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Labor, Community to Protest La Bahia Project (10/23)
Rally for Union Rights
6 pm-6:40 pm
Tuesday, October 23
Beach and Westbrook in Santa Cruz (across from La Bahia site)
Then we will go to City Hall for 7 p.m. public comment period.
We'd love to see you and anybody else you can bring to the demonstration (chanting, picket-line, signs, some speeches at the end)!
6 pm-6:40 pm
Tuesday, October 23
Beach and Westbrook in Santa Cruz (across from La Bahia site)
Then we will go to City Hall for 7 p.m. public comment period.
We'd love to see you and anybody else you can bring to the demonstration (chanting, picket-line, signs, some speeches at the end)!
Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
Monday, October 22, 2007
Contact: Cesar Lara
(831) 633-1869, cell: 444-5060
LABOR, COMMUNITY TO PROTEST LA BAHIA PROJECT
QUALITY JOBS AND COMMUNITY IMPACT ISSUES ARE KEY CONCERNS
What: Dozens of labor, neighborhood, and local community members will participate in a rally to protest the proposed La Bahia conference center project, carrying banners and signs, drumming and chanting their demands. The protest rally comes in the wake of failed discussions between labor unions and the developer; the retraction of the original draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR); and public concerns about the height of the project, as well as other community impacts.
Where: The protest rally begins across the street from the proposed project site at Beach & Westbrook in Santa Cruz. Following the protest, rally participants will speak during the Public Comment period at the Santa Cruz City Council meeting at City Hall.
When: Tuesday, October 23, 2007—6:00 p.m. rally with speakers at Beach & Westbrook across from La Bahia Apartments. 7:00 p.m. public comments by rally participants at City Hall.
Who: Sponsored by the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, UNITEHERE! Local 483 (hospitality workers’ union), and the Monterey & Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades Council. The project under protest is being developed by Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company (of Charles Canfield).
Why: “This rally is really about rebuilding the middle-class in Santa Cruz,” says Cesar Lara, Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. “Santa Cruz was once a Union town with good jobs. We need to make it that way again. The developers of the La Bahia aren’t listening yet, so this rally will help us get out the message: Santa Cruz wants quality union jobs in its future.”
Monterey/Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades Council President, Ron Chesshire, adds, “There are a lot of concerns in Santa Cruz about the real community benefits of this project. If the City plans to accommodate Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company, we'd better be sure that in return the neighbors benefit and the community gets good jobs. So far, we have no such commitments by the company.”
Secretary-Treasurer of UNITEHERE! Local 483, Leonard O'Neill, comments, “Swenson and Canfield aren't in synch with Santa Cruz’s community standards on La Bahia. They've built and staffed union before. There's no reason why they can't again.”
Media visuals: Marchers in union/organization attire, dozens of signs with slogans, organization banners, drums and bullhorns. The project site on one side, Pacific Ocean on the other.
Fact Sheet
La Bahia Project Threatens Middle-Class Jobs
►After nearly two years of negotiations and discussions, Barry Swenson Builder still refuses to offer reasonable opportunities for union construction and union operation of the proposed La Bahia hotel. Monterey & Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades representatives have had discussions and written correspondence with the developer about the union construction issue dating back to 2005. Councilmembers Coonerty and Madrigal chaired monthly discussions between the developer and the hospitality workers’ union, UNITEHERE! Local 483, beginning on July 10, 2006 and ending April 3, 2007 without agreement.
►Labor is asking for standard agreements for the Monterey Bay and across the state.
● The Building Trades are seeking a full-union construction agreement, as they had achieved on the proposed Coast Santa Cruz Hotel expansion project, and to which Barry Swenson Builder has agreed on other projects, including a hotel conference facility in Pacifica.
● UNITEHERE! Local 483 is seeking a card check/neutrality agreement similar to the agreements signed at hospitality sites in Pacific Grove, Seaside, and Sand City. This is the same process for card count union elections endorsed this year by a large majority of Congress in the Employee Free Choice Act, as well as unanimously supported by the Santa Cruz City Council on September 11, 2007. Dozens of such agreements between California unions and developers/operators have been made in the past decade.
►The developer has built and operated union projects before. Barry Swenson Builder has committed to build with 100% union labor on Pacifica and San Jose projects. Charles Canfield's Seaside Company, co-owner of the La Bahia project, operated the Holiday Inn (currently, the University Inn & Conference Center under different ownership & management) with unionized labor.
►Community and labor groups have withheld endorsement of the project without labor agreements.
● Santa Cruz's Community Coalition for a Sustainable Economy (CCSE) wrote a June 29, 2006 letter to the developer stating, “It will … be difficult for our Coalition to formally endorse the project until the owners of the project reach agreements with the key unions, which represent the community's values on workers’ rights to organize and to receive a living wage.”
● The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, representing 30,000 union members, voted unanimously at its July 2, 2007 delegate meeting to oppose the La Bahia project until the developers come to agreements with the Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties Building Trades and UNITEHERE Local 483 unions, demonstrating a commitment to quality jobs.
