Feature Archives

The amplified voices of activists calling out for health care reform resounded in front of Embarcadero Center in San Francisco on September 22nd. Some called for Anthem Blue Cross, which has offices in the building, to drop their option to a public option, others carried placards espousing a single payer plan for the nation. A dozen "Billionaires for Wealthcare" dressed as golfers, yachtsmen and wealthy socialites, mocked the excesses of health care insurance company executives and investors.

A coalition of organizations rallied in San Francisco on September 21st to deliver a message to U.S. lawmakers and polluting corporations. The protest started at the S.F. office of Senator Barbara Boxer and then moved to Chevron Oil Corporation’s downtown S.F. "Energy Solutions" office. The action capped the weekend-long West Coast Climate Justice Convergence, building grassroots pressure in the lead up to the December's Copenhagen climate talks.

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. 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.

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 Noe Valley. Terminated employees, however, said that the closure was undertaken to prevent them from joining a union. The workers have gone on with their lives, as they await a related court decision.

On August 23rd, Cynthia McKinney, former US Congresswoman and member of the Free Gaza movement, gave a talk at the San Francisco Lunacy Theater.The event was part of a Bay Area benefit tour for the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, an independent monthly that covers a variety of local and international stories. Her speaking tour follows her recent expedition on a boat delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza under siege.

Michael Steinberg writes about August 11th: "Protesters gathered at 5 p.m. in front of the Honduran Consulate to protest the coup that removed elected President Manual Zelaya, and called for an end to repression in Honduras and the return of Zelaya to office. Zelaya was seized at gunpoint in his pajamas during the early hours of June 28 and forced onto a plane that flew him to Costa Rica. Honduran General Romeo Vasquez, who ordered this action, is a two time graduate of the notorious School of the Americas..."

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. In their 2004 contract negotiations, more than 4,000 Local 2 members endured a 53-day strike and lockout that ultimately led to the contract now expiring.