Organizing Campaigns

Los Angeles is a hot bed for some of the most exciting organizing campaigns in the country. At this time over 30,000 port drivers, security officers, hotel workers, construction workers and LAX passenger service workers are fighting to move out of poverty by joining a union. Learn more about these efforts below.

Port Drivers

Each day 16,000 underpaid truck drivers pull into dirty, polluted San Pedro Bay port terminals, idle in line breathing diesel fumes, only to get paid by each individual load they haul. They struggle to put food on the table because they are misclassified as “independent contractors.” 

Independent they are not. They’re at the mercy of a trucking company owner who refuses to take on any responsibility as an employer, such as health care, workers’ compensation or Social Security.

After gas, insurance and repairs, port drivers make so little they cannot afford to fix their old, diesel trucks that spew toxins into the air. The broken system has created an environmental and public health crisis, leaving children in the harbor communities vulnerable to illness and death from asthma and pollution-related diseases.

The drivers are supported by an unusual alliance of clergy, labor and community activists, public health and green organizations. The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is working to strengthen a plan so the Ports will succeed in their goal to create good jobs, safe communities and clean air. To learn more about these efforts please visit www.cleanandsafeports.org

Hotel Workers

Two years ago, the Coalition for A New Century launched a historical campaign to address the poverty wages and working conditions of 3,500 hotel workers at 13 hotels along the Century Corridor, near the Los Angeles InternationalAirport.

The coalition brings together labor organizations, community leaders, and clergy to support worker rights at these hotels, which have typically paid 20% less than other hotels in L.A. despite the healthy revenues they rip from their proximity to LAX.

The campaign on Century Boulevard is part of Hotel Workers Rising, a national effort by UNITE HERE to raise the working standards and wages of thousands of hotel workers across North America.

A large number of workers in the industry are housekeepers who perform dangerous, exhausting, and low-paying work. The majority of hotel housekeepers in Los Angeles are immigrant women of color who are frequently exploited by supervisors, forced to work long hours without breaks and to clean increasing numbers of rooms in very little time. This workload frequently leads to back, knee and shoulder injuries, and due to the lack of adequate health care, many of these workers are forced to choose between putting food on the table and seeking proper medical treatment.

Visit www.hotelworkersrising.org and www.newcenturycoalition.com.

Construction Workers

Every year, the L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) invests millions of dollars in commercial development across the city. That investment is intended to alleviate blight and to provide economic opportunity for Los Angeles’ poorest communities.

That’s why a broad coalition of clergy, labor and community organizations are working to pass the Construction Careers and Project Stabilization Policy (CCP). CCP would ensure that CRA investment really does create good jobs – and that the city’s most neglected neighborhoods will benefit from the public’s investment. The CCP would require projects receiving large CRA subsidies to be covered by a Local Hire Agreement and a Project Labor Agreement. These two agreements would work hand in hand to ensure that L.A.’s poor and minority residents have a real shot at economic advancement.

The Local Hire Agreement Would Help L.A. City Residents and Those Most at Risk. The CCP will cover an estimated 15,000 jobs in the next five years. The policy would ensure that 30% of those jobs go to L.A. City residents who live in areas of high unemployment. Of those, at least 10% of new apprentices must be considered “at risk”. Those who complete the program would be able to access careers with annual wages of as much as $100,000 per year. (UC Labor Center, 2007; CRA Priority Project List, 2007; SMWIA, 2007.)