Labor Strikes and Disputes

Will Paris' Bike-Share Program Work in S.F.?

Writers Guild of America on Strike: Rerun City

SF Safeway Grocer's Strikes Looms -- And We So Don't Care

SEIU boss Andy Stern wouldn't mind if McCain gets elected

West Coast Dockworkers Dispute Could Paralyze U.S. Economy

Picket Up

Darth Vega to the Rescue

New Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega has been cast as a villain, but he may be just what the Hearst empire needs to defeat the dark forces of the new economy

I Picket, Ergo Sum

With philosophy on their side, there's no way San Francisco hotel workers can't win their labor dispute

Apathy to the Rescue

How to make the undecideds break for Kerry? Threaten to turn off Survivor and Friends reruns.

Maid in San Francisco

Secretly, don't you hope the hospitality multinationals crush those loud, annoying, striking hotel workers? Find out. Take the quiz.

Bent Outta Shape

San Francisco bike messengers hit some nasty economic potholes as they struggle to unionize

Off the Waterfront

News media have abandoned the labor beat and missed a story of global financial import: the looming possibility of a longshoremen's strike at West Coast ports

Treat Him Write

Sam Hamm writes great scripts. So why do they rarely get made?

Strike While the Iron Is Hot

Bike messengers organizing for April 15 walkout

Unhealthy Debate

There's a new and nasty labor-management war. Health care is the battlefield. San Francisco is the front line.

Big Deal

There's a new and nasty labor-management war. Health care is the battlefield. San Francisco is the front line.

Gavin's Dilemma: Dis Firefighters or Darling of LGBT Political Community?

Who should I snub? Ballard! My magic eight-ball!If you were Gavin Newsom -- and, odds are, you weren't -- these were your choices: Head to last weekend's U.S. Conference of Mayor's in Providence, R.I. and talk about your treasurer's innovative economic plan and a former supervisor's innovative healt ... More >>

Fighting to Work

Who should I snub? Ballard! My magic eight-ball!If you were Gavin Newsom -- and, odds are, you weren't -- these were your choices: Head to last weekend's U.S. Conference of Mayor's in Providence, R.I. and talk about your treasurer's innovative economic plan and a former supervisor's innovative healt ... More >>

Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of General Strike Falls Amid Renewed Police-Labor Feud

See you on the waterfrontThis Sunday, July 5, San Francisco's International Longshore and Warehouse Union will hold a procession to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Bloody Thursday, the clash between police and striking longshoremen during the city's 1934 General Strike that led to a permanent lo ... More >>

U.C. Employees' Picket Line Blocks Out Gavin Newsom

Will HarperIf ever you were looking to keep Gavin Newsom away, scare up a picket line Employees of the University of California vociferously protesting proposed fee hikes and furlough days had an unforeseen consequence on the plans of one Mayor Gavin Newsom -- who may or may not have a Santa Clara U ... More >>

BART Strike Would Impact 40 Percent of Employees ... In the Communications Department

​When one juxtaposes the terms "union negotiations" and "BART," images of men and women in jumpsuits driving or fixing trains come to mind. You don't think of spokespeople or anyone with the term "multi-media" in his or her job. But you should. Of the five employees in BART's communications depart ... More >>

Bay Links: Ballard, Booksellers, & Santa

The eminently quotable Nathan Ballard!​Top five Nathan Ballard quotes. [Sweet Melissa]Quick, where did you stash your slutty Santa costume last year???? [Laughing Squid]Local booksellers not carrying Palin book: ""We're a small store and it would probably gross us all out." [SFgate]The best new bu ... More >>

The Coast Should Be Clear for Alice Waters' Book Signing Next Weekend

​There sure was a whole lot of hullabaloo surrounding Alice Waters this week, but, as Eater SF reports, it ended with a fizzle. In other words, it won't be some great act of political defiance to go see Waters when she hits sweet little Noe Valley shop Omnivore Books on Food to sign copies of ... More >>

Convention & Visitors Bureau Kicks Out Unruly Union

​Since its labor contract expired in August 2009, hotel workers' union Unite Here Local 2 has spent months waving signs in hotel-visitors' faces and generally causing a ruckus (this is, after all, how labor actions work) in its efforts to win a new labor contract. Tired of this crap, this week the ... More >>

Labor Dispute Over Solar Panels Heats Up

Members of Aboriginal Blackmen United wait for a meeting with City Administrator Ed Lee​A labor dispute over solar technology is heating up, with one union now considering legal action against the city, and a Bayview worker's group visiting City Hall to demand meetings with top officials.At issue ... More >>

No Muni 'Sickout' -- Yet

No sickout here...​If Muni drivers do hope to pull off a "sickout," it's gotten off to an anemic start. While an anonymous, all-caps flier urged drivers to call in sick en masse from yesterday to Sept. 17, that hasn't happened -- yet. Per the flier, "ALL TRANSIT OPERATORS WILL CALL IN SICK ON SEPT ... More >>

'Muni Sickout' San Francisco's Own Quran-Burning Moment

Is this the braniac behind the Muni 'sickout' flier?​With threats of a Muni sickout receding into the distance, San Franciscans can get back to their usual litany of complaints about our transit service: urine, loons, crime, loud music, the driver accelerating while you're trying to sit down, and ... More >>

Muni Operators Vote to Authorize Strike -- City Threatens to Sue

Negotiations are as spotty as Muni service ... ​It wouldn't feel right at this point if negotiations between Muni and its operators went smoothly. And it appears even the drivers are prepping for the worst -- the union has voted in favor of a strike should negotiations break down. A preliminary vo ... More >>

S.F. Ferry Ticketers to Strike Today to Protest Automation

Matt SmithMr. Ferry Boat doesn't like to get angry.​UPDATE: Media outlets are reporting that the planned strike has been called off. Original story 7:25 a.m.:Ticket taking on the Golden Gate ferry system has been one of the last manual labor jobs kept safe from automation. But that may change with ... More >>

Striking Data

Matt SmithMr. Ferry Boat doesn't like to get angry.​UPDATE: Media outlets are reporting that the planned strike has been called off. Original story 7:25 a.m.:Ticket taking on the Golden Gate ferry system has been one of the last manual labor jobs kept safe from automation. But that may change with ... More >>

Boots Riley: Oakland General Strike Is "Like Us Flashing Our Guns"

via EKA PhotographyBoots Riley at Occupy Oakland​ The Occupy movement doesn't have a leader, but Oakland activist-rapper Boots Riley is serving as one sort of de facto spokesman for his hometown's defiant occupation, lending the collective grievances a high-profile voice. Inspired by public g ... More >>

Oakland Dogpiles on Mayor Jean Quan

Mayor Jean Quan has had better days ​Now that she has somewhat placated Occupy Oakland protesters, Mayor Jean Quan is pissing off police and the business community. Like a mother with rivaling children, Quan is stuck trying to balance the demands of both police and protesters as the city braces fo ... More >>