Provisional Gardener Examination Request.

Brothers & Sisters:
At the annual meeting of the Laborers' Local 261 City Committee On December 10, 2008, it was decided unanimously to pressure and encourage the Department of Human Resources, to administer an examination for purposes of hiring permanent civil service gardeners as well as ranking members of Local 261 who currently perform those duties as provisional employees in "permanent budgeted spots."

The Professional Standards Chair and Union Chief Steward, Joan Vellutini made the motion and given the Union's current position with respect to apprenticeship (The Assistant Gardener 3410,) and professional standards, all provisional gardeners should be given the opportunity for ranking and future permanent employment and/or re-hire rights.

Campaign Updates will appear in this forum.

New Board Likely to Decide Golf Privatization Case

The Local Union's Golf Committee and its' Chair, Zac Salem have been working diligently on a final resolution of the Golf Privatization Case. The Committee was successful at working closely with Supervisor Jake McGoldrick's Office and in lobbying efforts at City Hall to prevent a prop J lease from moving foward in 2007 with little known accountability provisions. They have also been successful at gaining support from John Hanley of the Firefighters'Union, Mike Thieriault of the SF Building and Construction Trades Council, as well as Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council Tim Paulson. The Labor Council Resolution related to Privatization can be found here: http://www.sflaborcouncil.org/ViewUpload/20

Now, with a new Recreation and Parks Department GM, a new Board of Supervisors, and forseeable Budget concerns, the Campaign will go into full gear and focus on a new management plan coupled with the preservation of civil service maintenance workers.

News Updates can be found here.

Friends of Labor Step up for Supervisor Carmen Chu!

“FRIENDS OF LABOR”
On October 8, 2008 at 5:00pm
Please join Gary Delagnes of the Police Officers’ Association, Oscar De La Torre of the Laborers, John Hanley IAFF Firefighters’ Local 798, Dennis Kelly of the *United Educators, Irwin Lum of the Transport Workers Union, Bob Morales of the Teamsters’ Joint Council, and Doug Yamamoto of the Painters & Allied Trades Union in their support of our Supervisor Carmen Chu.

Tonite SFPOA, SFFD Local 798, TWU 250a, UESF, IUPAT, and the Teamsters all joined Laborers' Local 261 in an effort to assist SF Supervisor Carmen Chu in her close race for Supervisor in District 4. Special thanks to SF District Attorney Kamala Harris and thank you to all 261 City Committee Members, Davida Kapler, Jim McCormick, Teresa Rajewski, James McCormick, Ken Casarez, Keith Roberts, David Mitchell, Anne Verga, Joanne Rowan, Pat D’Arcy, Robert Silas, GM Nail, Matt Saxon, Wayne Ogi, Brian Spigelman, William Lee, Mike Lee, Todd Power, Robert Cadwell, Lillian Holsworth, Tom Harrison, Laurie Gallagher, and all the others who made our TARGET effort successful! (partial list)

Victory in 2008

Thank you to all for your outstanding support!

Steering Committee CAME ON STRONG!!!

Hon. Tom Harrison, RPD Ret. Past 261 President
Tony Montoya, DPW Ret. Past 261 President
Adrian Field, RPD 261 PEC Chair
Theresa Foglio, DPW Co-Chair
Jose De La Mora, SFIA
Theresa O”Brien, RPD
Joan Vellutini, RPD
Terry McDevitt, RPD
Edison Fincher, DPW
Zachary Salem, RPD
Deshelia Mixon, DPW
Robert Watkins, RPD, Adrian Rojo, RPD, Alejandro Alvarez, MTA, Walter Ang, DPW, Jon Beazor, DPW, Nadine Boyd, PUC, Manuel Bustos, PUC, Dennis Callahan, MTA, Christopher Campbell, RPD, James Celedon, MTA, Joe Chmielewski, RPD, Alexander Chong, PORT, Catherine Kelley-Donnelly, RPD, George Dugan, PUC, Steven Elder, DPW, Daniel Feerick, DPW, Anthony Garcia, SFIA, Dave Gibbs, PORT, Byron Gil, RPD, Brian Hill, PUC, Sean Healy, DPW, Ed Kitchen, PUC, Debora Knotts, RPD, Fred Larsen, PUC, Franklin Lee, MTA, Steve Mahoney, DPW, Douglas Martino, RPD, Wendy McArthur, DPW, John Miller, MTA, Shannon Miller, RPD, Larry Montoya, PORT, David Nishimoto, SFIA, Michael O’Donnell, PUC, Kevin Patterson, PORT, Bruce Ricci, RPD, Aida Teklu, RPD, David Weidner, SFIA, Nigel Woods, MTA

City Committee Enlists Mayor Newsom!

Because the City Committee members have enjoyed such a close working relationship with City Hall, they were successful at making sure that their brothers and sisters in the construction industry knew how elected officials thought about Oscar De La Torre.

Mayor Newsom helped the Committee by telling the construction workers what many of us already knew!

"Dedicated and effective Union Leaders who put the members first are unique. I know that Laborers’ Local 261 is fortunate to have Oscar De La Torre, one of our City’s most influential Labor Leaders looking out for them."
- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom

The "Members First" Campaign

Here, we worked independetly of our affiliation to prevent a hostile takeover from above. We were aggressive, enthusiastic and energized in our efforts to save OUR UNION!