During Fall Quarter at UC Santa Cruz, the custodians that clean dorms had their hours cut on Thursdays and Fridays which resulted in overflowing trash cans, unsanitary bathrooms and increased cases of illness in residents. These cuts were fought and revoked. Now workers say they must unite with students and fight to defeat unsafe cuts to dining hall custodians.

On Monday through Thursday, February 8-11, UCSC staff and students will hold demonstrations at a different dinning hall for each of the four days, from 11:30am-1:30pm to protest the rising cost of student fees while student services are being slashed; major cuts to labor time while forcing workers to perform more labor; and workers, being rushed through their shifts, aren’t able to thoroughly clean dining halls, resulting in unsanitary eating commons and an unsafe working environment.

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Previous coverage: Service Workers Ratify Historic Contract With UC

Last month members of the California Coalition for Workers Memorial Day accompanied movie propmaker and former Downey Studio worker Steve Basile on a visit to the San Carlos, California headquarters of Tesla Motors, Inc. Together they asked Tesla, makers of high-end electric cars, to consider the number of health problems that have been connected with the Downey site before putting a manufacturing facility in that city. Tesla Vice President for Communications Ricardo Reyes assured the group at that time that the company had no intention of making a decision in haste, and said Tesla would make arrangements to meet with workers who have been injured in Downey.

One month later with all calls and emails to Tesla unanswered, the worker safety advocates were joined by the Raging Grannies in demonstrating in front of the car company's tony Menlo Park showroom. Protesters carried signs saying "Downey's Brownfields Aren't Green" and sang of solidarity with workers, then held a press conference attended by both corporate and independent media reporters.

Read more | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Video | California Coalition for Workers Memorial Day

On December 17th, 2009, dozens of supporters of the KPFA-Pacifica show Flashpoints, which is also carried around the country, went to the station to hear a report on the layoffs and attacks on the show by the KPFA management. After Manager Lemlem Rijio vacated the building to avoid answering questions, Amelia Gonzalez, the assistant manager, told the rally that the station had violated the union contract and laid off staff disregarding the seniority list. She said they were in discussion with CWA 9415 on how they could have layoffs without regard to the station wide seniority list.

The first victim of this new cutback campaign was Eric Klein, Flashpoints' technical producer and engineer, whose half-time position was eliminated with no advance notice on December 7; Dennis Bernstein, the show's host, wasn't informed until he went looking for Klein an hour before airtime. After co-host Nora Barrows-Friedman emailed station manager Lemlem Rijio seeking an explanation and making the case that the show requires a technical producer, Rijio invited her to "share her concerns" in person. When they met on December 9, Barrows-Friedman argued that it was "unreasonable" to expect her to absorb Klein's work on top of her other responsibilities, whereupon Rijio "casually" informed her that her hours were being cut in half, from 40 to 20 per week, effective immediately.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Videos: 1 | 2 | 3

Cuts to KPFA's Flashpoints Spark Outrage | Award Winning Flashpoints Radio Show Under Threat by KPFA Management | KPFA Lemlem's Ambush Of Flashpoints Producer Nora-Barrows-Friedman | KPFA's Manager Lemlem Rijio Shuts Down Flashpoints Without Notice For Fund Drive? | Robert Knight and the Knight report axed by KPFA management-KPFA CL Management Seeking To Shut Down Flashpoints | Letter from KPFA General Manager to Our Listening Community | Open Letter to KPFA General Manager, Lemlem Rijio and the KPFA community | Flashpoints receives Top 20 Media recognition

Worker safety activists say that toxic site property developers are developing long time military and commercial radioactive toxic dumps without properly cleaning them up and that one of the most deadly is in Downey, California. On December 10th members of the Coalition for Workers Memorial Day visited Tesla's world headquarters in San Carlos to report on the continuing contamination and dangerous working conditions at the Downey site. They asked that Tesla not choose that site for their new plant to build their environment-friendly cars.

Steve Basile, who faces life threatening illness after working as a propmaker for Downey Studios, told Tesla's VP of Communications Ricardo Reyes, "Making electric cars, that will help the environment. You are doing the right thing." He said he made the trip to the Bay Area to speak out for other workers who will come after him, and asked that Tesla not risk exposing their employees to the same fate he has suffered. Mr. Reyes assured the visiting activists that Tesla "wants to make an informed decision as we grow the company" and will not rush to a decision on a location for an auto assembly plant.

