lecturers at Santa Clara University began organizing to form a union. On June 21, 2022, votes from their union election were counted — and they won big, with over 72% of the votes cast for the union in an election with impressive turnout.
The fight for worker power is the fight for LGBTQIA+ justice
The high-profile worker-organizing campaigns at Amazon, Starbucks, and most recently Apple signal a resurgence of the labor movement. Across the country, workers are rising up to fight back against unsafe workplace conditions, unfair labor practices, and a system that values profit over the health and wellbeing of its people. The reinvigorated movement is driven particularly by younger people, who are also carrying the torch of the fight for justice for LGBTQIA+ people.