“All politics is local”

That declaration was famously made by Tip O’Neill, longtime Speaker of The House of the U.S. Congress. He was referring to how problems and concerns in towns and cities across the country affect actions of representatives and senators in Washington.

It’s true that Tip O’Neill was from a more collaborative era in politics, but there’s still important local work to be done. Local 1782 is involved in local politics on an ongoing basis. The aim is to give a voice to Members’ issues. Here’s a recent example.

In our back yard

Sandee Ige (Local 1782, Retired), Rene Toledo (1782 Member At Large), Mike Mancini (Communicator), Pat Nolan (Recording Secretary), and Greg Brown (Local Lodge President) recently attended the San Mateo Central Labor Council’s general meeting as delegates to lobby for the Council’s endorsement of Richard Holober, California Democrat for Assembly, 19th District.

The reasons for supporting Holober are important.

Richard Holober has a 100% perfect voting record on issues affecting working people. Unfortunately he is not running unopposed. He faces a strong challenger, incumbent Jerry Hill, who also has a record of support for labor, and an aggressively loyal constituency. The difference is that the incumbent primarily supports only one group of workers, that being employees of the state of California. Richard Holober has a deep record of support for working people across all industries, including aviation. Both Richard Holober and Jerry Hill’s groups were well represented at the meeting.

Our group lobbied for the sole endorsement of Holober by the San Mateo Labor Council. We did not win that support. However we were successful in beating back a well organized parliamentary effort by the other group. They sought to have the Council endorse Hill and failing that, to equally endorse all candidates running, including a relative unknown. The final outcome was that the Council agreed not to endorse any one candidate. The nuance is important to note.

Though not the desired outcome, this was nonetheless a strategic victory. It blocked the state-biased candidate from claiming equal support along with Holober from the San Mateo Labor Council. Had he been able to do so, the incumbent would have gained a political advantage over our guy, and we prevented that from happening. Meanwhile, we will go on supporting Richard Holober in other ways.

On a personal note, the experience with parliamentary procedure was frustrating on the one hand. A candidate better able to represent Members of Local 1782 failed to receive a clear, well deserved endorsement from a major labor organization. It was at the same time gratifying to work in concert with other Members of Local 1782 in ways that benefit 1782 Members At Large. I'm glad to have had with me at the San Mateo Labor Council coworkers like Greg Brown, Pat Nolan, Rene Toledo and Sandee Ige. The fight for the 19th Assembly District is far from over. As Richard Holober said, “I will win this election or I will lose this election. Either way it will be based on the backing of labor.” So the race continues.

In the office next door

Local 1782’s president Greg Brown meets jointly with Local 1781 (Ramp & Stores) and the San Francisco Airport Commission to lobby for worker’s rights. These meetings are an ongoing part of what we do.

Residents and workers in San Francisco, along with a few other areas across the nation, are lucky to have enacted legislation called “QSP” (Quality Standards Program). QSP sets a living wage, or in other words a higher minimum wage than is set by the federal government. The good news is twofold. San Francisco workers earn a higher starting pay at United Airlines than they would earn elsewhere in the country for doing the same job. Of broader importance, it is more difficult for non-union contractors to threaten our job security and pay by low-balling us using lower paid workers with no benefits.

The bad news is that contractors routinely violate the law. This is where Local 1782 comes in.

The first thing we did was to point to the problem and document it. We won that part, but there’s a problem. The existing QSP law fines violators with only a slap on the wrist. So the violations continue. Local 1782 is working jointly with 1781 and the Airport Commission to word specific amendments to the existing law. The aim is to make it too expensive for violators to stay in business.

An unfortunate footnote is that an ex-supervisor from United Airlines heads up one of these companies that preys on its lower paid workers. Ironically he and his personal partner, an anti-labor lawyer, now threaten the same jobs he once supervised. So far his company remains small and ineffective at SFO. One of our aims at Local 1782 is to keep it that way.

