Labor Protest in SF Draws 800 to City Hall

LABOR PROTEST DRAWS 800 TO CITY HALL
Activists want more action; Labor leaders and "Progressive" Democrats
have no answers

By Gina Alvarez

On Monday, June 10, around 800 folks gathered on the steps of San
Francisco City Hall. Just under a third were members of SEIU Local 250,
a little over half were from SEIU Local 790. Scattered groups of ATU
members and community activists were also present.

They were there to protest SF Mayor Willie Brown's decision to lay off
low paid City workers who rejected his proposal to make workers pay an
additional 3% to their retirement plans, which the City is
contract-bound to pay. Workers carried the union's signs, but hand-made
signs reading, "Too many special assistants," and "Dump Willie Brown,"
were also visible. Union activists were upbeat, but the union leaders
evinced a degree of befuddlement. One union official told Frontlines,
"We have no other avenue to pressure elected officials."

"We should dump them, not pressure them," editorialized a member of
Local 790 who overheard this conversation as he passed by.

One of the recently elected leaders of an SEIU opposition slate told
Frontlines, "Probably 25% of everybody here today made phone calls for
Willie Brown in the last election. It'll be interesting to see how many
will agree to do the same for Gray Davis this November."

"It is good to see our knee-jerk leaders on the opposite side of the
Democratic politicians they gave money to for a change," said a veteran
Local 250 activist. "But I don't expect much from them if we do not push
them."

Supporters of Frontlines and the Left Party distributed a leaflet titled
The Case for a Public Sector General Strike in San Francisco. The
leaflet presented the budget cuts, the layoffs and the forced take-backs
as contract-breakers and urged all public employees' unions to prepare
strike actions in general membership meetings. These proposals were
received well, with supporters including two vice-presidents and one
secretary from SEIU chapters. Copies of the leaflet are now circulating
throughout City Hall and the transportation system. We heard that there
would be an attempt to introduce it at the Labor Council meeting later
that night.

The leaflet SEIU distributed during at rally only proposed that workers,
"Visit, phone, write, fax or -email your supervisor today . to work with
us and find a better and more responsible way to balance the budget."

A small but significant current of City and public workers are
Frontlines readers. More than 40 workers donated money during the
demonstration to help us continue publishing. Same among transportation
workers.

"Isn't the turnout great?" asked a labor bureaucrat who is a known
supporter of Mayor Brown and Treasurer Susan Leal, two of the public
officials held responsible for the budget blues. "No thanks to you,"
responded a laundry worker from Laguna Honda targeted by the layoffs.
"Where are the other 20,000 union members?" asked a Latina nurse next to
her. The labor "leader" mumbled that, "People are not willing to do
more than this," and scurried off.

"[The union leaders] don't want to do more," said the laundry worker,
"but we do." The different workers who spoke from the podium expressed their anger
eloquently. This was cast in sharp relief by the pathetic speeches of
the union leaders and non-profit bureaucrats. The dichotomy was lost on
the leaders, who were probably thinking about how to cool off workers
enough to convince some of them to phone bank for this November's
elections.

Angela Alioto, former president of the Board of Supervisors, spoke as a
civil rights lawyer specializing in "retaliation." Alioto first
suggested that the Mayor's proposed budget was an attack on SEIU Local
790 President Josie Mooney and SEIU Local 250 President Sal Roselli for
having the audacity to stand up to the Mayor. (Of course, all Mooney and
Roselli are really doing is proposing that the Mayor take the money out
of other City Departments.) Alioto assured the assembled crowd that were
she to take Mayor Brown's proposed budget before a jury, that jury would
send the Mayor, "to the moon!" Alioto is safe from having to make good,
considering that there is no chance that the City Budget will go before
a jury.

Interestingly enough, Mooney was instrumental in squashing the union's
endorsement of Alioto for Mayor when Alioto ran against Brown in 1995.
Rosselli, who remained loyal to Alioto back then, smiled.
Supervisor Leland Yee promised all assembled that he, as chair of the
Board's Finance and Labor Committee, would hold the Mayor's budget,
"until hell freezes over." Problem is, hell has frozen over for
Supervisor Yee many times during his tenure on the Board, on issues
ranging from tenants rights to the services to the homeless, etc.

Supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Chris Daly also promised to refuse to pass a budget that included takeaways from the City's home care workers.
Did Daly know, as P.J. Corkery reported in today's Examiner, that Brown
and Ammiano met over the weekend to see about, "suspending Cobra [Chris]
Daly from the Board of Supervisors ." ? This move, allegedly, was
inspired by the Daly's arrest during a protest against Hastings School
of Law's proposal to build a garage in the Tenderloin.

Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, the only Green Party supervisor, gave the most
honest and straightforward speech. He reminded the crowd that the
Mayor's budget was only a preliminary budget, and that the Board of
Supervisors had final say. He also mentioned that the home care workers
were not the only ones who took a hit in the Mayor's proposal, but also
the Public Defenders office. He did not mention the 70 layoffs at BART
or the $11 million removed from MUNI.

Gonzalez also said that every time the Board tries to move any money
around, heads of Departments complain about how they need to buy, for
instance, a new fire truck. He told the crowd that with the help of the
Mayor's budget analyst, the Board had found $7 million dollars they
could restore, but in order to do that, they would need the support of
the union ranks.
Here the crowd began to chant, "Cut from the top!"

Board President, Tom Ammiano, who has been helping the Mayor draft the
budget, spoke after Gonzalez. "I may not be straight," shouted Ammiano, "but I have my priorities straight. And my priority is YOU!" Ammiano left the stage a few minutes
later without having clarified his position on the budget. The nearest
Ammiano got to taking a position was to say that home care workers
should have a day off. His speech sounded like a feel-good TV spot for
his Mayoral campaign. He later told the Examiner of his hopes "to find
a compromise."

The methodological schizophrenia between the union members and their
leadership continued in the small talk after the rally. "What's next?"
asked a group of public workers. "Another round of speeches or some
action?"

"We want to make Willie understand the predicament he is putting us
in," said one of Josie Mooney's friends.