SAN PEDRO – In an inspiring act of public-private sector solidarity, City of Los Angeles employee joined striking truck drivers at picket lines this week and will continue to take shifts as long as the strike lasts, an official reported. SEIU 721 — which represents 10,000 blue and white collars workers across all LA’s municipal departments — has also lent staff and other strategic resources to assist the truck drivers in the Justice for LA/LB Port Drivers movement, a campaign supported by Teamsters Joint Council 42.
“Every day I’m out at the terminals I see the drivers’ exploitation firsthand. If any group of workers needs a union, it’s the truckers here,” said Garrick Gilham, a San Pedro resident and deck hand who has worked for the Port of Los Angeles since 2008. “These are highly skilled, professional drivers who work in a dangerous industry, and their low wages and mistreatment is as atrocious as it is illegal. I am ready to do whatever it takes to help them unite on the job and achieve justice for their families.”
Under the banner “We’re Bargaining to Fix LA,” Garrick and his co-workers’ have been negotiating a set of proposals they jointly drafted in July with the LA City Coalition of Unions, and Fix LA – a new alliance representing resident and taxpayer interests, community groups, and clergy. The central theme of their bargaining is to make LA a better place to live and work by improving the quality of jobs and services.
SEIU 721 is in a strong partnership with the over 20 organizations united in Fix LA and felt compelled to bring neighborhood stakeholders with them to the table to challenge Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council to restore neighborhood services to pre-recession levels, protect and expand middle-class jobs, protect public safety, and stand up to Wall Street. The 80,000-member public sector local also sponsors the Fight for $15, a campaign spearheaded by fast-food workers to bring a living wage and union rights to Southern California. Its elected leaders and rank-and-file members view the port truck drivers’ struggle at the nation’s largest port complex as a logical extension of the Fix LA movement.
“Fixing the port is fixing LA,” SEIU Local 721 President Bob Schoonover declared in a recent front-line strike video on You Tube documenting port driver unrest that have prevented goods from moving out of the terminals. “This is really a problem….Even the jobs that are being created are not the right jobs.”
Schoonover, a former City of LA heavy-duty mechanic stepped up his criticism this week as drivers from more companies walked off the job: “The Port of LA brings in billions of dollars to the regional economy. This will never be a world-class city if its leaders permit workers who are the backbone of our economy to toil in third-world conditions and poverty.” The Teamsters Joint Council 42 has embraced the support from City of LA employees, and similarly partnered with SEIU 721 to back Fix LA bargaining proposals for job creation programs that train and employ local residents, end part-timing and contracting out to undercut standards, establish a minimum $15 wage with enforcement, and put crossing guards at every school to protect public safety.
The Teamsters Joint Council 42 has embraced the support from City of LA employees, and similarly partnered with SEIU 721 to back Fix LA bargaining proposals for job creation programs that train and employ local residents, end part-timing and contracting out to undercut standards, establish a minimum $15 wage with enforcement, and put crossing guards at every school to protect public safety.
“The Teamsters are here to fight for the future of LA,”‖Randy Cammack, President of Joint Council 42 Teamsters and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 63 announced at a Fix LA march that brought over 1,500 city workers and community residents together in the streets of Downtown LA last month. “Whether it’s today with our trucks, tomorrow at the bargaining table, or the day after on the picket line, we are building a movement in which the people who move containers out of the Port of Los Angeles are building power with the men and women who haul trash for the City. We won’t allow Wall Street and the giant corporations — or the politicians who are beholden to them — rob Angelenos of the American Dream,” he added.As part of that movement, SEIU 721 members have been working with the Teamsters and Fix LA partners to improve City Hall minimum wage proposals to guarantee $15 an hour and include provisions to end wage theft, which plagues port trucking, retail and warehouse where Walmart dominates, and in the fast-food industry.
As part of that movement, SEIU 721 members have been working with the Teamsters and Fix LA partners to improve City Hall minimum wage proposals to guarantee $15 an hour and include provisions to end wage theft, which plagues port trucking, retail and warehouse where Walmart dominates, and in the fast-food industry.
Next month the coalition is expected to present to Mayor Garcetti and the City Council’s EERC committee on proposals to stop corporate giveaways and recover taxpayer revenue from Wall Street to restore vital city services that Angelenos need.