San Mateo County Candidates Get Primer on Labor Concerns

Candidates for local office heard from union members at a candidate orientation meeting organized by the San Mateo County Central Labor Council and Building and Construction Trades Council August 16. About 25 candidates attended, including some of those running for City Council in Foster City, San Mateo, Brisbane, Burlingame, Redwood City, Millbrae, San Bruno, and San Carlos and candidates for School Boards.

As in past orientations, candidates were given a primer on labor issues from local labor leaders and union members. The Labor Council’s Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Shelley Kessler, explained the role of the labor council as an umbrella organization of unions with “... everything from janitors to pilots, health care workers, teachers, all kinds of folks. We represent 70,000 workers and their families who have come together to express our voices collectively.”

“Some of the issues we’ll be talking about are difficult ones; the decisions you’ll have to make are not always easy ones to make,” Kessler added. “It’s okay to ask questions.”

SMCLC president Linda Gregory added that the labor council expects candidates and elected officials to “find out about the issues of the primary interest unions—those that have a stake in the policies you’ll implement, including the building trades unions.”

Gregory told the candidates that, “Communication and accessibility are important. It goes a long way when you reach out and try to determine what issues the unions are concerned about. If you are elected, be sensitive to the issues of union members, like contracting out.” She urged candidates to always hold events at unionized hotels and patronize union printers.

The candidates were given the opportunity to learn more about specific labor concerns through a series of break-out sessions focused on education, building trades, and the public and private sectors.

Representatives of the Service Employees, AFSCME, and Firefighters unions talked about issues for public sector workers. Riko Mendez of SEIU said that contracting out of public sector jobs was a concern, as well as the trend toward hiring “perma-temps”—workers hired to fill temporary jobs who end up working year-round or permanently but without the benefits of full-time employees. Randy Kelly of Firefighters Local 2400 said the union supports a County-wide fire department to streamline services and eliminate redundancy. He said the consolidation wouldn’t cost jobs but would put more firefighters on the streets.

In the education sector discussions, Jerry Reed of the American Federation of Teachers Local 1486 said more affordable housing is needed so teachers and other workers can afford to live in San Mateo County. He said that proposals for vouchers—using public funds to help pay for a students’ private school education— and charter schools were a drain on public education. Reed pointed out that many of the classified employees his union represents work part-time and aren’t eligible for health care benefits and that their jobs are at risk of being contracted out. “Our people do a wonderful job and need support,” he told the candidates.

AFT Local 3267 member Heather Davis said the biggest issue is having education fully funded and urged the candidates to use their positions as elected officials to advocate for fully funding education. She urged the candidates to maintain an open flow of communication. “It’s important that you talk to us about the issues and that the City Council and School Board members talk to each other,” she said. “The City Council has a role in education since many of the jobs like field maintenance and crossing guards are city jobs.”

Union members representing private sector workers talked about the challenges to organizing. Eddie Raymond of the Theatrical Stage Employees Local 16 said that unions can gain recognition through the National Labor Relations Act election process, card-check, or voluntary recognition by the employer. Myriam Escamilla of SEIU described the NLRB process—and how companies abuse it through forced meetings, spreading lies about the union, threatening workers, and firing union supporters. “It’s illegal, but companies do it all the time,” she said.

Stan Kiino of the Association of Flight Attendants said that elected officials can play a role in helping workers gain union rights. “It’s important that you act as a mediator between employers and unions and help create labor peace,” Kiino said. “Your constituents have a hard time making ends meet without union representation.”

The candidates were told that if contracting out of services is needed, union contractors should be used so workers are well-treated with and have good wages and benefits. “Unions help level the playing field with corporate America,” Raymond said.
Mark Leach of the Electrical Workers Local 617 explained building trades issues, including the benefits of project labor agreements, the requirements for paying prevailing wages on public works jobs and the importance of using workers trained in union apprenticeship programs. “In San Mateo County we have had great success because the construction unions are the only stable source of skilled workers and our apprenticeship programs are the only quality programs that serve as the foundation for our future skilled workforce,” Leach said.

The Labor Council’s Political Director, Christa Indriolo, gave a presentation on the importance of unions and why labor supports the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. “Unions are the best anti-poverty, family security and equal opportunity program for working people in America,” she said. She pointed out that, “Unions are the largest, best organized and most effective political allies for elected officials who want to make progress on the issues that matter to working Americans, such as good jobs, health care, education and retirement security.”

Indriolo gave an overview of why union membership has declined even as the number of workers wanting to join unions has grown. The cumbersome and often manipulated election process through the National Labor Relations Act was cited as a prime reason, and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act offered as a solution.

“Imagine if workers tried to interfere with an employer’s choice about joining an employer association or their choice of who would represent them in negotiations,” she said. She pointed out that if the candidates had to run their election campaigns like an election for union representation, “Your supporters would know that they could be fired, denied promotions or harassed. Newspapers would write that people who voted for you would be economically devastated. You wouldn’t have access to a voter list until sic weeks before the election, and voters would be required to watch TV ads against you for several hours a day.”

Showing the inherently anti-democratic nature of an election system weighted against unions, Indriolo said that under such elections, “Your opponents could delay the election if they thought they’d do better later and the election would be held in your opponent’s headquarters.”

She noted that few workers survive the process—only 84,000 private sector workers win union representation on average annually and only one-quarter of those will have a contract in place five years later. But when employers don’t interfere with union elections and remain neutral, unions win 96 percent of the time.

Indriolo asked that elected officials acknowledge the good employers who don’t interfere with workers’ free choice and speak out, hold hearings and appear publicly with workers facing employer interference. She asked that elected officials encourage employers to respect card-check as a standard procedure, where the union is recognized if 50 percent plus one of the workers sign union authorization cards.

After the break-out sessions and presentations, candidates heard from Assemblymember Gene Mullin, who also served many years as in local office. “The essence of the democratic process is the willingness of citizens to get involved,” Mullin said. He congratulated the candidates for filing for office and said that, if elected, they would have the opportunity to improve the community and shape the future. Mullin said he had first joined a union 54 years ago and saw unions as representing the desire for equity and fairness.

“There needs to be a fair balance between labor an capital,” Mullin said. “Unions are not monolithic and have their own interests. What they all want is the ability to make their case with you and you should allow it. It’s more than a courtesy—it’s an obligation to do so.”

Kessler added that, “It’s about being able to communicate with each other about issues and solutions. We are part of your constituency. Our cities are good because the people working here make it so.”

- Paul Burton