Santa Rosa Labor Day pancake breakfast serves up praises, politics

The griddle was fired up early Monday outside Carpenters Union Hall in Santa Rosa for the popular Labor Day pancake breakfast that honors workers and traditionally kicks off the political campaign season.

By 9 a.m., the line for flapjacks, crispy bacon and scrambled eggs wrapped all the way around the Local 751 building just as a throng of elected officials began to queue up for a revolving door of remarks celebrating 125 years of the American labor movement. Most opted to speak on an empty stomach due to the long line.

“I could almost smell those pancakes when I was driving up. They smell so good,” said former San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, now chairwoman of the State Board of Equalization.

Along with breakfast, the few hundred attendees got several helpings of praise for their efforts as union members continuing to push for better working conditions.

Democratic lawmakers reminded North Bay laborers that they’re key in ensuring the region remains well-represented in the state, as well as in Washington, D.C.

They also discussed a range of other topics, from taking back the Senate majority and the White House in 2020 to emphasizing participation in the upcoming U.S. Census.

“We are now at 57 lawsuits and counting against the Trump administration,” Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, said to heavy applause. “I predict many more to come, fighting back to protect our California values, whether it’s working-class folks like you, whether it’s our environment — you name it, we’re having to push back.”

Other speakers included U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, state Sens. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, Assembly members Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, and Mark Levine, D-San Rafael, as well as other local officials from Marin and Sonoma counties.

U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, was disappointed to miss the annual event as he recovers from knee-replacement surgery, Thompson said.

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane and former Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey, who is challenging the three-term incumbent for her seat, also attended the breakfast, which has been taking place for more than 30 years.

The rivals in what is predicted to be a hotly contested race, for which both expect to spend and campaign aggressively, including for labor union endorsement, kept their distance.

Perhaps the loudest cheers of the morning were for Gina Graziano, the Forestville Teachers Association president who discussed brokering a more robust labor contract from the school district after union members walked off the job and picketed last month. With the exception of a walkout by Petaluma teachers in 2017, it was Sonoma County’s first teacher strike since 1980.

“Let me tell you, we did this victory the old-school style, with solidarity. And we kicked their ass,” Graziano said. “What happened was the most amazing and inspiring thing of our careers. I watched young teachers grow into leaders overnight. It changed their lives.”

Conversation Monday also centered around North Bay cities passing local minimum wage increases to keep up with the cost of living. Members of the Sonoma City Council spoke of their pride in becoming the first city in the county to approve the hikes in June, with Petaluma following a month later. Each city will see pay bumps starting in January, with both set to have workers paid between $16 and $17 an hour by 2023 — when the state minimum wage will reach $15 an hour.

The North Bay Labor Council plans to organize a group to attend the Santa Rosa City Council meeting on Oct. 1 and push for a similar accelerated minimum wage ordinance, according to executive director Jack Buckhorn.

Novato is poised to become the first city in Marin County to increase the local minimum wage on an expedited timeline. It was a bruising fight between labor advocates who called for a “living wage” for workers and several local business owners, who opposed the proposed hike. One person who opposed the increase told Mayor Eric Lucan at a recent council meeting to go to hell.

“I want to tell you, I’ve never been to a council meeting like that before,” Maddy Hirshfield, political director for the North Bay Labor Council, told the audience. “I can’t thank these people enough. Man, they took so much abuse. And if you’re going to hell, I’m going with you.”