Your Weekly Update on Local 1000 Progress from Board Chair Bill Hall
While still working on our statewide DLC Tour, I have our report of the week’s events at SEIU Local 1000. I have been out at worksite locations across the state, listening to your stories, problems in your worksites, and the expectations you have for our next contract agreement.
DLC Tour
- The Vice Presidents and I were visiting worksites again this
week and working with local DLC Leadership and Stewards to build
membership in Local 1000.
- Congratulations are due to Vice President for Organizing /
Representation Anica Walls, who, with the help of staff, was the
leader in nonmember signups for the week.
- More events are planned to continue over the next three weeks as we make our way to worksites in the Bay area and Northern California.
Communication
- As part of our plans for the future, we are evaluating new strategies for communications and politics. Our goal is to ensure that SEIU Local 1000 members are able to stay updated and get involved as bargaining gets nearer, and that we can build on the work we’re doing now to mobilize members during bargaining.
SEIU Local 1000 Delegation in Norway
- The May Revision of the 2022-23 state budget said it may be
possible to close three state prisons by 2024-25. The Newsom
Administration closed one state prison — Deuel Vocational
Institution in Tracy — last year, and has been trying to shut a
second, California Correctional Institution (CCI) in Susanville,
but its closure is tied up in court.
- These closures will affect thousands of SEIU Local 1000
members. We remain committed to opposing these closures to
protect these critical union jobs.
- Part of our strategy for protecting these jobs is
understanding the best practices in corrections and adapting to
prison reforms that are being advanced by the Governor and
Legislature. This knowledge helps us more effectively negotiate
with the administration and protect our members.
- Like many other unions across the nation, we have teamed
with One
Voice United. This organization is dedicated to giving
union members in correctional institutions a voice in national
conversations about corrections and the criminal justice system.
It is an organization founded by union members for union members
and chaired by Andy Potter, who is also the Chair of the SEIU
National Corrections Council.
- This month, a delegation of SEIU Local 1000 members were
invited to participate in a working trip to Norway to understand
how that nation’s world-renowned correctional system works. The
goal: to better equip our union employees to deal with reforms we
will likely see here in California, and to give us a seat at the
reform table so we can shape proposals that affect our workers.
Our delegation includes: VP for Organizing / Representation Anica
Walls; VP of Bargaining Irene Green; BU 20 Chair Melissa
Vartanian; BU 17 Vice Chair Mary Naidoo; and BU 15 Chair Eric
Murray. These members are joining other SEIU delegations that
represent corrections staff from Colorado, Connecticut, New
Hampshire, and other Corrections unions outside SEIU.
- The trip includes briefings on the history of the Norwegian
system, two prison tours, discussing our state’s reform proposals
with international experts, and a visit to a corrections
employees training academy. Our delegation will be hosted by the
union leaders of Norwegian correctional facilities. There will be
a film made about the trip, which we will make available to all
SEIU Local 1000 members so we all can also learn about this
cutting-edge correctional system.
-
There is no cost to SEIU Local 1000 for our
delegation’s participation. The trip is entirely paid
for by One Voice United, including hotels, transportation,
airfares, and all business expenses.
- We are sharing this information with you to be transparent about our operations and the activities of your union’s leadership, and are continually working to improve our efforts to bring these matters to your attention on a timely basis.
Finally, I have a correction from my letter last week. Classifications are an important part of our structure with bargaining. Our members who are LVN’s do some work that is similar and overlaps that of Psychiatric Techs, and the Pharmacy Tech’s do some work that is similar and overlaps as well. In fact, many of our classifications have similar or overlapping duties.
Thank you for your support as we build membership and engage with issues in worksites across the state. I look forward to seeing many of you while we continue to make our visits on the DLC Membership Tour!