2018 - The Year in Review

Labor Siblings, we at the Napa Solano CLC would like to wish you all a Happy New Year! As we prepare to continue our work representing working families in Napa and Solano counties in 2019, it often helps to look back at our accomplishments of the previous year to validate the work we are doing and motivate us to continue what we all know is a difficult task.

With that in mind I have put down a review of the work done by your CLC’s hardworking board members, staff and volunteers in 2018! Without the work of our executive board, which is all volunteer, and the part time paid staff, the advocacy work we do would be left to others. We are proud of that work and will continue to do it proudly with your continued support.

We are most proud of the coalition work we do, bringing people and organizations together to educate them on our issues and listening to theirs. Whether in labor, business, political or community arenas, we know that the key to success is reaching out and building alliances.

The United Workers for Local Government formed in 2001, which brings together labor leaders and political directors every month to keep everyone informed of the current labor issues in Napa and Solano counties.

JumpStart Vallejo made up of business, labor and community leaders and formed in 2012 to find candidates that would promote jobs through economic development and work on repairing Vallejo’s image after the bankruptcy. We now meet every month to help take advantage of Vallejo’s resurgence by supporting the elected officials we helped get elected and ensure our issues get a fair shake.

Napa Working Families Coalition: This coalition was formed in late 2017 to address the social and economic injustice we see in Napa County and to also address the anti-union sentiment we have seen for decades. Made up of labor, employee groups, Affordable Housing Coalition, Progressive Women, Democrats and community groups we meet every month and have worked together on issues like the Queen of the Valley Hospital organizing dispute, the proposed Civic Center project and on employee concerns. This committee was a key component to changing the makeup of the council last November.

Napa/Solano CLC Delegate Body: But our greatest coalition, with the most impact on working families is our delegate body. Our labor council is made up of 52 affiliates who pay per-capita payments each month and along with our two major fundraising functions, Labor Day Breakfast and Spring Salute keep our organization running. But it is the active members of these affiliated unions that volunteer every month to make sure that issues facing their members are heard in an official setting but also use the collective voice of our CLC to show that “working people standing together” can move mountains! 

Here are just some of things we worked on in 2018:

January

Trades Programs: continued working with Labor Fed, Building Trades and Workforce Development Board to bring a trades academy to Vallejo schools using the state approved MC-3 curriculum. This is an ongoing project that we worked on all year.

Solano County Workforce Development Board: the CLC has four members sitting on the WDB, Danny Bernardini, Holly Brown, Mark DeWeerdt and Jon Riley. We are active in the administering of federal workforce dollars and have taken an active role in the organizations mission of providing job opportunities.

Women’s March in Napa: sponsored and marched in this awesome event. This year’s march is on January 19th.

Labor Federation Legislative Agenda Meeting: this annual meeting allows input for the years legislative agenda with leaders from all of California’s CLCs.

Queen of the Valley: continued to support NUHW’s attempt to organize.  

Charter Schools: continued to support CTA in keeping charter schools from taking resources away from the school districts. Several charter school applications in Solano County were proposed.

Vallejo School Bond: began to work on a stakeholders committee to get a Facilities Maintenance Bond passed in Vallejo.

Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs Committees: we now have a seat at the table in Vallejo and Danny Bernardini sits on Fairfield’s GAC giving Labor a voice at the table.

February

Passing of Frank Daniel: Frank was President of Firefighters #1186 and instrumental in securing binding arbitration after the first fire and police strike in our nation’s history. He was the CLC Lou Franchimon Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Vallejo Waterfront Weekend: the CLC supports this yearly event which raises money for non-profits while providing the community with a free two day festival.

Continued work with Blue Green Alliance: the ORCEM Green Cement Grinding Mill to get a ban on coal resolution in Vallejo.

WDB Conference Orange County: attended the Statewide conference on workforce opportunities.

March

Candidate Forum for County Primary Elections: this unprecedented public event included the Solano County Farm Bureau; the Northern Solano Association of Realtors; the Solano Association of Realtors; the Napa-Solano Central Labor Council; the Napa-Solano Building and Construction Trades Council; the Dixon, Vacaville, Fairfield-Suisun and Vallejo Chamber of Commerce and Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs.

Legislative Conference in Sacramento: labor siblings from all over the state attended the joint Labor Federation and Building Trades Legislative Conference.

Passing of Bruce Gourley: Bruce, Business manager for IBEW#180, was a founding member of UWLG and instrumental in the reformation of the CLC in 2005. He was the CLC Lou Franchimon Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017

Conducted Interviews for June Primary: our interviews, held under UWLG and including some community allies, interviewed candidates for the county seats in the June primary elections in Solano County.

April

Joint Pre-Primary Conference - San Jose: labor came together to vote on our endorsements for state and federal offices in the June primaries.

8th Annual Spring Salute: we had our most successful awards reception yet as our labor siblings were recognized for their outstanding work on behalf of working men and women in Napa and Solano counties with Brett Risley taking home the Lifetime Achievement Award.

