I’ve got some big news. At the end

of February, SEIU 721 members at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center voted overwhelm-ingly to ratify a new three year contract. It contains improved healthcare benefits, provides for better staff development and safe-guards employee vacation time. These are all important wins for our mem-bers. But that’s not the whole story.

What’s unprecedented is that the contract lifts up our members by rais-ing all wages to at least $15 an hour. This wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of our mem-bers and the spirit of collaboration from the forward-thinking manage-ment team at St. John’s.

But it also wouldn’t have hap-pened if income inequality wasn’t in the spotlight across the region and the whole country. Right now, income inequality is the highest it has been in the United States since 1928. Those fortunate enough to be wealthy are doing better than ever, but most peo-ple are barely getting by. In the city of LA alone, the average low-wage worker makes $9.55 an hour—that’s below LA County’s poverty guidelines.

Some might think that doesn’t matter for us because we already have good, middle-class jobs in the public sector. But it matters … it mat-ters a lot. When other workers have poverty wages, it’s not only hard for them and their families; our oppo-nents use those low wages to argue for a race to the bottom. They com-pare low-wage workers to the public sector and say we are too well-paid

and get too many benefits. We’ve got to turn that narrative around.

Being in a union means strug-gling to strengthen the middle class and doing everything we can to bring more working families up into it.

That’s why the St. John’s contract is such a big deal. It helps bring our members up to a living wage. And it is right in line with the work we’ve been doing for months. Remember the national Fight for $15 campaign led by brave fast food workers, who have gone on strike several times? I’ve walked on their picket lines and so have many of you. Our St. John’s contract is right in line with their campaign.

In fact, I hope it becomes a tem-plate for this movement. Once people hear about the groundbreaking St. John’s contract, workers at other clinics will be inspired, along with low-wage workers in all sorts of other

Our St. John’s Workers Make History in the Fight for $15

SEIU 721 PRESIDENT’S REPORT MARCH 2014

jobs. Hotel workers in LA are already pushing for a $15 an hour wage at local hotels and politicians are starting to line up to say that we need a living wage at various local levels.

This work is something we can truly be proud of. And we’re getting ready to do even more of it as we launch campaigns in LA City, Riverside County and elsewhere. I’ll keep you informed about new developments in the fight to lift up our members and highlight the positive role we play in our communities.

Sincerely,

Bob Schoonover SEIU 721 President and LA City Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic

I’d like to hear what you think. Send me an email at presidentschoonover@seiu721.org

Continued on page 2

Representing Our MembershipNews From Around the Local

City of Ventura Bargaining Heats UpThe SEIU 721 City of Ventura Bargaining Committee met in caucus on Feb.12

and then met across the table with Ventura city management the next day. Management presented a comprehensive counter proposal to many of our proposals, including a new wage offer. While there has been movement, we will continue to fight for a reasonable wage increase, address out of control health-care premiums, along with other unit specific proposals.

City of Ventura members rally for a good contract.

SEIU 721 PRESIDENT’S REPORT • MARCH 2014 Page 2

Continued on page 3

LA County Settles Unfair Labor PracticesWe just resolved our dispute with LA County manage-

ment over unfair labor practices filed during the strike. The County affirmed that all union members have the right to participate in concerted activities, including pickets, unity breaks, strikes and other job actions. This means that the unauthorized Absences Without Pay charges from the strike won’t be counted as discipline and won’t go into any per-sonnel files. We defended our members’ protected union rights, and the County got the message.

Ensuring Success for Riverside County Regional Medical Center

Nearly 200 workers from the Riverside County Regional Medical Center packed three informational sessions on Feb. 27 to hear directly from Jeff Stone, Chairman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. SEIU 721 hosted the sessions, but all hospital employees, regardless of union af-filiation, were invited to attend this historic event. Supervi-sor Stone assured members that their jobs are safe.

Keeping this hospital open is not only very impor-tant to our members, but to this community too. We are committed to partnering with hospital management and County leadership to ensure RCRMC’s long-term success.

Rancho Los Amigos Celebrates Black HistoryOn Feb. 20, SEIU 721 members at Rancho Los Amigos

National Rehabilitation Center in Downey held a Black His-tory Month program and celebration.

With the theme “Black History Matters,” the event fea-tured soul food, music, dancing and poetry. A bold visual exhibit covering the contribution of African Americans to art, culture, science and politics throughout the years deco-rated the building where it was held. More than 100 people attended. Our very own SEIU 721 Vice President Linda Dent, spoke at the celebration.

Honoring Riverside Probation Dept. WorkersOn Feb. 27, hundreds of workers from the Riverside

County Probation Dept. attended the annual Employee Recognition and Awards Ceremony. It was a great event that honored our members’ hard work and dedication. As Probation Dept. Supervising Office Assistant Byron Hansen said, “It’s nice to know our union is not only here to protect us, but to celebrate with us too.”

LA City Members Know How to Fix LA

The contract for SEIU 721’s 10,000 LA City members ex-pires on June 30, 2014. We are going to do our campaign a bit differently this time. By uniting with community allies to demand that corporations pay their fair share, we’re making service restoration our top priority. Members are joining the Campaign Action Team and voting for their Bargaining Team right now. Negotiations will start sometime in April.

I’m very proud that we’re going to be working directly with community allies to redefine how the public views city workers and to help fix LA.

LA City Animal Care Technician Don Paul is ready to elect a Bargaining Team.

Supervisor Stone with Riverside County workers.

SEIU 721 Executive Board Member Wendy Thomas and Riverside County member Byron Hansen.

SEIU 721 PRESIDENT’S REPORT • MARCH 2014 Page 3

From the Chief of StaffWe are barely three months

into 2014 and it’s already shaping up to be a whirlwind year for SEIU 721.

Most of my energy this year so far has been supporting our LA

County members who ratified their contract by a 97% margin. More than 25,000 members voted—half of our membership in LA County. Those are historic numbers for our local. I’ve even received compliments from other labor leaders, who told me those numbers are historic for any local across the nation. But the vote was more than just numbers. It showed how passionately our members feel about this agreement that benefits their families and all the children of LA County.

Our staff worked their tails off to make this happen. And I couldn’t be prouder that we did it for the mem-bers and our communities.

We also recently had an all-staff meeting to share information about upcoming campaigns, discuss recent victories and analyze threats to our union movement. One thing I’m concerned about is the Supreme Court case, Harris v. Quinn. It’s a threat to our sisters and broth-ers who are unionized long-term care workers, but it’s a very real threat to the entire public sector.

The right wing in this country has spent 30 years demonizing us and now they’ve engaged the highest court in the land to help. One possible outcome of Har-ris v. Quinn is that the Court could do away with agency shop agreements. They could decide that non-members who enjoy the benefits of union protection don’t have to pay the union anything at all. It would be devastating to us and our union movement.

That’s why one of our major campaigns union-wide is to reaffirm the membership of all members and to sign up non-members by showing them how Local 721 fights for them each and every day.

And please stay tuned as we launch our big campaign in the City of Los Angeles. We hope you’ll get involved with it from the beginning.

In the meantime, do you have ideas for the Local? I’d love to hear from you. Just send me an email at chiefofstaff@seiu721.org

In solidarity,

About this report: The President’s Report covers the President’s activities in major areas spelled out in the SEIU 721 bylaws. It is presented each month to the Executive Board.

Photo contributors: Johnny Knox, Jesse Luna and Tracy SilveriaIT:dso opeiu 537, afl-cio 3/14