Labor Unions

BART Wants State Mediator To Help Move Labor Talks Along

After watching this video, some commuters might sympathize with BART workers, perhaps even understand why they're asking for a 23 percent pay hike over the next three years. But BART management isn't ready to give up that kind of money, and as a result, labor talks are moving about as fast as a de ... More >>

Organized Labor Flexes Muscle for Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Support from UFCW Helps Mission Organics Win PermitSan Francisco's reputation as a union town was hard-won on the docks and picket lines of the 1930s. Less violence accompanied the city being known as a haven for pot-smoking freaks, but it took the carnage of the AIDS epidemic for San Francisco to b ... More >>

It's Official: The Bay Citizen Unionizes

Hellman's Frankenstein Monster ​Just a year after Warren Hellman launched The Bay Citizen, the editorial newsroom decided to officially unionize. On May 26, The Bay Citizen signed union cards indicating they want to join the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of The Newspaper Guild-Communica ... More >>

Grass Roots Is First S.F. Medical Cannabis Dispensary to Join Union

Look for the union label​San Francisco is known as a union town and a city rich with medical cannabis dispensaries. It was only a matter of time before the two intersected. A year after United Food and Commercial Workers began organizing medical cannabis operations in Oakland and Marin County, Gra ... More >>

Apple Employee Wants to Unionize

Taking a bite out of Apple​There's a great scene in The Social Network where Andrew Garfield's character, Eduardo Saverin, storms into the Facebook office, picks up Mark Zuckerberg's laptop, and sends him a strong message by shattering it.That's the sort of scene we imagined when word got out that ... More >>

Muni Contract Falls Through

It's worse than a reality show ​Update: Union leaders deny leaking tentative deal to press ahead of time. Read more after jump. Muni operators overwhelmingly rejected a contract agreement last night -- and are squarely placing the blame on a Muni spokesman. As the Chron notes this morning, union o ... More >>

Is Marijuana Union Battle Budding?

Meanwhile, over at the pot dispensary...​Don't smoke that! Get a union man to smoke that! San Francisco is a famous union town, a reputation won on the docks. But this isn't the 1930s, and "budtenders" at cannabis dispensaries aren't the spitting image of striking longshoremen. Still, organi ... More >>

Labor Pains

A fight between two unions here could set the course of the U.S. labor movement.

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 >>

SEIU Boss Andy Stern Quits. Bay Area Union War He Started Continues.

Andy Stern is gone. His mess remains. ​Rivals of America's most powerful union boss, Andy Stern, have cheered the resignation of the SEIU's erstwhile leader. But Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes, a magazine covering the U.S. union scene, says a Stern resignation will not quell bitter disputes ... More >>

Tangling With Muni Union Helped Make Mayor Frank Jordan Into Ex-Mayor Jordan

A number of work rules that may have made sense when this bus was new are still in Muni's union contract...​As many folks steaming on Muni know, the drivers' union last week spurned concessions that would have saved the city some $15 million -- while accepting city charter-mandated raises for $8 m ... More >>

Muni May Lay Off 170 Operators on Friday

Jim Herd​Muni spokesman Judson True has confirmed a rumor disseminated by the Muni Drivers' union: 170 operators -- and 230 Muni employees -- will be facing layoffs after Friday's Municipal Transportation Agency Board meeting. "At the Friday meeting, service reductions will be voted on. If the boa ... More >>

Be Elated As You Ride BART Monday. Who Knows How Long It'll Last?

Has BART found the map to smooth service?​If you were hoping to work from home Monday, your best excuse just pulled out of the station. BART and the tenacious ATU No. 1555 union reached a tentative accord yesterday. You can ride the morning train with a new-found enthusiasm Monday. See you over th ... More >>

BART, Unions Reach Accord -- Union Vote Could Come Next Week

Seats: Still sticky. Union contracts: Tentatively agreed upon.​BART's trains don't run 24 hours -- but its negotiations with unions do. After an all-night session, bedraggled transit and union officials emerged, blinking, before cameras not long ago to announce a tentative pact.  Several sour ... More >>

Fighting to Work

S.F. Labor Icon Jack Henning Dies -- But the Labor Movement He Joined As a Young Man Died Long Ago

Jack HenningLabor leader Jack Henning, the president of the state's AFL-CIO from 1970 to 1996 and the man credited with helping pass bills that gave farm workers and government employees the right to form unions and strike, died today at his home in San Francisco. He was 93. According to a press rel ... More >>

SEIU Moves to Dismantle California Health Care Affiliate

Service Employees International President Andy Stern today advanced a threat to dismantle the union's 150,000-member Northern California health care affiliate, announcing plans to move some 65,000 workers into a new group dedicated solely to providers of long-term nursing care. The move is seen in ... More >>

East Bay Newspaper Managers Continue to Cut Jobs

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

Newspaper Union Accuses Company Of Retaliation

Local Union Leader Rosselli Blasts SEIU Boss Andy Stern

West Coast Dockworkers Dispute Could Paralyze U.S. Economy

Paper Chase

The Guild is up against a cost-cutting mogul and declining revenues, but the union continues to seek converts

SEIU's Rosselli Resigns as State Boss -- Sac Bee

Mazzola Is Slippery

The union boss has once more escaped punishment for funds diversion

Union Disunity

The secret deal worked out between SEIU bosses and nursing home owners denies union members the right to speak out, strike, or protect patients

Filling the Civic Gap

Meet Donald Fisher, the private billionaire with unprecedented sway over ordinary San Franciscans' lives

Labor's Pain

Why it's unlikely there'll be a strike at the Chronicle this summer

Requiem for a Pension Fund?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launches an attack on CalPERS. The giant pension fund's Democratic allies aren't taking it lying down

Former Pimp Laid Low

Muni union official suspended over racy book on whoremongering past; sexual harassment alleged

Best Union Members

Tie Between Strippers and Bike Messengers

Bent Outta Shape

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

Closed Shop

Organizer out of work after bucking SEIU 790's Willie Brown lovefest

Breaking Ranks

Union leaders endorsed Willie Brown, but the rank and file has other ideas

The Late Victor Van Bourg

The Life and Death of a Lion

Cothran

Strike While the Iron Is Hot

Bike messengers organizing for April 15 walkout

Rewarding Failure

What's really wrong with Muni? For starters, one third of its employees don't show up to work, causing systemwide delays and costing the agency more that $20 million a year in overtime. First in a two-part special report

Cothran

Crime and Patronage

For more than a decade, three different mayors have let one man dole out government jobs to alleged murderers, crack dealers, and other serious felons. The question, obviously, is why.

Riff Raff

The Grid

Unspun

Unhealthy Debate

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

Big Deal

Slap Shots

Temporary Solidarity

With a new (powerful) champion in Silicon Valley, a recent court victory, and ranks that continue to swell by the day, long-beleaguered "contract workers" have reason to believe their house may not be so bleak after all.

The Grid

Investing in Willie

Integrated Health Services of Maryland puts its stock in Brown

Temps of the World, Unite!

The Wobblies set out to organize temporary workers