Organized Labor

Plasterers Local 66 – ‘It’s in the Finish’

Story & photos by Richard Bermack, Contributing Writer

From the ancient pyramids to the Palace of Versailles to a parking garage in San Francisco, plasterers have been making buildings durable and beautiful for over 9,000 years.

Over the years, the materials and the skills have evolved. Still, watching plasterers coat the inner recesses of the ceiling of the corner wall of a parking structure, one is reminded of the skill and craft that went into creating the walls of a 16th century cathedral. Although we often think of plastering as spreading a thin coat of a mud-like substance over concrete walls or sheet rock, there is more to it than that.

Building the Trades

A Proposal for the Northeast Waterfront

By Michael Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer
In the nightmares of some San Franciscans someone in a hard hat whispers, “Build on the Northeast Waterfront,” and an army of Fontana Apartment buildings claw their way up from the magma beneath us and stand all along the Embarcadero between the City and the Bay like massive robots spewing oil and destruction, while the populace flees in terror, maybe to Tracy.
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Annual Building Trades Legislative Conference Celebrates Return to Table

Building Trades Legislative Conference After Eight Years, Labor Once Again Has Voice in White House

By Roy San Filippo
Staff Writer

The atmosphere at this year’s Building Trades Department Annual Legislative conference was remarkably different than the previous eight years. Thanks to the massive mobilization efforts by the Building Trades, the new administration in Washington is pro-union, in contrast to the anti-union, anti-worker agenda under Bush-Cheney. Vice President Joe Biden summed it up in his taped address to the conference, “Welcome back to the table.”

Phase II Construction Begins on Joint City College, SFSU Facility

$7.3 Million Project Slated for 2010 Completion

The first phase of construction of a new joint-use facility at the site of the Balboa Reservoir at City College of San Francisco’s Ocean Campus has been completed and Phase II construction is on schedule. CCSF Vice Chancellor for Facilities Jim Blomquist said the structural steel frame for the new building on Phelan Street across from the campus is almost complete. The multi-purpose building that will be jointly used by City College (CCSF) and San Francisco State University students will include classrooms and administrative offices, and eventually a performing arts center, visual arts center, child care facilities, and an advanced technology center.

Building & Construction Trades Rally for Jobs

Say Proposed Historic Preservation Measure Would Destroy Jobs, Grants Too Much Authority to Bureaucracy

By Paul Burton
Contributing Writer

Hundreds of construction union members rallied at San Francisco Civic Center Plaza May 5 to send a message to the Board of Supervisors that the union workers who built the City need jobs – and a seat at the table when issues of development versus historic preservation are discussed and voted on.

Labor’s Joint Legislative Conference: Restoring Economic Justice

By Paul Burton
Contributing Writer

The California Labor Federation and State Building and Construction Trades Council held their annual Joint Legislative Conference in Sacramento March 16 and 17 to give union members an opportunity to learn about Labor’s legislative priorities for 2009 and meet with local legislators to advocate for bills that benefit California workers.

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Folklorist, Labor Activist Archie Green Dies

Trades Headlines

Sen. Franken Joins Senate, Co-Sponsors Employee Free Choice Act

Yesterday, after a long, hard campaign and almost eight months of vote counting and litigation, Al Franken was sworn in as the newest U.S. senator representing Minnesota. Then he signed on for the first time as co-sponsor of a bill—the Employee Free Choice Act.

Franken announced his co-sponsorship at a reception at the AFL-CIO, where Minnesota leaders like former Vice President Walter Mondale, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron helped union members and leaders welcome him to Washington, D.C.

Unemployment is over 20% for S.F. building sector

Unemployment in San Francisco’s building trades sector is over 20 percent, with about 50 percent of unionized electricians out of work, according to San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council President Mike Theriault.

With 16,000 members, that means that more than 3,200 building trades workers are currently without a job. Unemployment among laborers and carpenters is running at more than 20 percent, while iron workers have the lowest jobless rate -- about 10 percent.

Crystal Signs Agreement and Partners up With Union Trades Department AFL-CIO

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Crystal Properties Holding, Inc. signed a Construction Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for the future ROCKFORD RIVER DISTRICT DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION program in Rockford, Illinois with the Craft Local Unions Affiliated with the Building & Construction Trades Department AFL-CIO.

Union President and Business Representative and Organizer, Brad Long, and International Union of North America Business Manger, Tom DalSanto of Local #32 - A.F.L. / C.I.O., stated, "The union trades are exited to be involved with Crystal Properties Holdings, Inc."

Jack Henning, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary- Emeritus, 1915-2009

San Francisco, June 4 — Longtime California labor leader Jack Henning died today at his home in San Francisco. He served as executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO for 26 years before his retirement in 1996.

"Jack was a lion of a man and a great labor leader,” said California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski. “His vision and his magnificent oratory inspired several generations of union activists.”

Biden says state's high-speed rail project is primed for recovery funding

California may get a significant share of the $8 billion set aside for rail projects, the vice president says. A planned high-speed corridor would link L.A. to San Francisco in under 3 hours.

Though California is in the throes of a budget crisis, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the state's high-speed rail project is well-positioned to compete for a significant share of the $8 billion that the Obama administration set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for rail lines.