Support for paid sick days without unfair discipline

UPDATE: California Assembly Labor Committee Approves Paid Sick Days Bill

On Wednesday, April 9th, the Assembly Labor Committee voted in favor of a AB 2716, sponsored by Assembly Member Fiona Ma (D- San Francisco) that would allow all California workers to earn paid sick days. The vote came after a new report from the Institute of Women's Policy Research found that paid sick days would benefit employers as well as workers.

"AB 2716 will save employers $2.3 million per year, mainly from reduced turnover costs," said Vicky Lovell, Ph.D., the author of the study.

The bill will be heard next by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 15. If passed by the legislature and signed into law, California would be the first state in the nation to require employers to provide paid sick days.

FEATURE STORY

Too many hardworking Californians are forced to choose between working sick or facing levels of discipline, and even losing their jobs – simply because they or their family members become sick. Local 1782 thinks it is time to give all workers in California the right to paid sick days. Fortunately we are not alone.

The California Labor Federation is sponsoring AB 2716 (Ma) this year to ensure that workers who need to take time off when they are sick are able to do so. This bill would also set a minimum labor standard for non-union competitors who currently may provide no paid sick days. AB 2716 will allow a typical airline worker to use 72 hours (or nine days) per calendar year without threat of discipline. They will earn that time at a rate of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Job security is protected in two ways. Greedy employers like UAL will find it more difficult to intimidate workers. Contractors who force their workers to accept less pay and benefits, and in turn threaten to take our jobs away, will find themselves on a more level playing field with hardworking Californians.

This bill goes hand-in-hand with The California Labor Federation’s continuing efforts toward real health care reform for California. When sick workers are working in crowded airport conditions using the same dirty keyboards, disease spreads and everyone suffers. Without time off to recover, workers continue to pass the illness along to one another, resulting in decreased productivity, increased errors, and a growing number of sick customers. Even the employer’s bottom line will be affected. But when workers can stay home to recover from illness, says the California labor Federation, it prevents the illness from spreading in the workplace, which leads to a healthier community, fewer visits to the emergency room, and decreased health care costs.

Local 1782 is a member of The California Labor Federation, and pays a “tax” or dues to belong to it. The money for Local 1782’s dues to this and other organizations is obtained from the small fraction of your dues dollar that remains in the Local. Taxes such as this are considered one of many operating expenses of Local 1782. This particular membership costs each Member of the Local a few pennies per month.

On a personal note

I had a rare moment of caring for United’s understaffed slop-A-ration.

On February 11 United misconnected passengers, and they were growling at my podium for reaccommodation. With thoughts of “first point of contact” ringing in my head, I helped them before heading home. It resulted in a half hour of time after shift to calm their nerves, book alternative flights, fill out United's ubiquitous paperwork and get it signed. No big deal.

The form for the ten bucks of overtime pay went in to ual’s “business center” in San Francisco on February 11, and came back –unpaid– nearly two months later on April 6. A supervisor neglected to write her file number, and I was held accountable. On inspecting the form further, things got worse. The overtime form actually states that a supervisor cannot authorize overtime at all unless the overtime is already authorized. I’m not making this stuff up. Checking still further, it appears that there is a broader problem of the company creating mandatory overtime situations and then refusing to pay agents for mando overtime. The concerns were taken to management.

Meanwhile there are a few immediate lessons. Fill out their damned form completely, and make sure the supervisor does so as well. Secondly forget helping anyone short of Jesus at first point of contact, and if there is a second coming of Christ the chances are it won’t be on United. Although the corporation could probably use some help from above. Instead of self-initiating overtime, do one of two things. Direct the passenger’s unhappy rear end to a customer service desk, or contact a service director or supervisor to send help. Be courteous to the passenger by explaining that help is available at whatever location, or alternatively that help will be coming to them. Then get the hell out.

The ironies are inescapable. Ual’s corporation is willing to dump millions to “attract and retain” clueless executives. On the other hand it’s not willing to attract and retain front line workers willing to clean up the mess by ponying up ten bucks in overtime pay. The business center did have one piece of condescending advice. “It is a shared responsibility of both the supervisor and the agent to correctly fill out forms required by United Airlines.” No shit? What about a three-way responsibility in which ual’s business center shows respect to working people by paying them for their time, or advising them of a bureaucratic problem if there is one without waiting two months to do it.