L.A. Unions Plan Summer Labor Offensive

Emboldened by growing membership and political clout, a feisty Los Angeles labor movement is planning a summer of high-profile and potentially disruptive actions, demanding a “fair share” of the region’s prosperity.

A hint of what’s ahead came Tuesday night, when a downtown rally drew an estimated 8,000 union members, including teachers, painters, janitors, actors and sheriff’s deputies--the largest such gathering in Los Angeles in years.

Thousands of office building janitors are set to walk off the job Monday unless their wage demands are met. And the militant hotel and restaurant workers union is gearing up for a coordinated campaign targeting luxury hotels in Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles.

The summer labor offensive could spill over to the Democratic National Convention in mid-August. One sign of potential trouble: After months of negotiations, convention planners have been unable to persuade labor leaders to sign a pact that would essentially rule out strikes or picket lines at convention sites.

Republicans have had such an agreement in hand for months ahead of their summer convention in Philadelphia.

But labor officials in Los Angeles said they won’t sign anything until several contentious disputes are settled, including one involving concession workers at Staples Center, the main convention site.

“We’re currently at the table” with the Democratic National Committee, said Miguel Contreras, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which represents about 800,000 union members. “Hopefully we’ll resolve it. But we would not sign any agreement that gives away worker rights.”

While city leaders view the convention--with its draw of international media--as a chance to showcase Southern California’s economic revival, many in organized labor are equally eager to point out the region’s growing income disparities.

The gap between rich and poor will be the underlying theme for more than a dozen unions as they enter into contract negotiations this summer, Contreras said. Contracts covering 250,000 workers expire between now and September.

Negotiations should be energetic this year, because many workers whose wages stagnated or fell during the recession of the early 1990s now want to regain lost ground.

Organized labor in Los Angeles is in a strong position to back those demands, having added a record 91,000 members last year--leading the nation. The County Federation of Labor also has established itself as an important political player in local and state elections, particularly by tapping into new-citizen immigrant voters.

This summer, Contreras said those elements will be tied together in a coordinated campaign. For example, when county clerical workers make their case for a raise, members of the teachers’ union might testify to the effects of poverty on students, while nurses address health concerns.

“Obviously, each union has its particular issues. But the central issue facing all of us is that in this growing economy, working families haven’t been sharing in the prosperity,” said Bart Diener, assistant general manager for Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 45,000 county employees, including clerical workers, library assistants, nurses and welfare eligibility screeners.

Contracts covering those workers expire in September. Late last year, the county proposed an early settlement, explicitly to avoid problems during the Democratic convention. Unions rejected the offer.

“We have an interest in helping to elect Al Gore, and we would be careful not to take actions that would hurt his candidacy,” said Diener. “But we’re not going to give away the right to bring attention to our issues while the national spotlight is on Los Angeles.”

Organized labor gave Vice President Gore’s candidacy a huge boost with an early AFL-CIO endorsement in October, and armies of union members have staffed phone banks during state primaries. About a third of the 5,000 Democratic convention delegates in August will be union members.

“These are our friends,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew, dismissing concerns expressed privately by some at the city’s convention host committee.

But local and national labor leaders, who increasingly are demanding some return for their backing, said it would be wrong to presume unconditional support.

“The only way to ensure labor peace is to ensure that employers behave,” said John Wilhelm, national president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, which represents Staples Center concession workers. “We won’t take cynical advantage of the Democrats’ presence. At the same time, we’re not going to sell out the workers.”

The DNC first proposed a formal labor agreement in October, asking the labor federation to ban union members from striking, picketing or passing out handbills at convention sites “for any reason whatsoever.” The language has been narrowed through negotiations since then, however, and would now apply only to potential job actions by convention site employees.

The most heated of three unresolved contracts at convention sites covers concession workers who sell beer, hot dogs and other food for Ogden Entertainment. That contract is being negotiated by one of the county’s most militant unions, Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union.

HERE negotiators say Ogden has refused to budge on key issues involving wages and working hours. A company spokesman said Ogden “would like nothing more than to have a speedy resolution to this issue” and is continuing to meet with union representatives.

While the convention is a focal point for some unions, others expect to have contracts settled long before August--even as they prepare for drawn-out public fights.

That is the case for about 8,500 mostly immigrant janitors who clean office buildings in downtown Los Angeles, Century City, the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas. At least 2,000 of the famously militant janitors have signed pledges to walk off the job Monday, when a master contract expires, and more are expected to follow if a resolution isn’t reached soon.

The union has set aside a $1-million strike fund to support the janitors.

“It’s going to really boil over during this contract campaign,” said Mike Garcia, president of Service Employees International Local 1877.

“It could boil over to the Democratic National Convention. It could spill over into a huge embarrassment, since we can turn out more people than anyone in this town.”