WHAT IS THE LABOR COUNCIL?
The South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council is currently celebrating over a half-century as a chartered organization. The Labor Council represents over a hundred unions in Santa Clara and San Benito counties and over 110,000 union members.
The Labor Council is involved in many programs that are directly intended to improve the lives of working families in the Bay Area.
LABOR COUNCIL NEWS
Added January 15th, 2010
The recently renamed Interfaith Council on Economics and Justice has expanded its connections to local clergy by hosting seminar on justice and preaching at Five Wounds Catholic Church.
Father Eduardo Samaniego of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church and Rabbi Dana Magat of Temple Emmanuel led the Jan. 12 seminar, which focused on teaching clergy from a wide range of religious traditions how to preach on justice issues. Topics included the courage to preach justice and sources of resistance from the congregation or the person preaching.
The Rev. Rebecca Kuiken, director of the Interfaith Council, said one of the benefits of the seminar was that many of the 25 participants had not previously worked with the Council or participated in its events. Future seminars are planned that will include responses to a comment frequently made by congregants: "Pastor, you preached politics."
The Interfaith Council is a program of Working Partnerships USA to bring the faith community’s moral authority to local struggles for social and economic justice. It has involvement from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Roman Catholic and Protestant congregations.
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Added December 22nd, 2009
More than 500 volunteers turned out Sunday, Dec. 20 to make the annual Union Community Resources Holiday Party a huge success.
Steve Preminger, UCR director, said more than 6,000 youngsters and their families enjoyed a holiday afternoon at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. You can see pictures from the event online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/16947415@N05/.
The annual event provided games, face painting, huge robots, musical entertainment, food, as well as information on the food stamp program and prescription drug discounts. Most fun for the kids, however, was the opportunity to meet and speak with Santa Claus and receive a gift. The U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program provided thousands of toys for the event. Many of the volunteers worked behind the scenes as Santa's helpers in searching through the inventory to find a gift the kids say they want. Others worked for days preparing the fairgrounds site for the anticipated turnout.
Even though the 2009 Holiday Party is over, work is beginning for 2010. You may make a financial contribution toward our $25,000 budget by writing a check to UCR Holiday Party and sending it to Union Community Resources, 2102 Almaden Road, Suite 107, San Jose CA 95125.
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Added December 22nd, 2009
A package of "ethics reform" proposals from Mayor Chuck Reed that were widely criticized as an attempt to stifle political opposition failed Tuesday, Dec. 15 at City Council.
The Council voted instead to remove Reed from his own Biennial Ethics Reform Panel and then sent the six proposals from the nine-part package to that panel and the Elections Commission for further consideration.
Working Partnerships USA, which would have been the only nonprofit organization appearing before City Council to have to register as a lobbyist under Reed's proposals, said the significance of the vote was that "the ethics reform process is no longer in the hands of a Mayor whose motives have been widely perceived as tainted by his political bias."
The Mercury News had been suspicious of Reed's proposals, editorializing in advance of the vote that the "appearance of a politicized ethics review isn’t healthy for San Jose."
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Added December 1st, 2009
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO, was honored at a reception Monday, Nov. 30, by San Jose City College, which renamed its labor studies program in her honor.
The school renamed its labor studies program the Dolores Huerta Labor and Community Studies Institute as part of an effort to broaden its curriculum to include community organizing and social justice.
Huerta, 79, a longtime union and political activist as well as mother, lobbyist, educator, feminist and champion of immigrant rights, made history in 1966 when she negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement with an agricultural enterprise, a contract between the UFW and Schenley Wine Co. The contract was reached a year after she led the UFW's national grape boycott.
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Added November 16th, 2009
Nearly 100 housekeepers at three non-union Hyatt hotels in Boston have been laid off -- some with more than 20 years' service -- and replaced with subcontracted workers making $8 an hour.
Meanwhile housekeepers at the Hyatt Santa Clara have been fighting for dignity and respect in the workplace for more than a year.
Help bring back the Hyatt 100 and support our local workers at a Hope for Housekeepers Vigil at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18 at the Hyatt Santa Clara, 5101 Great American Parkway.
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Added November 16th, 2009
Two candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction -- veteran school administrator Larry Aceves and Assemblymember Tom Torlakson -- will speak in San Jose at the third event in the Working Partnerships USA Leadership Institute Social Innovator Speaker Series.
The forum, sponsored by PG&E, will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the IBEW Hall, 2125 Canoas Garden Ave. Please RSVP by Dec. 1 to rsvp@atwork.org or (408) 269-7872.
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Need to search endorsement info on the go?