Local 3 Meetings

Local 3 meetings are held quarterly on the fourth Tuesday. Upcoming meetings will be held on the following dates:

  • January 24, 2012
  • April 24, 2012
  • July 24, 2012
  • October 23, 2012

Local 3 Newsletters

Labor Union History

2002Workers at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco negotiate 1st contract after a 22-year fight.
By December 2002, more than 30 cities or countries in California had passed living wage ordinances that mandated minimum wages (ranging from $7.25 - $13.00 per hour) for their employees, and for workers employed by businesses with contracts with counties and municipalities.
CUE clerical workers at 5 UC campuses struck to protest unfair labor practices and the slow pace of negotiations on a pay increase. They were joined by lecturers belonging to AFT who were protesting proposals to end long-term contracts for lecturers.
Two bills passed and signed requiring mediation between farmworkers and growers when the 2 parties cannot reach a contract agreement and the ALRB has found that either side has committed an unfair labor practice.
Pacific Maritime Association locked out 10,500 West Coast dockworkers, alleging a work slowdown in dispute over new technologies. A court injunction re-opened the ports. In late November an agreement was reached that provided for acceptance of new technologies and loss of some union jobs in return for more secure pensions and health benefits, new safety provisions and increased wages.
Paid Family Leave passed the legislature providing for up to 6 weeks of wage replacement benefits (up to 55% replacement rate) for workers caring for a newborn or seriously ill child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner. The law was the first of its kind in the nation.
2000Academic student employees of the University of California voted to be represented by the United Auto Workers in collective bargaining with the University.
1999Governor Gray Davis and the state Legislature bring back daily overtime provisions repealed by the Industrial Welfare Commission appointed by former Governor Pete Wilson; southern California home care workers vote to join SEIU, which negotiates a contract covering 74,000 workers, the largest unit brought into the labor movement in fifty years; the AFL-CIO votes to support amnesty and to end employer sanctions for employing immigrants illegally in the country.
Protestors in San Francisco join those in Seattle and other cities in demonstration against the World Trade Organization's refusal to enforce labor and environmental standards in global trade agreements.
Nearly 75,000 home care workers in Los Angeles vote to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest organizing drive in California since the 1930's.
1998Organized labor helps to defeat Proposition 226, which aimed to restrict California unions' ability to make political contributions. This was the first time that the strategy of "Labor to Neighbor" was used statewide.
1996First AFL-CIO sponsored Union Summer, in which hundreds of young activists are trained and then placed with union organizing drives.
California labor movement was instrumental in putting Proposition 210, on the ballot and getting it passed, Prop 210 raised the state minimum wage to $5 per hour effective March 1, 1997, and to $5.75 per hour on March 1, 1998. After the initiative's second increase in 1998, the state minimum would be 60 cents higher than the federal minimum wage.
1994The United States, Canada, and Mexico implement the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) creating the largest free trade area in the world. California loses thousands of jobs to Mexico but others are created to support the state's surging exports.
1990Police officers interrupt a demonstration by Los Angeles janitors, injuring or arresting several dozen. Public outrage over the incident helps the janitors' union win recognition from cleaning contractor ISS. The day of the confrontation, June 15, is annually celebrated as Justice for Janitors Day.
1985The state Supreme Court settles a dispute between sanitation workers and the government of Los Angeles County in favor of the striking workers, ending the illegality of public employee strikes in California.
1981Female municipal workers in San Jose conduct the country's first "comparable worth" strike, demanding pay raises to match the salaries for similarly trained men's occupations.
19801500 office workers at Blue shield Insurance company in San Francisco stage a 4-month strike. Blue shield successfully waits out the strike and hires back only about 150.
1979On September 11, 1979, San Francisco teachers struck, shutting down 120 public schools, in response to the layoff of 12-- teachers following passage of Prop 13. The strike ended after a month with a significant wage increase, but without rehiring of the laid-off teachers.
1977UFW & the Teamsters Union sign an agreement putting an end to years of bitter jurisdictional disputes.
1975Rodda Act passes in California, legalizing collective bargaining for public education employees, after a decade of strikes and organizing by teachers; the Trade Act of 1974 passes. Designed to help workers who lose their jobs because of imports.
1971ILWU shut down all Pacific Coast ports during a six-month strike for higher wages and increased job security.
1970UFW's five-year grape boycott comes to an end on July 29 when most of California's large growers agree to union contracts.
1968California Legislature passes Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, legalizing collective bargaining for public sector workers (except public education), in response to series of actions organized by mostly social workers organized by SEIU; the national Age Discrimination Act becomes effective, making it illegal for employers, union, and employment agencies to discriminate in hiring and discharge against persons 40 to 65 years old.
1962The manpower Development and Training Act passes, requiring the federal government to deal with unemployment resulting from automation and technological changes. Executive order grants federal employees the right to bargain collectively.
1955AFL and CIO unions in California join with community groups to create a coalition for a Fair Employment Practices Act, chaired by Oakland labor and civil rights leader C. L. Dellums.
1947Longest farm worker strike to that time: National Farm Labor Union Local 219, led by Ernesto Galarza, vs. DiGiorgio Fruit Corporation; doesn't end until 1950; the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act passes over President Harry Truman's veto. It rolls back protections contained in the NLRA for worker militancy.
1936The Anti-Strikebreaker Act makes it unlawful to bring in strikebreakers from outside the state; the Public contracts Act establishes a minimum wage, the eight hours a day and a 40 hours week on government contracts. Includes child and convict labor provisions, health and safety requirements; the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor votes to expel all labor members who claim with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, which is being led by the UMW president John L. Lewis.
1934West Coast waterfront strike lasted eighty-three days, triggered by sailors and a four-day general strike in San Francisco, and led to the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States.
1921General Hollywood unions sign first Studio Basic Agreement; the Railway Labor Act requires employers to bargain collectively and bars discrimination against employees for joining a union. It sets provisions for settling railway labor disputes through mediation, voluntary arbitration and fact-finding boards.
1914The Clayton Act passes, limiting injunctions in labor disputes. Picketing and other union activities declared.
1910Los Angeles Times building bombed by Ironworkers national secretary-treasurer John McNamara and his brother James; 20 workers die.
Formation of the California State Federation of Labor AFL, the political arm of the statewide labor movement.
1901First recorded California farm worker strike, in Oxnard; Japanese and Mexican beet workers form the JMLA, supported by Los Angeles Labor Council, but request for charter rejected by Samuel Gompers and the nation AFL; the Department of Commerce and Labor is created by Congress, and the Secretary of Labor becomes a member of the Cabinet.
1887First federal labor relations law passes. It applies to railroads and provides for arbitrations.
1886In connection with the nation-wide strike for the 8-hour workday, which began May 1, 1886, a mass meeting was held on the night of May 4th in the Chicago Haymarket. Its purpose was to protest a police attack on Union picketers at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in which workers were injured and killed. When police ordered the protest meeting to disperse demonstrators (peaceful though it was), a bomb was thrown toward the police by an unknown person. The police responded by firing at the crowd. This became known as the "Haymarket Riot," now more properly named the Haymarket Tragedy. The 8-Hour Day Movement was destroyed in the nation-wide hysteria, which followed.
1863San Francisco Trade Union, with 15 affiliated unions; formed to support the tailors' strike, agitate for the eight-hour day, and produce a labor newspaper.
1849San Francisco and Sacramento Carpenters strike for $16 a day; they settle for $14.