Organized Labor

Eric Mar, Other Building Trades-Backed Candidates Celebrate Victory

Election results for the four San Francisco Board of Supervisors were made official earlier this month in the districts where no candidate had received a majority of votes on Election Day. As Organized Labor reported last month, the candidates backed by the Building Trades and San Francisco Labor Council were leading; now they are the declared winners: Eric Mar in District 1, David Chiu in District 3, David Campos in District 9, and John Avalos in District 11.

Under the City’s Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) system, in races where there was no clear winner, the second-place votes of the lowest ranking candidates were added to higher-ranking candidates until one candidate emerged with over 50 percent.
The four new Supervisors will be sworn in Jan. 8. They will join the three candidates re-elected on Election Day — Ross Mirkarimi, Sean Elsbernd, and Carmen Chu.

Eric Mar, District 1

In the First Supervisorial District, School Board member Eric Mar was the top vote getter on Election Night with 41 percent. After two rounds of rank choice voting, he emerged with over 51 percent of the vote. Mar was endorsed by both the SFLC and SFBCTC. Mar is a strong supporter of labor and was instrumental in getting the Project Labor Agreement between the School District and Building Trades approved. Building Trades union members worked hard for the Mar campaign, in conjunction with the SFLC. The outreach to union members included a “Labor to Neighbor” effort that saw Ironworkers Local 377 organize their Chinese speaking members to call Chinese speaking households to vote for Eric Mar and Prop. A.

The Eric Mar campaign held a victory celebration Dec. 6 in the Richmond District, where he takes over for Sup. Jake McGoldrick, who supported him in the race. Mar thanked supporters and volunteers and the coalition of labor and community organizations like the Chinese Progressive Association that helped him win a seat on the Board. He said his was a grassroots campaign and a victory for the people of his District who wanted progressive change. “I look forward to working with the other three newly-elected Supervisors—John Avalos, David Campos, and David Chiu — as well as Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly to bring a progressive vision to San Francisco,” he said.

Mar told Organized Labor he especially appreciated the support of labor. “The Building Trades played a key role,” he said. “The Ironworkers really helped. I really appreciate that the Building Trades under Stan Warren and now Mike Theriault advocate for not just the interests of their members but for a bigger vision of what’s best for our city.” Mar said that in working with the different locals like the Ironworkers and Carpenters, he was aware of the growing diversity within the trades and wanted to represent the interests of all workers in his District and the City.

Mar is an instructor in the College of Ethnic Studies at SF State and served on the School Board for eight years. He noted in his candidate interview that he had been a strong ally for labor in negotiations between the District and employee unions. He is a former organizer and shop steward for SEIU Local 790 and a member of the California Faculty Association. He said that among his priorities were working to make sure San Francisco is a livable, affordable and productive city for all — especially working families, the middle class and small businesses. He said he would continue to meet with and seek the input of Building Trades leaders for help in crafting and passing legislation to advance the common agenda of workers’ rights and equitable development.

David Chiu, District 3

In the race to succeed 3rd District Supervisor Aaron Peskin, David Chiu won 38 percent of the vote on November 4, and after RCV tabulations ended up with over 59 percent. He was endorsed by the SFLC, while the Building Trades backed Joe Alioto, Jr., and Denise McCarthy, who finished second and third, respectively, among nine candidates. Chiu is chief operating officer for Grassroots Enterprise, an online communications technology company he founded in 2000. He served as an Assistant District Attorney for the city and as a staff attorney for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where he represented workers exploited by a sweatshop employer. He said he was a staunch ally of hotel workers and marched and picketed with members of UNITE HERE Local 2 when they were locked out by hotel management two years ago.

Chiu was not available for comment as Organized Labor went to press but had indicated strong labor positions in his candidate interview and survey earlier this year. Chiu said his priorities included increasing affordable housing, creating jobs and promoting small businesses, and improving the quality of life in the neighborhoods. “Our elected officials need to explore and implement new policy approaches to reducing crime, improving public transit, increasing open space, and cleaning our streets,” he said.

David Chiu also supports development that is supported by the community and follows a smart growth model of including high-density development, mixed land use and a variety of transportation choices. He supports project labor agreements and full funding for the OLSE.

David Campos, District 9

In District 9, Attorney David Campos was elected with 53 percent of the vote after results of the ranked choice voting were certified. Neither the Building Trades nor SF Labor Council made an endorsement in the District where there were three strong candidates in the race to succeed Tom Ammiano — Campos, School Board member Mark Sanchez and affordable housing activist Eric Quezada. Ammiano backed Campos in the race, as did the San Francisco Firefighters Local 790 and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Campos is a Civil Rights Attorney and former Deputy City Attorney from 1999 – 2004, and has served as a San Francisco Police Commissioner since 2005. He was also lead counsel in the San Francisco Unified School District’s school desegregation case and advised the San Francisco School District and Board of Education on how to desegregate its schools. He said he would be an advocate for working people on the Board of Supervisors, working to make sure workers receive a living wage and their rights are protected. His priorities include affordable housing development, protecting the rights of immigrants and supporting public education. Campos said he wanted to follow in the tradition of Tom Ammiano as a champion of public education. Ammiano helped create a rainy day fund for the School District that has proven to be vital to helping the District in a time of tight budgets.

Campos told Building Trades delegates in his candidate interview that, “If elected supervisor, I will always be a friend of labor, and advocate for working people within and outside of City government. In me, labor will find an honest broker who will make sure that City workers are treated fairly and with respect.” He said he would keep an open door policy and listen to the concerns of workers and their representatives. He told Building Trades members that his priority would be, “advocating for the little guy—that guides everything I do.”

Campos supports Project Labor Agreements for public works projects, affordable housing development, and full funding for the OLSE. He noted that his predecessor had appointed a representative from the Building Trades to the Planning Commission and that he agreed that labor should be represented on all city commissions.

John Avalos, District 11

In the 11th District, John Avalos was declared the winner. He was the leading vote getter on Election Day with 29 percent of the vote, and after the RCV tabulations, had won with 53 percent of the vote. Avalos was backed by the SFLC, while Building Trades’ candidate Julio Ramos came in third among eight candidates competing to succeed Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval. Ramos is a member of the City College Board of Trustees and strong supporter of the Building Trades.

Avalos is a legislative aide to Supervisor Chris Daly and a former labor and community organizer. He told Building Trades members at his candidate interview earlier this year that his grandfather had been a dockworker in Los Angeles and he himself had worked for SEIU 1877 representing janitors in 2003 and 2004. He is a member of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21.
“I’m really committed as an organizer to bring services to the people,” he told Building Trades members. Avalos said the city needs a strong mix of affordable and market rate housing because many workers are priced out of owning their own home. “We need to level the playing field for people who are struggling,” he said. Avalos offered support for vocational education and shop classes, full funding for the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE), and for project labor agreements for San Francisco Public Works projects. “I believe such agreements assure the highest standards for workers and government alike,” he said.

John Avalos also attended Eric Mar’s victory party Dec. 6 and told Organized Labor, “I want to say ‘thank you’ to labor for all the hard work and for believing in me.” He said he would represent the interests of labor on the Board of Supervisors. “District 11 has a large number of union members. I want to bring labor and community groups together to work in my District and citywide. I’ll continue to work with labor on job development, economic development, and workers’ rights,” he said. Avalos said SEIU 1021, and SEIU-United Health Care Workers, as well as the community group ACORN, were important members of his winning coalition.