Feature Archives

A lawsuit filed May 1st in federal court by a security and private intelligence firm against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has revealed details of the militarized takeover of Oakland-based local United Healthcare Workers West (UHW). SEIU spent millions to conduct surveillance of UHW's headquarters and membership meetings and to provide "protection services" to SEIU leaders visiting California.

On May 6th, Bay Area workers, clergy, union members, and elected officials held a rally and 24-hour vigil outside the San Francisco Federal Building to urge Senator Dianne Feinstein to support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Feinstein recently withdrew her support for the bill, which would reform federal labor law and make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain collectively.

On May 1st, International Workers Day, rallies and marches were held in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz County, and the Central Valley. Demonstrators called for action in defense of jobs, families, immigrants, and unions.

On Friday, May 1st from 4:00 - 9:00pm there will be May Day activities in the Watsonville Plaza, including speakers, free consultations with lawyers, films, and more. At 6:00pm, people throughout the Monterey Bay Area will rally and march to demand justice, human rights, and comprehensive immigration reform with pathways to citizenship.

On April 19, injured workers in Southern California joined together in front of the Downey Kaiser medical center to speak out about workers killed and injured at the site which was formerly a military industrial nuclear facility. On April 28th in San Francisco, Workers Day Memorial events included a press conference at the Pfizer Research Facility and a speak-out at the ILWU Local 34 Hall.

Thursday, April 23rd is opening night for the 11 day Reel Work Film Festival, taking place in the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara. 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.

Hotel and other workers and students are rallying to the case of fired Grand Hyatt Houseskeeper Esther Dominguez. Esther was fired after working 33 years at the hotel. Labor organizers claim that hotels have been firing and harassing long time workers and union members in preparation for a possible strike when Unite-Here's 7,000 hotel workers contract expires on August 1st.