►The Union difference can rebuild Santa Cruz's middle-class. With the city losing two-fifths (38.2%) of its manufacturing jobs since 1990,[1] new development in Santa Cruz can sustain good middle-class jobs in construction and move low-income hospitality jobs into the middle-class through unionization. In California, low-to-middle income occupations average 27-34% more in wages when unionized,[2] and the union advantage is even greater in benefits, where union workers are 59% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and 347% more often have guaranteed pensions.[3]
###
1[1] California Budget Project "The State of Working California," August 2007. p. 47, http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2007/0708_swccounties.pdf
2[2] California Budget Project "A Generation of Widening Inequality," August 2007. p. 31, http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2007/0708_swc.pdf
3[3] U.S. Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tables 1 and 5,
“National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in
Private Industry in the United States, March 2007,” http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0006.pdf
For Immediate Release
Monday, October 22, 2007
Contact: Cesar Lara
(831) 633-1869, cell: 444-5060
LABOR, COMMUNITY TO PROTEST LA BAHIA PROJECT
QUALITY JOBS AND COMMUNITY IMPACT ISSUES ARE KEY CONCERNS
What: Dozens of labor, neighborhood, and local community members will participate in a rally to protest the proposed La Bahia conference center project, carrying banners and signs, drumming and chanting their demands. The protest rally comes in the wake of failed discussions between labor unions and the developer; the retraction of the original draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR); and public concerns about the height of the project, as well as other community impacts.
Where: The protest rally begins across the street from the proposed project site at Beach & Westbrook in Santa Cruz. Following the protest, rally participants will speak during the Public Comment period at the Santa Cruz City Council meeting at City Hall.
When: Tuesday, October 23, 2007—6:00 p.m. rally with speakers at Beach & Westbrook across from La Bahia Apartments. 7:00 p.m. public comments by rally participants at City Hall.
Who: Sponsored by the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, UNITEHERE! Local 483 (hospitality workers’ union), and the Monterey & Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades Council. The project under protest is being developed by Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company (of Charles Canfield).
Why: “This rally is really about rebuilding the middle-class in Santa Cruz,” says Cesar Lara, Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. “Santa Cruz was once a Union town with good jobs. We need to make it that way again. The developers of the La Bahia aren’t listening yet, so this rally will help us get out the message: Santa Cruz wants quality union jobs in its future.”
Monterey/Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades Council President, Ron Chesshire, adds, “There are a lot of concerns in Santa Cruz about the real community benefits of this project. If the City plans to accommodate Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company, we'd better be sure that in return the neighbors benefit and the community gets good jobs. So far, we have no such commitments by the company.”
Secretary-Treasurer of UNITEHERE! Local 483, Leonard O'Neill, comments, “Swenson and Canfield aren't in synch with Santa Cruz’s community standards on La Bahia. They've built and staffed union before. There's no reason why they can't again.”
Media visuals: Marchers in union/organization attire, dozens of signs with slogans, organization banners, drums and bullhorns. The project site on one side, Pacific Ocean on the other.
Fact Sheet
La Bahia Project Threatens Middle-Class Jobs
►After nearly two years of negotiations and discussions, Barry Swenson Builder still refuses to offer reasonable opportunities for union construction and union operation of the proposed La Bahia hotel. Monterey & Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades representatives have had discussions and written correspondence with the developer about the union construction issue dating back to 2005. Councilmembers Coonerty and Madrigal chaired monthly discussions between the developer and the hospitality workers’ union, UNITEHERE! Local 483, beginning on July 10, 2006 and ending April 3, 2007 without agreement.
►Labor is asking for standard agreements for the Monterey Bay and across the state.
● The Building Trades are seeking a full-union construction agreement, as they had achieved on the proposed Coast Santa Cruz Hotel expansion project, and to which Barry Swenson Builder has agreed on other projects, including a hotel conference facility in Pacifica.
● UNITEHERE! Local 483 is seeking a card check/neutrality agreement similar to the agreements signed at hospitality sites in Pacific Grove, Seaside, and Sand City. This is the same process for card count union elections endorsed this year by a large majority of Congress in the Employee Free Choice Act, as well as unanimously supported by the Santa Cruz City Council on September 11, 2007. Dozens of such agreements between California unions and developers/operators have been made in the past decade.
►The developer has built and operated union projects before. Barry Swenson Builder has committed to build with 100% union labor on Pacifica and San Jose projects. Charles Canfield's Seaside Company, co-owner of the La Bahia project, operated the Holiday Inn (currently, the University Inn & Conference Center under different ownership & management) with unionized labor.
►Community and labor groups have withheld endorsement of the project without labor agreements.
● Santa Cruz's Community Coalition for a Sustainable Economy (CCSE) wrote a June 29, 2006 letter to the developer stating, “It will … be difficult for our Coalition to formally endorse the project until the owners of the project reach agreements with the key unions, which represent the community's values on workers’ rights to organize and to receive a living wage.”
● The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, representing 30,000 union members, voted unanimously at its July 2, 2007 delegate meeting to oppose the La Bahia project until the developers come to agreements with the Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties Building Trades and UNITEHERE Local 483 unions, demonstrating a commitment to quality jobs.
►The Union difference can rebuild Santa Cruz's middle-class. With the city losing two-fifths (38.2%) of its manufacturing jobs since 1990,[1] new development in Santa Cruz can sustain good middle-class jobs in construction and move low-income hospitality jobs into the middle-class through unionization. In California, low-to-middle income occupations average 27-34% more in wages when unionized,[2] and the union advantage is even greater in benefits, where union workers are 59% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and 347% more often have guaranteed pensions.[3]
###
1[1] California Budget Project "The State of Working California," August 2007. p. 47, http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2007/0708_swccounties.pdf
2[2] California Budget Project "A Generation of Widening Inequality," August 2007. p. 31, http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2007/0708_swc.pdf
3[3] U.S. Department of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tables 1 and 5,
“National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in
Private Industry in the United States, March 2007,” http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0006.pdf
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