Sacramento Valley Union Labor Bulletin

Owned and Published by the Sacramento Central Labor Council and the Sacramento-Sierra’s Building & Construction Trades Council, official councils of the AFL-CIO

Thousands of union members and allies gathered for various May Day events in Sacramento, including a march on the State Capitol to stand in solidarity with UPTE members striking at the University of California. - Photos by Elsa Swanson
LABOR BULLETINSLIDER

May Day march draws hundreds in solidarity with striking workers

Labor Bulletin

By Sheri Williams

Celebrating International Workers’ Day on May 1, hundreds of union members and allies gathered together for a march in downtown Sacramento to show solidarity and fight for workers’ rights.

“We are marching to reject the billionaire agenda and to send a clear message: California must lead the fight for working families,” said Fabrizio Sasso, Executive Director of the Sacramento Central Labor Council. “Workers are rising up, and we will not be ignored.”

The marchers gathered at Fremont Park, then made their way to the Governor’s Mansion and the State Capitol.

Many of those attending were members of the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), who have been attempting to bargain for months with the University of California. They held a one-day strike on May Day to raise awareness.

This year’s action in Sacramento focused on solidarity with striking UPTE and AFSCME 3299 workers from UC Davis, highlighting the urgent need for California to lead the way in securing justice for all—not just the wealthy few.

UPTE President Dan Russell said the University of California is ​“using the political climate as an excuse for the behavior that they had already been exhibiting … which is refusing to bargain in good faith to address the staffing crisis, and just continuing to commit, you know, one unfair labor practice after another.”

Many UPTE members are concerned about low staffing levels that force them to work overtime or be unable to call in sick, problems that impact patient care and safety.

“I want to take care of my patients, but I also need to take care of myself,” Heidi Miller, an optometrist at UC Davis, told media.

“If I call out sick, my patients are rescheduled to August,” Miller said.

Sonya Mogilner, a clinical social worker with UC Davis, agreed that staffing is a problem.

“I’ve been here for about six years. In that time, I became the third in seniority on a team of 16 social workers in the hospital,” Mogilner told media. “It takes our social workers about two years to become competent. What that looks like on a day-to-day basis is usually I cover 30 trauma patients, all the gunshot victims in the surrounding area. Everyone is on my service. I’ve been having to cover cardiology, neurology, and burns, and I can hold, sometimes up to 125 patients. I can’t do my job that way.”

Also in attendance were members of the California Nurses Association, California Faculty Association, Sacramento Central Labor Council, SEIU 2015, SEIU 1000 and UNITE HERE Local 49.

May Day—International Workers’ Day—is a global celebration of the labor movement and a reminder that working people are the backbone of society.

Across California and the nation, many May Day events focused on the actions of the federal government, especially the drastic job cuts that have left tens of thousands of union workers without jobs.

“Today is a reminder for us  that our labor laws in America were almost all birthed in protest, many that others called inappropriate and fought to stop,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, on social media.