City Hall Hearing on Aggressive Union-Busting in San Francisco

Hearing on Aggressive Union-Busting Tactics During Recent Labor Struggles in San Francisco and the San Francisco Region

December 10th is International Human Rights Day. One of the basic human rights guaranteed by the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the right to form and join trade unions. However, recent unionization and contract struggles in Northern California have been met with increasingly emboldened and aggressive tactics. Besides illegal firings and other job-security and economic intimidation tactics, physical violence and threats thereof are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Sponsered by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick and the S.F. Labor Council, these testimonies are part of the AFL-CIO’s call for forums and rallies to be held on or around International Human Rights Day regarding attacks on the right to unionize. Providing testimony will be local union activists who have been illegally fired, followed and threatened, and hurt for their union activities. Prof. Katie Quan, Chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, and union activists who have received positive judgements from the National Labor Relations Board will point out gaps and weaknesses in current laws and regulations, and suggest possible remedies.

These abuses are not just happening in third-world countries—they are occurring here in San Francisco: on local picket lines, in our streets, and within locally-operating corporations.