By Lee Sandahl
Northern California District Council Legislative Representative
and Barry Broad
The time limit for the Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign or veto legislation has passed. While it was a mixed bag for the labor movement’s larger issues, for the ILWU it was an extremely successful year.
Port of Sacramento Expansion
In the spring of 2005, after years of declining business and mounting debt, the Port of Sacramento loomed on the brink of bankruptcy. Discussion between members of longshore Local 18 and warehouse Local 17 further confirmed that immediate action was needed. Informal meetings between the locals continued through the summer and by October of 2005, an advisory group was established by the Coast Committee. “The Sacramento Port Working Group” consisting of Derek Peterson from Local 18, Everett Burdan, John Tuck and Dave Balsley from Local 17, Lee Sandahl from marine clerks Local 34, labor lobbyist Barry Broad from the Law Offices of Barry Broad, Phillip Monrad of Leonard Carder, and Michael Picker from the public relations firm of Lincoln-Crow, went to work.
As 2006 began, the ILWU faced an uphill battle to save the Port of Sacramento from closure. AB 2939, a bill by Assembly Member Lois Wolk, (D-Davis) was introduced in the Legislature. The bill would have allowed the City of West Sacramento to take over the port and sell valuable port property to developers. The situation looked grim.
The Port Working Group, under the direction of ILWU Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams, put together a program combining legislative advocacy and public relations to resist this effort. The group built alliances with other unions, business interests and the local community. By the time the smoke lifted at the end of the 2006 legislative session, it had been successful in amending AB 2939 so that port property necessary to support an economically viable port could not be sold or leased for non-maritime use.
In June 2006 a partnership was established between the Port of Sacramento and the Port of Oakland. The Port of Oakland’s management skill and marketing expertise could significantly return the Port of Sacramento back to its once formidable role as a major regional player in the northern California goods movement industry.
The next major piece of the puzzle was to ensure dredging the deep water channel that runs between San Francisco Bay and Sacramento. Again the Port Working Group was successful in getting language inserted into the port security infrastructure bond (Proposition 1B on the November ballot), which specifically authorized funding the port’s share of the dredging. Also in the bond is millions of dollars earmarked for port expansion, port security and associated highway expansion projects to accommodate the expanded growth in trade.
ILWU Sponsored Elevator Bill signed into law
The ILWU sponsored SB 727 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) to ensure that our members who service and maintain elevators on the portainer gantry cranes could legally continue to do so. In 2003, SB 1886, sponsored the by the Elevator Constructor’s Union, required that all employees who construct, install and maintain elevator equipment would have to be specially certified. For decades, hundreds of our members have performed maintenance on the elevators of the portainer gantry cranes. If we could not get the law changed, our members would have been required to obtain special licensing and pass examinations for construction and installation of all types of elevators. At first, the Elevator Constructor’s Union strongly opposed our bill, but we were able to negotiate a compromise that removed their opposition by clarifying the types of elevators our members would service.
As a result, ILWU members will be able to continue performing the light maintenance and repair work on the portainer gantry cranes without having to take special licensing exams.
Labor’s General Agenda
This year a lot more bills affecting all of labor were vetoed than signed. Still, there were some notable victories. Schwarzenegger signed into law a $1.25 per hour increase in the minimum wage, which will go into effect over a two-year period. In addition, he approved a modest change in workers’ compensation law that will allow injured workers to continue pre-designating their choice of treating physician.
Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 840 by Senator Shelia Kuehl, (D-Los Angeles) which would have created a single-payer health care system. He also vetoed SB 1414 by Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), which would have placed a health care mandate on large employers, as well as other bills that would have allowed workers who have been locked out of their jobs to collect unemployment insurance and punish employers who violate criminal laws during lockouts.
