261'S ORANGE Turnout at City Hall to Support Local 261 RPD Staff OVERWHELMS!

Brothers & Sisters:

Today, with just under sixteen hours notice you stepped up to show support for Jared, Brother Tom Harrison, the provisional Gardeners, and the entire Local 261 Public Employee membership at the Recreation and Parks Commission to support keeping our current staffing levels and, at 40 hours per week! 25 members came and sported the Orange Crush (pictured Ramon, Oscar, & Tom,) as usual and your presence was duly noted! BIG Time effort by all involved on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend WITH LESS THAN A DAY NOTICE...absolutely, unquestionably, outstanding Union work!!!

The Original Call Out from Last Night:
2009/2010 M.O.U.:
We are now moving quickly into contract negotiations (almost all other Unions extended their agreements,) your negotiations team members will be meeting with the City 4 times in February and 2 more early in March to start (check the blog.). The Committee knows the Contract is the most important thing we have by far!

Current Budget:
We have learned that RPD GM has proposed that no 261 members (including our 58 provisional Gardeners!) take a walk while SEIU unfortunately gets hit pretty hard. THE Reality is they know we have been hit hard already including at SFDPW (enough for all of us!) Now, in supplemental efforts to "even out the hit," discussions are revolving around reducing all schedules to less than 40/hr week at RPD! Put differently, a pay cut for us all. Now, in addition to our MOU talks, we clearly need to weigh in on this one, and in a united front...NO LAYOFFS FOR 261 Gardeners, Supervisors, or others!!!

SPECIAL RPD Commission Meeting City Hall 4th Floor 2:30pm: You must decide, if you support the RPD GM and want to support Brother Tom Harrison and the Department for not laying any Gardeners off. If you do, Oscar and I will be there in about 16 hours (2:30) to meet you all front & Center for Tom and all of our Union members' interests. Oh yeah, Mayor Newsom is to be there. Wear ORANGE!

If you can't help now...
Super Important
MARCH 3, 2009 at the SF Board of Supervisors during the meeting, Supervisor Alioto will be honoring along with the rest of the Board our City Stewards Adrian, Joan, Edison, Terry, Theresa, and Nikki! We'll all be there. Check out the blog for updates.
Vince Courtney
City Representative/Political Captain
Laborers' International Union, Local 261

Gardeners AWOL??? Bullshit!!!

Brothers & Sisters:

Take a quick look at the Examiner. Then see the Department response and the Union response. Please check in at the City Committee meeting with ideas.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Report-finds-parks-vacant-of-gardeners38983439.html

See the responses.

Join Local 261 Battles with Mayor's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Brothers & Sisters:

Thank you to all of you who signed up to attend the SOTF February 2009, hearing today! So far, we will have over 55 members in attendence. We will continue to distribute flyers as AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!

Please note: All Union Members are requested to come to the SF Sunshine Ordinance Task Force Hearing at City Hall on February 10, 2008. Recently, the OLSE Manager, Donna Levitt (appointed by the Mayor) made a determination that "picked" the electricians over the Laborers' Union. The determination relates to the installation of conduit which is covered by both the Laborers' and the Electricians' private sector agreement.

The State of California refrains from making such determinations and instead traditional mechanisms for jurisdictional disputes are employed.

The Union has asked that Levitt provide anything and everything that she relies on in making such determinations (which includes her specific authority to do so!) OLSE has failed to provide any document which is reponsive to the Union's request. Because the OLSE is an enforcement Office and not a Legislative Office the Union position is that she should refrain from making such determinations in order to be consitent with the State of California.

SEC. 2A.23. OFFICE OF LABOR STANDARDS ENFORCEMENT.
(a) There is hereby created within the Department of Administrative Services an Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. The Office of Labor Standards Enforcement shall enforce the City's Minimum Wage Ordinance (Chapter 12R of the Administrative Code), Minimum Compensation Ordinance (Chapter 12P of the Administrative Code), Health Care Accountability Ordinance (Chapter 12Q of the Administrative Code), Prevailing Wage Ordinances, and shall carry out any additional duties and functions as assigned by Charter or ordinance. The Office of Labor Standards Enforcement may enforce the provisions of the California Labor Code to the extent permitted by State law. The Office of Labor Standards Enforcement may impose penalties and take any and all appropriate action to enforce the requirements of such provisions, including but not limited to those set forth in San Francisco Administrative Code Chapter 12R, to the extent permitted by State law.
(b) The Office shall be administered by the Labor Standards Enforcement Officer, who shall be appointed by, and shall serve at the pleasure of, the Mayor. In appointing the Labor Standards Enforcement Officer, the Mayor shall consider, among other relevant factors, the individual's experience enforcing labor standards, including prevailing wage requirements, and the diversity of San Francisco in the construction industry. The Labor Standards Enforcement Officer shall coordinate his or her activities with federal and state labor standards agencies.
(c) All City departments shall cooperate with the Labor Standards Enforcement Officer and his or her designees. The Labor Standards Enforcement Officer shall have the authority to subpoena the production of books, papers, records or other items relevant to investigations under the jurisdiction of the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.
(Added by Ord. 5-06, File No. 051652, App. 1/20/2006; Ord. 205-06, File No. 060247, App. 7/25/2006)

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!

261 fights along with Mayor Newsom for Pothole Crews at SFDPW

With Mayor Newsom's Budget having been rejected and amended by the Board of Supervisors, City Committee Members and another several hundred stake-holders rallied at City Hall in support of Mayor Newsom's version. Cuts to Parks, housing, and services were all on the table. Members of Local 261 who work in the Asphalt Plant were on the chopping block in the Board's version.

http://www.examiner.com/printa-780045~Newsom_takes_the_budget_battle_to_public.html
http://picasaweb.google.com/Laborers261/MayorNewsomBudgetRally#

261, SF Labor Council, SF Building Trades, IAFF #798, and SF Supervisor Jake McGoldrick Rally to tackle Municipal Golf case.

For Immediate Release		Contact: Cassandra Costello
June 1, 2007		415-554-7412
		Cassandra.Costello@sfgov.org

Supervisor McGoldrick’s Legislation To Save Public Golf Courses in GAO Committee, Monday, June 4th

Press Conference-Monday, June 4^th, 10am, City Hall, Font Steps

San Francisco's Harding Golf Course has not produced the revenues projected in 2002 when the City incurred $18 Million in debt to upgrade the course to meet PGA standards in order to host PGA tournaments. "The fears expressed in 2002 by many San Francisco residents that the debt would cripple our golf courses have, unfortunately, come true. The rosy assumptions of increased revenue have not come to fruition. We need to act now to save our golf courses for future generations," said Supervisor Jake McGoldrick.

McGoldrick's proposal seeks to substantially reduce the general fund subsidy by having the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) raise fees at Harding Park by 15% and explore sponsorship opportunities to further raise funds. Additionally, revenues of at least $500K are anticipated by marketing the new $6 Million clubhouse at Harding Park. Thus far, the new clubhouse, managed by Kemper, has performed poorly. However, a new manager has been hired to increase use of the Harding facility. Three years remain on the private management contact with Kemper.

McGoldrick's legislation directs RPD to create a three-year plan to increase revenues and substantially reduce the current general fund subsidy to the golf fund. "I am happy to dedicate money to golf as this sport offers a healthy activity for residents of all income levels. However, we must also be wise in running the business of San Francisco government in a fiscally prudent manner," said McGoldrick.

Press Conference

WHEN: Monday, June 4^th, 10am
WHERE: City Hall, Front Steps (Polk Street Side)
WHAT: Harding Park Golf Fee Legislation