![]() However, having received an overwhelming mandate for strike action, the SEIU is now doing everything to prevent a strike from taking place. During last Friday’s news conference announcing the vote result, the union did not explain why nearly three weeks had passed before the results of the vote were disclosed. While claiming there is no money for adequate salaries and critical social program, the Democrats have showered endless tax cuts and incentives on the corporations in Silicon Valley, Hollywood and the oil, aerospace and defense industries.Īt the March 31 rally, the union announced that it would call for a strike vote if the County “does not drop the insulting pay proposals it’s offered so far.”Īfter weeks of talks behind closed doors, with little or no progress having been made, Local president David Green finally announced the strike ballot on April 20. The Board of Supervisors, the county’s governing body that proposed the contract, is comprised of five supervisors, four of whom are Democrats who were elected with the endorsement, political support and financial backing of SEIU Local 721. While the workers who attended showed a determination to fight, the SEIU Local 721 called the rally to let workers blow off steam to boost the illusion that they can win their demands through appeals to the Democrats. With current inflation at 8.5 percent, this means cuts to real wages of over 18 percent over the life of the contract. The march and rally were organized in response to the County’s provocative initial offer of a 2 percent wage increase in each year of a three-year contract. The day before the expiration, Local 721 had held a march and rally in downtown Los Angeles involving over two thousand workers to protest the County’s contract proposals. ![]() LA County workers have been without a contract since their old one expired on April 1. Over the next two months, hundreds of thousands of workers across the region, including 20,000 dockworkers in Los Angeles and along the entire West Coast, have their contracts expire, creating the potential for a broader counteroffensive in defense of jobs and working conditions. Thousands of educators in Sacramento went on strike for eight days earlier this year, and Oakland teachers carried out a one day strike late last month. Yesterday, hundreds of health care workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centerlaunched a strike, following last month’s strike by more than 5,000 nurses at Stanford Health in Northern California. The state of California in particular is emerging as a major battleground. These are being driven, on a world scale, by brutal working conditions, rapid inflation and the disastrous COVID policies imposed on society by the corporate elite. The vote was announced amid a strike by more than 1,000 agricultural equipment workers at CNH in the Midwest, and after a strike authorization vote by an identical margin by automotive workers at Detroit Diesel. The vote is the latest sign of rapidly developing movement of within the working class. They are opposing outsourcing and privatization of their jobs and demanding guaranteed health benefits, additional child and elder care support and wages keeping pace with inflation. ![]() The workers provide health care, library administration, public works, social services, homelessness outreach and custodial services. More than 55,000 Los Angeles County workers voted by 98 percent to approve strike action against the Democratic Party-controlled county government, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721 announced Friday. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |