Southern California's labor leaders spent Labor Day publicly pleading the case of struggling workers while at the same time showcasing the union movement's growing influence in politics.
"All right!" said Maria Elena Durazo, chief of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, at a union-sponsored breakfast that included most of the Los Angeles City Council and the region's state legislators, as well as the entire statewide Democratic ticket in next month's election. "We're building power!"
New research by UCLA sociology professor and labor expert Ruth Milkman, author of a new book, "L.A. Story: Immigrant Workers and the Future of the U.S. Labor Movement," confirmed as much. Although union membership rates have declined nationwide, from 14.5% to 12.5% over the last decade, they have held steady in Los Angeles (now 15.5%) and California (16.5%).
Increases in the number of unionized government workers appear to be making up for labor's losses in the private sector. In 2005, more than half of public sector workers in California belonged to a union, according to Milkman's work.
That strong presence was reflected in remarks Monday by John Wilhelm, president of the Unite-HERE, the hotel workers' union. "I wanted to be in the city where the labor movement is showing the rest of America how we rebuild a movement of working people," he said.
At Monday's breakfast, headlined by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides, Durazo praised Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) as examples of longtime union officials who have used their skills in political careers. Villaraigosa, speaking in Spanish, called Los Angeles "a great city because there is a labor movement."
The breakfast was followed by a Labor Day Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Hundreds of workers gathered later in the day in Wilmington for a rally at Banning Park, where union members briefly clashed with about a dozen members of Save Our State, a group that opposes illegal immigration.
At these events, labor leaders outlined their goals for the next year, which include high-profile organizing campaigns of truck drivers at the port, security guards in office buildings and workers at airport-area hotels.
Hotel workers handed out fliers advertising a planned act of civil disobedience on the afternoon of Sept. 28. Union officials say they plan to shut down Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport. They expect to be arrested.