Read more | Announcement: Press Conference At World Tesla Headquarters | Workers Memorial Day

Hundreds of city of San Francisco workers Street protested San Francisco Mayor Newsom's plan to eliminate an estimated 500 jobs, starting with a rally in front of City Hall and then blocking traffic on busy Market Street on November 23rd. Their protest shut down traffic; eighteen people were arrested by police.

Specifically at issue was the fight to hold on to $7 million won back from previous cuts as a supplemental budget appropriation which would prevent layoffs of CNA’s (Certified Nursing Assistants), clerical workers, and frontline health department workers.

Demonstrators said that school district employees may lose their jobs just as the winter holidays are upon them. Certified nurses who work for the city said that their jobs are being reclassified to lower paying positions and even those who keep their jobs will be forced to take pay cuts. Speakers from atop a hastily constructed stage in Civic Center said they want the mayor to save their jobs with federal stimulus funds expected in April.

Photos: 1 | 2

On September 24th, 1700 hotel workers in Unite Here! Local 2 and their supporters marched around union square to demand a fair contract with a number of San Francisco hotels. Ninety-two union members and others were arrested for blocking the entrances at the St. Francis Westin and the Grand Hyatt.

Unite Here! Local 2 has been trying to get the hotels to engage in serious negotiations since their contract expired on August 14. Despite the downturn in the economy the hotel industry continues to reap huge profits while proposing the next contract cuts funding for the worker's medical benefits.

Photos | Beyond Chron Report: 1 | 2

Previous Related Indybay Feature: Unite Here! Local 2 and Supporters Rally and March for Fair Contracts on Labor Day

On Thursday, September 24th, actions against the budget cuts, fee hikes, layoffs and furloughs at University of California campuses took place throughout the UC system. Workers, graduate student employees, staff and faculty held a strike, walked out, and demonstrated in defense of public education and fair labor practices.

Under the cover of the summer months, the UC administration pushed through a program of fee increases, enrollment cuts, layoffs, furloughs, and increased class sizes that harms students and jeopardizes the livelihoods of the most vulnerable university employees. According to one analysis, with the next round of proposed fee increases (32% over the next year) UC would be funded more by student tuition than by the state, effectively making it a private university. Even with furloughs going ahead for many UC employees, management is laying off workers, cutting services, and planning to reduce in-state student enrollment to make room for nonresidents.

On September 23rd, students, faculty and staff joined together at the SFCC Mission Campus to speak-out against the massive attacks on education and to encourage organizing in solidarity with the UC statewide strike and a Northern California Educational Workers and Students conference at SFSU on September 26th at the SFSU Student Union. Video

On September 24th on the UC Berkeley campus, the day started with picket lines and teach-outs happening around campus, with a mass rally and march at noon and a general assembly in the evening to plan the next steps forward.

Thousands at labor/student picketlines at California universities | Audio from UC Berkeley Walkout | Reports from around California (and the world) - The UC Walkout | "Solidarity, What Is A Public University" A Poem For The UCB Strike/Walkout | California students and faculty denounce education cuts | UC "Student Leaders" Sabotage Occupation of Wheeler Hall | Blanca Misse UCB UAW-AGSE2865 & SWAT Member Speaks At UCB Strike/Walk-Out | UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout & Mass Rally-Workers and Students Speak Out | UC Berkeley Teach-Out Schedule | Poster for UC Berkeley Walkout

On September 24th at the UC Santa Cruz campus, picket lines began at 6am followed by a noon rally and afternoon general assembly at the base of campus. Also, students at UCSC began an occupation of the Graduate Student Commons as part of the day of action at all UCs across the state. The occupation lasted until October 1st.

Walkout and Rallies at UC Santa Cruz | UCSC Students Occupy Graduate Student Commons

Over 1,000 UC San Diego students and supporters walked out, marched and rallied on September 24th, the first day of the fall quarter, to protest tuition increases, pay cuts and furloughs, administration pay raises and privatization of the UC.

UCSD Students Walk Out September 24 | Reports from UC Riverside and UCLA

The Associated Students of the University of California (UC Berkeley Student Government) endorsed the walkout unanimously saying that "Never before has there been such a large-scale single action across all of the UCs. For the first time, we have seen an alliance being built among students, faculty and staff all taking a strong stand against the erosion of the quality, accessibility and affordability of our UC education. United, we are confident that we can fight these budget cuts, oppose the enormous fee increases being proposed, and preserve the excellence of the UC public education system at this very pivotal moment in time."

