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Victories
Through Hope
CLUE has had a number of vicories over the years.
November 2006 : LAX Hotel Workers Living Wage
On
Wednesday, November 22, the Los Angeles City Council extended the Los
Angeles city living wage and worker retention laws to the 3500 workers
employed by Century Boulevard Hotels. In addition, hotels that
impose service charges on guests will be required to give those charges
to servers. The powerful CLUE turnout on September 28 th , as
well as the ongoing work of LAX-area religious leaders, has shown the
depth of faith community support for the ongoing struggle to transform
poverty jobs in the airport area in to dignified jobs that can support
local families.
November 2006: BOMA Agrees to Let Security Officers Unionize
After years of pressure and resistance, the Building Owners and
Managers Association of Greater Los Angeles have signed a
tentative agreement to allow security officers to unionize in
affiliation with the union of their choice. CLUE clergy and
laity, particularly from the African-American and Jewish communities,
played key roles in this victory. In fact, a CLUE-led fast in
support of workers was in the works on the very afternoon the news of
the tentative agreement came down.
December 2005: Stand for Security
CLUE’s three years of advocacy for security guards seeking union
representation, living wages, health care benefits and better training
helped to achieve the coming together of all of the major guard
contractors and building owners into a productive dialogue with the
union of their choice. More
November 2005: Interseminary Economic Justice Awareness Week
Faculty, students and administrators at Claremont Theological Seminary,
Fuller Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College participated in
the first annual Interseminary Economic Justice Awareness Week which
featured educational seminars and events focusing on the crisis of
working poverty and the role of the religious community in attaining
economic justice.
September-November 2005: Founding of CLUE-CA
CLUE initiates the coming together of the four major interfaith worker
justice organizations in California to form CLUE-CA, an alliance which
will support interfaith worker justice groups throughout the state,
seed new groups and enable the building of a faith-based movement for
economic justice throughout California. More
November 2005: Special Election Initiatives Attacking Workers Fail
CLUE supported nurses, teachers and firefighters in educating clergy
and congregations about the potential impact of the special election
initiatives on their lives and on the people that they serve. More
October 2005: Nursing Homes Improve Patient Care and Caregivers’ Compensation
State legislation is implemented which reforms the MediCal
reimbursement system to copy a model used in 17 other States. Now,
nursing homes will have enough direct patient care funding to provide
quality care, to improve staff-patient ratios and to provide caregivers
with living wages and benefits. CLUE worked with clergy and
congregations in 5 Southern California counties as part of Californians
United for Quality Nursing Home Care to pass the legislation. More
September 2005: Meatpackers Attain Representation
The extremely low-wage meatpacking industry is almost completely
non-union. CLUE accompanied workers at Woodlands Farms in becoming one
of the first newly unionized plants in many years.
September 2005: New CLUE chapter organized in Orange County
Kick-off breakfast reorganizes a group of 40 clergy and union leaders into a CLUE initiative in Orange County
June 2005: Hotel Goliaths Fell
On June 11 th, 2005 , almost 4,000 Los Angeles hotel workers won their
amazing “David and Goliath” struggle to obtain a fair contract with
their primarily multinational employers. CLUE built an ongoing
partnership between worker leaders and 50 congregations which actively
supported their struggle for almost two years leading up to the
victory. More
March 2005: Nursing Home Watch
CLUE formed a new diverse religious leaders’ committee in Southeast Los
Angeles county to work with Nursing Home Watch, a coalition seeking to
hold nursing home owners accountable for violating patient care
standards. More
January 2005: Young Religious Leaders’ Project Organized
CLUE brought together future religious leaders from nine academic
institutions (seminary, rabbinical school, college and high school) to
begin a program of action and reflection learning about and supporting
economic justice. More
April 2004: Wal-Mart Loses
CLUE organized over 40 diverse clergy and congregations in Inglewood to
support the LAANE Coalition for a Better Inglewood’s battle to stop