May

Poblete Art Of Peace: we attended the annual fundraiser for the Foundation which we partner with to promote trades programs and provide job opportunities for the disadvantaged in our community.

USS Emory S Land Arrival: we helped spearhead a welcome   celebration for the first active US Navy ship to return to Mare Island since its closure for work at the dry dock. Hundreds of Vallejo residents showed up in the middle of the week to show support for the 350 service men and women that arrived for the 3 months stay.

North Mare Island Development - Nimitz Group: the Vallejo City Council decided to give the Nimitz group the exclusive right to negotiate.

June

Primary Elections: all of the CLC endorsed candidates either advanced to the general election or won outright, the big winner being Tom Ferrara who was returned to office.  

Meeting with developer on Napa Civic Center: along with other members of the Napa Working Families Coalition we met with the proposed developers of the Napa Civic Center Project to begin discussing PLA and card check neutrality agreements and concerns over traffic and affordable housing.

School Bond Stakeholders Meeting: we began putting together a dream coalition to get a bond passed. Team Yes was made up of a who’s who of Vallejo from all sides of our political divide to give Dr. Clark and the Board the support to finally get a bond passed.

Benicia Employee Coalition: members of the Police, Fire, Teachers, Building Trades and CLC began meeting with Council and School Board candidates to ensure we had solidarity.

July

Vallejo School Bond: after two board members voted against putting the school bond on the ballot at a 50% threshold the Team Yes committee decided to recommend putting it on at a higher 66% and Measure S for Safe Schools was born.

Rebuilding Together Worksite at Mare Island Museum: we teamed with the crew of the USS Emory S Land for a two-day work party to do some much needed work on the museum.

AFL-CIO Bi-Annual COPE Convention: leaders from across the state assembled in Costa Mesa to finalize endorsements for the November election.

Met with David Phinney Nimitz Group on North Mare Island: sat down with the owner of Savage and Cook Distillery and developer of North Mare Island to discuss a PLA on the project and how we can help support his efforts.

Meetings with Candidates for November: continued meeting with potential candidates in Napa and Solano counties.

August

Candidate Interviews. 72 interviews 35 endorsements: over 30 delegate representatives participated in several days of interviews for the November elections.

Measure S Committee Formed: the measure S committee to get a facility maintenance bond passed was formed. A weekly meeting schedule was developed and sub committees formed to do the work needed for success.

Rocketship Charter: worked with CTA to educate and lobby local district and county board of education trusteeson negative impacts charter schools have on local districts.

Civic Center Napa: attended public meetings on the proposed Civic Center Project with members of the Napa Working Family Coalition to work to have more transparency and public input on the project.

September

Labor Day Breakfast: a packed house showed up for the 9th annual Breakfast to hear our elected representatives reinforce their support of working men and women and to meet our class of 2018’s endorsed candidates.

Weekly Campaign Meetings: began weekly campaign meetings to keep our field program on track. Phone banking and walks began the support we give our endorsed candidates.

October

Campaign 2018: we were in full campaign mode for the entire month as organizer Maddy Dean and her team kept the troops busy with the calls for the candidates as well as the Measure S campaign.

Benicia and Vallejo Candidates Forum: we joined business and community organizations to hold two forums for school board and city council races in Benicia and Vallejo.

Vallejo Waterfront Weekend: the 5th annual Waterfront festival was a huge success. Our labor affiliates stepped up to help organize and participate in the two day event that raises money for worthy non-profits in Vallejo.

Watson Ranch Development: we worked with affiliates, developer and elected officials in American Canyon to ensure our members received their share of work on the project. Four unions began a signature campaign to place the project on the ballot. Before the signatures were turned in an agreement was struck.

Hannigan Memorial: former Assemblyman and longtime supporter of working Families Tom Hannigan passed away leaving a huge void in our community.

November

Election Victories: 31 of the 35 CLC endorsed candidates were victorious in the general election! Unprecedented changes in elected bodies across both counties illustrated that the hard work our members put into the elections paid off.

Labor Federation Organizers Meeting: attended a organizers meeting in Oakland to begin turning election victories into organizing successes.

Clean up after elections: we closed out our campaign headquarters and with Maddy being hired by the Teamsters full time we hired Marcus Helmer, a key member of our campaign team to take over as organizer for the Council. Congratulations to Maddy and welcome to the CLC family Marcus!

December

Meet with elected officials: we began the process of sitting down with the newly elected officials to outline our issues and hear their vision moving forward and committing our support to assist them in being a successful representative.

MC-3 Summit: attended a summit put on by the state building trades on the MC-3 curriculum which we hope to implement in Napa and Solano counties as we continue our efforts to bring trades programs back into the schools.

Work on redistricting in Vacaville and Vallejo: both cities will be moving to district elections and we will play an active role in both cities to ensure a fair and transparent process.

Plan for 2019: With no elections in 2019 we will be focusing on organizing the council and continuing to build coalitions to advance the needs of working men and women in Napa and Solano counties.

We thank all our dedicated board members, delegates, volunteers, community allies and elected officials that make our Napa Solano Labor Council a success.

orking People Standing Together