The September 24 Walkout is supported by the American Association of University Professors, the UC Student Association, the University Professional and Technical Employees and all of the student governing bodies of UC Berkeley. UPTE Strike Announcement

Related: INVITATION - October 24 Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education | UC Walkout: Trapped in a Partisan Cul-de-Sac? | UC Berkeley Is Rising | An Open Letter to UC Graduate Students | UC Faculty Walkout - September 24

Related Indybay Feature: Service Workers Ratify Historic Contract With UC

More than a thousand hotel workers and their supporters marched through downtown San Francisco on Monday, September 7th, to demand a fair contract in their ongoing negotiations with the city's hotels, among them the Hyatt Regency and Le Meridien.

The Unite Here! Local 2 march started at the Embarcadero Hyatt to draw attention to the refusal by Hyatt to allow a fair process that would allow the workers at the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf to have union representation. The march proceeded to HEI Le Meridien that is also a non-union hotel in the heart of downtown. A major concern of the Local 2 workers is the history of Hyatt in aggressively demanding health care cuts. This is from a company whose president and CEO made $6.7 million last year.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3

Previous Related Indybay Feature: Local 2 Takes to the Streets for Affordable Health Care and Job Security

Flyers were posted in the windows of San Francisco's 24th Street Real Food grocery store as a reminder that this Labor Day was the 6th anniversary of the store closure that shut down their efforts to join a union and cost all 31 employees their jobs. The "Real Food Company" was a popular community natural food store in the heart of San Francisco's Noe Valley on the main commercial street there, 24th Street.

The store was sold by it's local owners in 2002 to an out of state corporation which, just prior to Labor Day 2003, closed it without warning, which cost all of the store's employees their jobs. The closure shocked Noe Valley residents who had supported The Real Food store for over three decades. According to the corporate owners, a full-scale store remodel was in the works. Terminated employees, however, said that the closure was undertaken to prevent them from joining a union.

After a hearing to determine the facts, the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) in San Francisco found that the workers were fired for attempting to join a union, and that decision was upheld by a second NLRB panel in Washington, D.C. A court appeal was filed by the store's owners. The workers have gone on with their lives, as they await a final court decision.

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On Friday, August 14th, hotel workers from Unite Here Local 2 rallied and marched for a new contract that preserves affordable health care and job security. Contracts covering 9,000 Local 2 members are expiring, and hotel workers are gearing up to fight employer attempts to undermine work and living standards in the San Francisco hotel industry. After years of record profitability, employers in the hotel industry are using the 6-month economic downturn to cut jobs and increase the workload for those who remain.

Local 2 suspects that employers will attempt to undercut the citywide standard for health care coverage. "The most important thing to me in this contract and always is health care," says Aurolyn Rush, a 13-year employee of the Grand Hyatt. "I was diagnosed with cancer twice and if it wasn't for the affordable health care coverage that I receive in our union contracts, I wouldn't have made it this far. Times are tough, but this is a life or death issue for us."

In their 2004-2006 contract negotiations, more than 4,000 Local 2 members endured a 53-day strike and lockout and worked for two years without a contract before reaching the agreement that is now expiring. The hotel workers' 2004-2006 contract campaign included high-profile actions, civil disobedience, and extensive community support.

Read More | Video | Photos | Local 2 Takes to the Streets

On Monday, July 6th, labor activists gathered at Harry Bridges Plaza in the Embarcadero to remember the day, July 5, 1934, when two strikers were gunned down and killed by police. Several hundred union members and their supporters, many from around the world, marched in a reenacted funeral procession of the fallen men, Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise. As the procession passed the memorial at Mission and Steuart Streets, across the street from the site of the deaths, they took off their hats.

On July 9, 1934 a funeral was held for the two slain workers, Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise, their coffins borne on flat bed trucks, led a solemn procession of over forty thousand people up Market Street. This violence against striking workers was the breaking point in a long series waterfront clashes. The subsequent general strike, shut down San Francisco, and crippled the west coast for days.

The result was the creation of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, ILWU, covering the entire west coast. The workers got their union run hiring hall, no more corrupt “shape up,” and workers in general benefited by the example set by the striking dock workers. Workers now had the confidence to join and form unions, and engage in collective bargaining. Catherine Powell, director of the Labor Archives and Research Center at San Francisco State University, called this; “A pivotal event in San Francisco and American Labor history, important in part because it came before the Wagner Act, granting the right to collective bargaining.” Read More with Photos

Video: 75th Commemoration of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike-Part 1 | Longshoremen remember 1934 and the death of two that helped make the UNIONS strong in SF | Three Commemoration Events Around 75th Anniversary Of the SF General Strike | Anniversary of a dark day "Bloody Thursday" a turning point in labor history | Wikipedia: 1934 West Coast waterfront strike

Unite Here Local 2 Rally at Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf