July 2019 Central Labor Council Report

July 2019 Central Labor Council Report.pdf
 

Central Labor Council Report
Los Angeles County Federation meeting of July 15^th

Many new representatives were sworn in for the second month in a row. Next month’s class will be so large, instead of the traditional reading of the names, a four-page list was shown to the delegates on the big screen at the Hall. This bodes well for union strength and unity in Los Angeles County.

President Rusty Hicks reported on organizing. Ten experienced organizers will be paired with ten mentees.
Unions are working with Amazon workers who want to be organized and represented on the shop floor by a union. The Fed has trained 240 organizers in the last 7 months. The Fed’s political group is training 40 union members to run for office. Communications director Christian Castro is updating the Fed’s website.  The Fed is gearing up for the 2020 election cycle. President Rusty Hicks had previously given notice that he would vacate his position by August 30 (he was elected to be the Chair of the California Democratic Party). There were questions raised at the Fed’s Exectuive Board meeting about election protocol and Rusty’s ability to remain as Chair until August 30th. To remove any potential conflicts, Rusty is departing on August 14.  Nominations for his replacement will be September 16. We are expecting another standing room only hall.

A resolution against the privatization of the U.S. Post Office was passed. Republicans cannot stop trying to privatize even the most sacred of public institutions. Their attacks on the postal service have escalated. Republicans would like to dismantle the postal service’s union workforce,  the largest union workforce in the country.  

UFCW Grocery workers are gearing up for a possible county-wide strike against Ralph's, Vons, Albertsons and Pavillions. They are still trying to negotiate a contract since March. Huge grocery corporations who are trying to protect their massive profits are claiming that they need massive rollbacks in benefits in order to complete with non-union corporations like Amazon and Walmart. Grocery workers, whose wages have flatlined, whose work hours have been cut, whose benefits have been reduced and whose share of health care costs have shot up, are trying to preserve pensions and health care. The two sides remain far apart.
The stores are offering a paltry 1% wage hike per year.
The UFCW is asking for support from all unions. Please log on to website. Info: www.Foodfightus.com
If you get a survey from Ralph's Rewards add a comment about how much you value their union workers.

AFL -CIO Labor Community services has help for union members in need. Utilities, rent, groceries. info: www.laborcommunityservicesla.org

COPE endorsements are given to candidates based on their support for organized labor and its issues. The County Fed has interviewed candidates for upcoming elections for Congress, State Senate, State Assembly, Municipalities, Judicial, and Supervisorial jobs and reviewed when possible their voting records on labor and labor issues. Those who they feel are friends of workers are given a COPE endorsement. For the list of endorsed candidates : http://launionaflcio.org/endorsement 

SOFA gives retirement planning advice. Free.  They now have free 1 hour webinars at www.webinars4labor.com every Wednesday at 7pm. And the first Saturday of the month @ 9 am. Different topic every week. 

Labor Studies Classes are available at LA Trade Technical College on Labor and Globalization and Workplace Health and Safety. Info: http://college.lattc.edu/laborcenter.    Scholarships available.   AFT of the community colleges have 4 available scholarships of $500 at for LA Trade tech labor studies.  Www.local1521a.org 

The new 2019 LA 411 directory is available. Or check out their website for union produced goods and services. www.labor411foundation.org 

CARA California Alliance for Retired Americans invites retirees to join. CARA is endorsing propositions based on the needs of the senior community.  info: https://californiaalliance.org/

Civic Leadership Academy is training 48 more union people to run for office. Next cohort begins 9/14. Info:  [email protected]    apply: www.thelafed.org/civic-leadership-academy

College Board of Trustees is having an election in November and is looking for union friendly candidates in the Santa Clarita residential area.

Strike sanctions were granted to UFCW, LA National Electrical Workers.

Eric Hoffman of Utility workers local 132 spoke about the death of a gas worker Wade Kilpatrick killed in the line of duty this morning. He was 34 years old. 

LACLA monthly meeting second wed every month at the Fed. https://www.lclaa.org/

The CCU  are now requiring people to be union members to  access the union health plan and now have 100 new members.

Kaiser Permanente walked away from negotiations this week. In September, 86,000 union Kaiser workers are going to strike to prevent a two tier system for workers. 

Local 685 has been without a contract for 18 months. 

April O'Connor asked us to vet cope endorsements strongly. 

Barbara Calhoun of the College Board of Trustees spoke on how they are endorsing a PLA. 

This wasn't mentioned, but the Writer's Guild current contract expires in May 2020. 

Upcoming events: 

July 20 12-5pm Teamster classic car and motorcycle show Woodley Park 6001 Woodley Ave Van Nuys 91406. Free. Info.  www.HT399.org

July 23. 9:30 am and 2pm Maggie Cooke coalition of labor union women needs your help to register 6,000 new American citizens to vote. South hall LA convention Center. There will be chocolate kisses. Just show up.

July 23 9 am rally for workers at the LA county board of Supervisors meeting. 

Aug 8-11 Asian American Labor Alliance convention in Vegas AAPALAnet.com

August 13 12-4 pm Defending Immigrant Workers Training How to respond when ICE comes. RSVP. [email protected]

Monday, Sept 2 Labor Day. Parades and rah rah and all that.

Sept 21 LACLA event celebrates Maria Elena Durazo and Si Se Puede. 

Sept open house at Engineers and Architects Union for their 125th year in LA.