SAN FRANCISCO, California - On the first day of classes August 19 members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790 surrounded Conlan Hall, an administrative building at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) where they work. The workers picketed and many locked themselves inside the building.
Following that action, about 350 workers and students who had gathered to support them proceeded to a nearby location for a rally, where the workers demanded the school give them a fair contract. The 650 clerical, technical, custodial workers, and others have worked without a contract for 14 months. Among their demands is a cost of living increase, an end to contracting out work and an end to mandatory furloughs.
In an attempt to pit the student body against the SEIU workers the CCSF board of trustees and dean Del M. Anderson pasted up "letters of apology" throughout the campus. The letters apologized to the students of CCSF for the actions of the SEIU, and claimed that those actions "deprive students of educational opportunities."
The 90,000 students at CCSF did not receive the apology letters well. Those letters that were not torn down were immediately covered with pro-union graffiti. One person scrawled "As a student I find this an insult, you should be apologizing to those who have gone without a contract for 14 months."
The evening of August 22, SEIU Local 790, still without a contract, declared a two-day strike. This was the first strike at CCSF since it opened in 1935. The next morning, the workers blocked all entrances to CCSF's nine campuses, declaring "School is closed!" As students and faculty members attempted to enter the parking lots, the SEIU workers requested that the commuters honor the strike.
The workers were soon joined on the picket line by faculty members and students, who wanted to join them in their fight. Forty-five percent of classes were canceled, due to the profusion of teachers and students who either joined or refused to cross the picket line. Many picket signs read "Workers and students unite!" Chants included "No contract . . . No school!" and "What do you want? . . . Contracts! When do we want them? Now!"
The administration was unable to make the school function without the classified workers.
Teachers who did not honor the strike reported overflowing trash cans, malfunctioning elevators, and stuffy rooms due to the fact that no one knew how to operate the ventilation system. On August 28 the administration declared that the strike was illegal and threatened the workers with an injunction that would force them back to work.
The unionists returned to work August 31, but at 3:00 p.m. when their demands were still not met at the negotiation table, they walked out and returned to the picket lines. This time the strikers declared that they would not return to work until their demands were met.