A year in Labor: Hard times and high hopes

By Sheri Williams

As 2024 draws to a close, it marks a year for the Sacramento Labor Movement of both loss and hope.

Perhaps the most profound occurrence of the year was the death of Labor icon Bill Camp, who passed away in September after a battle with cancer.

“Bill Camp was a force of nature and a relentless warrior for working people,” said Fabrizio Sasso, the head of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, at the time. “But he was also a mentor and a friend and like it is for so many of us, his loss is devastating to me. But his legacy will live on in the work we do in his honor.”

Camp served as Executive Secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council for decades, and was long considered to be more than a labor leader. He was a fighter for social justice and understood that the battle for workers’ rights was inherently tied to the broader struggles for racial and economic equality and civil rights. Under his leadership, the Labor Council became a powerful force not just for union workers but for all who faced oppression and hardship.

“Bill was a tireless fighter for Labor,” said Kevin Ferreira, Executive Director Sacramento-Sierra’s Building & Construction Trades Council, in September. “Bill was a mentor and ally, always on the front lines when we needed him.”

The year also brought disappointment with the national election after Kamala Harris, backed by most unions, was defeated by Donald Trump.

But on the local front, Labor-backed candidates won, thanks to union support.

In January, the SCLC announced support of Kevin McCarty for Sacramento Mayor, and helped McCarty win that tight race months later.

Other SCLC-endorsed candidates included Sacramento City Council members Katie Valenzuela, Eric Guerra and Mai Vang and newly-elected Roger Dickinson. In West Sacramento, the SCLC endorsed Mayor Martha Guerro and Councilmember Norma Alcala. Both won re-election.

“Nothing is more crucial than making sure our members are informed and engaged when it comes to voting,” said SCLC Field Director Volma Volcy in January. “At the national level, the 2024 elections are about protecting our democracy. But here in Sacramento, we have many local races that are key to protecting workers’ rights and building strong communities.”

The Building Trades also increased efforts this year to reach out to diverse and underserved communities to bring more people into apprenticeship programs as the construction boom continues.

“We call it the ‘Taking It To the Streets’ Career Fair and Block Party,” said Kevin Ferreira, Executive Director Sacramento-Sierra’s Building & Construction Trades Council, of the effort. “It is always meant to be fun, but also partygoers can land a much-needed career and get a taste of what they will do when they go to work.”

Along with elections, Labor fought many battles in the statehouse and on the street to help workers and working families.

As part of a union-backed bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016, California’s minimum wage rose to $16 at the start of 2024.

The wage increase is part of a series of minimum wage increases that the Fight for $15 movement, backed by SEIU and other unions, fought for and won nearly seven years ago.

“This is about economic justice, it’s about people,” Brown said when he signed the bill. “This is an important day, it’s not the end of the struggle but it’s a very important step forward.”

The wage increase affected about 1 million California workers, many who live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to make ends meet.

Also in January, members of the California Faculty Association won a new contract after shutting down campuses of the California State system with a strike.

The strike was planned as a week-long effort, but a deal was reached after only a single day on the picket lines of the 23 campuses in the system.

“In case anyone forgot, strikes work!” the union wrote on social media after the victory.

In the Spring, undergraduate student workers at California State University voted to form a union, creating the largest union of young university employees in the country.

The union covers more than 20,000 student employees across the state system, who currently work as student assistants, work-study assistants and other roles supporting classroom teaching—all while completing their own education.

Home health care workers in Sacramento County also had a victory—a new contract that improved wages and working conditions.

The IHSS workers of SEIU Local 2015, the nation’s largest long-term care union representing more than 450,000 caregivers across California, ratified a new union contract with the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

On the streets, the Teamsters took to the picket lines.

More than 100 Teamsters went on strike at a local pharmaceutical giant after months of negotiations failed to win a new contract early in the year.

Employees at Cencora (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen) began striking in mid-March.

The 124 warehouse workers are members of Teamsters Local 150 and went on strike after months of contentious negotiations for a contract that addresses years of concerns on the job.

SEIU also fought a battle to improve conditions for workers and guests in nursing homes.

After a years-long effort by SEIU to improve conditions for both patients and staff in federally-funded nursing homes, the Biden administration put new rules in place this year. For the first time, the new guidelines established a minimum staffing requirement for facilities that receive federal funding, addressing the union’s concerns that these care centers have been chronically understaffed for years.

Janitors also continued their battle for better jobs.

California’s Justice for Janitors movement in April celebrated growing momentum on two fronts in the fight by immigrant workers for safety and dignity on the job.

One of their victories came in the state Legislature, where the Assembly Labor Committee overwhelmingly passed AB 2364, Asm. Luz Rivas’ first-in-the-nation bill that would limit workloads in the janitorial industry and strengthen protections against sexual violence faced by the largely female workforce as they labor alone in empty buildings at night.

The “End Janitor Exploitation and Abuse Act” sets workplace safety standards and strengthens protections against injury and harassment.

The Capitol saw workers again in May, when hundreds of labor activists from around California converged, calling for California to adopt a Justice for All Workers Agenda.

Specifically, they successfully called for a resolution to the debate over the Private Attorneys’ General Act (PAGA).

Although PAGA, as the law is known, receives little attention, labor advocates say it is a crucial tool for helping workers fight wage theft at a time when state investigators can’t handle every complaint. Workers successfully defended it.

Nurses also continued their fight for ‘Medicare for All’ despite setbacks.

California Nurses Association members marched at the Capitol in May and later condemned the California State Assembly Appropriations Committee for capitulating to corporate healthcare and failing to pass A.B. 2200, a bill that would have moved California closer to providing health coverage for all.

Despite lawmakers blocking A.B. 2200, nurses vowed that they will not give up until CalCare guarantees health care as a human right in California.

In June, Labor had a victory in the courts when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a California law that grants employee rights to gig workers in industries including delivery drivers and ride-sharing services, ruling that it is constitutional.

“Today the 9th Circuit en banc affirmed that AB 5 is in fact a Constitutional law. This is a victory for all workers in the state, but especially the chronically misclassified workers in rideshare and delivery jobs,” said Lorena Gonzalez, principal officer of the California Labor Federation and author of AB 5, after the ruling. “Now, we must continue to seek ways to enforce this law.”

Also in June, Members of United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represents 48,000 University of California graduate student workers, took to the picket lines over treatment of people during protests of the Israel-Gaza war on UC college campuses.

By August, thousands of AFSCME members were rallying in downtown Los Angeles to continue the fight for a fair contract for workers across the 10-campus system.

“You are not alone,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders told them. “First of all, you’ve got 1.4 million members who have your back. And if we need to, we will take it to the streets. You are not afraid, and we are not afraid. And we always stand up for what we believe in.”