Unions unite in Wilmington for Labor Day
Leaders talk of progress and struggles at the afternoon rally. SEIU officials suspected of financial improprieties are absent.
Hundreds of Southern California workers rallied Monday at a Labor Day gathering, with union leaders hailing improved working conditions for some but highlighting steep challenges facing others.
Amid a festive atmosphere -- the hot dogs were free and the speeches fiery -- Los Angeles labor chief Maria Elena Durazo told those gathered at Banning Park in Wilmington that some workers had made progress in the last year. She cited 1,000 newly unionized hotel workers and what she called a "big breakthrough" for thousands of security guards who won a 40% hike in wages and benefits this year.
At the same time, many talked of less positive developments: rising prices, a declining economy, the state budget shortfall and the lack of universal healthcare.
Union membership nationally rose this year for the first time after more than a decade of decline. And Durazo said Monday that new government statistics show that poverty across Southern California declined between 2000 and 2007. She said the two trends were probably related.
"We're far from alleviating poverty, but we have big chunks of the labor market where we have been successful," said Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.
Leaders with the Service Employees International Union who are under investigation for alleged financial improprieties were conspicuously absent from the noon rally and a Labor Day breakfast.
According to a labor federation spokeswoman, members of the United Long-Term Care Workers attended the breakfast but its president, Tyrone Freeman, did not. Freeman is facing a federal criminal investigation and congressional probe of allegations first reported in The Times that he was involved in funneling union funds to companies run by his wife and mother-in-law.
The SEIU's top California officer, Annelle Grajeda, was also a no-show. Grajeda, The Times reported Sunday, took a leave of absence amid allegations that she was improperly involved in union payments to her former boyfriend.
Grajeda had been scheduled to speak at the rally but did attend or call to explain why, said Louie Diaz, a Teamsters vice president and chairman of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor Coalition, which organized the rally.
Mary Gutierrez, spokeswoman for the L.A. County labor federation, said union leaders were waiting for results of the investigations. She said they continued to support the workers in those unions.