WalMart from circumventing all city policies to establish a
supercenter. More
February 2004: Settling the Grocery Workers’ Strike/Lock-Out
CLUE’s statewide pilgrimage to CEO Steve Burd’s home was the
culmination of five months of supporting the 70,000 Southern California
grocery workers in their battle for a fair contract. CLUE’s unique
resources played a significant contribution to the settlement of the
strike. More
Other 2004:
CLUE supports LAANE in passing community benefits legislation at the
Los Angeles City Council, giving community members tools for deciding
whether a development would truly benefit their community
October 2003: Wyndham LAX Hotel Management Accepts Neutral Position
After three years of struggle, over 200 former Wyndham LAX workers who
had been fired to bust a union obtained the agreement of the new
management to provide preferential rehiring to former workers and to
take a neutral position with regard to union representation. CLUE’s
monthly public prayer vigils and a wide variety of support activities
were a critical component in the victory. More
August 2003: Nursing Homes and In-Home Health Care Saved from Cuts
In the midst of the State budget crisis, nursing homes and in-home
health care were saved from a proposed 15-30% cut in MediCal
reimbursements. CLUE organized clergy and congregations throughout Los
Angeles , Orange County and San Bernadino County to advocate for
waiving the cuts. More
April 2003: Westfield Malls Agrees to Hire Responsible Contractor Janitorial Services
CLUE worked with the San Diego Interfaith Worker Justice Committee and
the Progressive Jewish Alliance in engaging a broad spectrum of
religious leaders in calling business leaders of faith to be ethical
examples. This effort supported specific outreach to the owner of
Westfield Malls which helped to bring him to a moral decision to hire
responsible contractor janitorial services in San Diego and throughout
the country. More
March 2003: Golden State Reforms
CLUE’s advocacy is instrumental in the decision of Golden State
management (a large religiously affiliated chain of convalescent homes
and mental health facilities) to sign an agreement to improve the
quality of patient care, raise workers’ pay and support their rights.
Other 2003:
CLUE collaborates with LAANE to support residents of the Adams-LaBrea
area in determining whether a proposed development project was really
for the benefit of their community.
CLUE supports workers at the Viceroy and Four Seasons Hotels in Santa
Monica in being able to hold “card-check” union elections that protect
workers from intimidation.
December 2002: Loews Hotel Workers Win
Workers at Loews Santa Monica Luxury Beach Hotel sign an agreement with
the management for a neutral “card-check” election process, ending two
years of severe intimidation and retaliation against worker organizing.
CLUE’s Sanctuary program supported and advocated for fired workers and
CLUE leaders stood with workers in their struggle.
November 2002: Almost Won Pioneer Living Wage Law
After a two year campaign, SMART (Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible
Tourism) came within 700 votes of passing groundbreaking legislation
expanding the scope of living wage laws. CLUE organized extensive
religious participation in all aspects of the campaign.
September 2001: 9/11 Relief for Hotel Workers
In response to 9/11, thousands of hotel workers were laid off. CLUE
working in collaboration with SMART and UNITE HERE to establish
emergency relief centers for workers and to pass the “Displaced Workers
Retention Ordinance” in Santa Monica , requiring that hotels rehire
laid-off workers before hiring new workers.
April 2001: Incentives for Responsible Nursing Homes
CLUE worked with SEIU to pass legislation rewarding nursing homes for
providing higher levels of compensation and benefits to their workers.
CLUE’s contribution included Nursing Home weekends in 17 congregations
producing thousands of postcards and bus trips to Sacramento.
November 2000: Defeat of Phony Living Wage Law
CLUE organized clergy and congregational participation in the
successful campaign to defeat a phony living wage initiative sponsored
by the hotel industry to prevent the enactment of an actual Santa
Monica Living Wage law.
Spring 1998: Milk and Honey and Bitter Herbs
CLUE’s first procession bring milk and honey to a responsible employer
and bitter herbs to employers behaving unethically served to change the
actions of one of the employers, helping to win a contract for hotel
workers.
1996:
CLUE is established after leading clergy join the successful battle by
LAANE to pass a living wage initiative in Los Angeles. |
