Feature Archives

On Tuesday, May 18th, local LGBT groups rallied in front of the federal building in San Francisco to call on community members to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA. ENDA would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Currently, it is legal in many states to discriminate against LGBT people and there are no federal laws protecting LGBT people in the workplace.

May 15th marked the 80th day of a bitter lockout that has put 61 food service and maintenance workers out of work in Pleasanton. The workers – members of Unite Here Local 2850 – were locked out by Castlewood Country Club in February as it and the union were negotiating a new contract. Workers and their union had been trying to preserve affordable family health coverage and they have accused Castlewood of union busting and starvation tactics.

A flashmob invaded the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco on May 8th, singing and dancing before an amused audience of tourists and hotel guests. The activists performed to accompanying horns and drums of the Brass Liberation Orchestra with their own version of the Lady Gaga song Bad Romance, "Don't Get Caught in a Bad Hotel". The spectacle drew attention to a boycott called by the workers of the hotel who are eager to get a fair contract and affordable healthcare.

A clamor across the country to hold banks and Wall Street accountable for the financial crisis started in earnest this week with a large demonstration in San Francisco. Hundreds of protesters rallied in front of the building where Wells Fargo's annual shareholders meeting was being held on April 27. They said bankers broke laws, lack ethics and need to create jobs for working people instead of rewarding themselves with huge bonuses.

Saturday, May 1st is May Day, or International Workers Day. The Bay Area observed the holiday with celebrations, marches, rallies, and street parties. Events on Saturday included rallies, marches, and demonstrations for immigrant and workers rights in San Francisco, Watsonville, the East Bay, Fresno, Modesto, and San Jose. Celebrations and street parties were held in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Oakland.

After having worked for over two years without a contract, Oakland teachers watched the Oakland Unified School Board unilaterally impose a labor contract last week. The new contract largely ignores the recommendations of a recent fact-finding panel, allows for no pay raises for teachers, increases class sizes, lays off teachers, and threatens adult education programs. A one-day city-wide strike was called for April 29th. Oakland teachers, students, and community members picketed at neighborhood public schools in the morning then rallied at Frank Ogawa Plaza.

The Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival takes place each year in California's central coast communities in and around Santa Cruz. Reel Work presents cultural events, bringing together award-winning documentary film producers, workers, activists, students, and the public with the goal of increasing community awareness of the central role of work in our lives, to discuss economic and global justice issues, and to bring alive the history and culture of the labor movement in the US and abroad.