The members of Sign Display & Allied Crafts Local Union 510 in San Francisco face a struggle for the future of their union. The union’s contract with major convention service industry contractors expires on May 1.
Three of the biggest contractors—Freeman, Champion and Nth Degree—
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Local 510 represents workers employed by companies mostly in the convention service industry at convention facilities, warehouses and shops. It is affiliated with District Council 36, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO.
Describing the work, Local 510’s press release says, “Installers are always on unpaid call, but with no promise of work; and often must show up with no notice for long, unpredictable hours of heavy physical work. We might be laid off after four hours, or we might work twenty hours in a row. Individual incomes vary widely, depending on availability of work. And work can include nights, weekends, and holidays putting constant stress on family and social life.”
Although hourly pay for is about $30 an hour, the vast majority of installers make far less than $50,000 per year. That’s not much in the Bay Area with its extremely high cost of living. Many go through periods without medical benefits and find it difficult to qualify for eligibility. Most can expect only a meager pension.
The convention service companies have proposed a contract that would set back many of the gains won by the union in past contract struggles, including wages, overtime, a hiring hall and other key issues.
Anti-union attacks
Yet, articles in local corporate media outlets, like the San Francisco Chronicle, make it sound like the union made up of overpaid, greedy workers preparing to wreck the economy for a fat raise.
A typical attack piece was the March 20 Chronicle article titled, “Money at the heart of exhibition workers strike threat.” That newspaper is no friend of the workers. The Chronicle has a history of trying to bust the newspaper unions.
The union busting firm Litter Mendelson is not just a law firm. It earns all of its money aggressively seeking to dismantle unions, derail union organizing drives and catering to its clients’ every need.
This is well documented. Local 510 has several articles on its website that reveal the truth about Littler Mendelson. One article, from the December 2004 issue of Socialism and Liberation magazine, says the following: “Firms like … Littler Mendelson are hired guns for corporate interests. They are paid handsomely to wage war on workers and keep unions out at all costs. Though their tactics are not always violent, they are just as repugnant and anti-worker.”
Where unions are already recognized, firms like Littler Mendelson try to destroy or debilitate them. Corporations are willing to pay up to $1,000 an hour for Littler’s services to break the union.
Strike authorized
On March 14, over 200 members of the union in a virtually unanimous vote authorized the union’s negotiation committee to call a strike. Local 510 recognizes this is going to be a difficult struggle and is actively building alliances with other Bay Area unions to push back the anti-union.
According to the union’s website, “Bay Area labor has formed one great, united, and unbroken wall for Local 510. … Local 2 [Hotel and Restaurant Employees] and the San Mateo Building & Construction Trades Council join the Teamster’ Joint Council # 7 (all Bay Area Locals), the Bay Area Labor Councils, the Bay Area Building Trades Councils & Monterey Labor Council in backing us all the way with support and strike sanctions.”
Unite Here Local 2, after a strong and determined struggle against San Francisco’s luxury hotels, won all of its contract demands in September 2006. Their victory has encouraged Local 510 and many other unions. Their support is highly appreciated by Local 510. Local 2’s members work alongside Local 510 installers in the hotel convention facilities and Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.
The Teamsters handle the massive amounts of freight for the trade shows and conventions, also working closely with the installers.
A joint news release from the Central Labor Councils of Alameda County, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and South Bay, AFL-CIO, announcing strike sanctions stated: “Impacted facilities could include Moscone Center, Oakland Convention Center, Oakland Coliseum, San Jose Convention Center, San Mateo Fairground, Santa Clara Convention Center and many other locations.”
Over 50 employers have contracts with Local 510. The joint news release quoted union representative Mike Hardeman: “We can’t abide a race to the bottom.”
Regressive bargaining
The Wing Nut, the voice of Local 510’s rank-and-file members described the union’s contract situation clearly: “The
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The employers’ “proposals” demand changes in hiring rules that would virtually eliminate the dispatch system and the hiring hall. The hiring hall is essential to the solidarity of the union. It is a seniority-based system that controls how members are picked to work various jobs.
Changes in overtime rules demanded by the companies would result in a pay cut of about one third. And they would make the installers work hours even more unpredictable, stressful, exhausting and dangerous.
The crash of the convention industry in 2001 caused big losses for workers. Rising medical insurance costs resulted in fewer medical benefits. But, six years later, the convention industry is making huge profits.
The union now aims to win a substantial raise to catch up with the cost of living.
Local 510 members and other workers at the convention centers are wearing buttons reading “510 Union Power,” along with their union t-shirts. The Wing Nut, named for one of the most commonly used pieces of hardware in the industry, can be found circulating around Bay Area convention centers.
In 1981, after leading a victorious strike, Local 510 won a 33 percent pay increase, stronger stewarding language, their first decent benefits, respect and a hiring hall. Local 510’s members are taking inspiration in their current struggle from that important victory.
An article in the Wing Nut assessed the 1981 strike: “That unity gave us the strength to take what we needed and deserved. … Our hiring hall is what made that possible.
“If Littler Mendelson wins, we will not only have our hiring hall gutted. Our overtime will be slashed. Many of us will loose our jobs. Many more will lose medical coverage. In the long run, our pensions are threatened. … Brothers and sisters, the hour has come ‘round. We have to do it again.”
The union’s frequently updated official website is www.local510.org. The Wing Nut is not an official union publication.
