In the wake of longtime State Building and Construction Trades Council of California President Robbie Hunter’s retirement, Andrew Meredith assumed the top leadership role in January. Meredith brings a wealth of experience to his new position. His past roles range from IBEW electrician and union organizer to Iraq-deployed National Guardsman and politician. Most recently, he was the Northern California regional director for the State Building Trades.
With the pandemic sticking around for a whole lot longer than anyone had hoped, the past year has been another challenging one for tradespeople and all working people.
Last year was like a rollercoaster: If we started in a place of hope as two vaccines against COVID-19 became increasingly available to Americans, we were soon dealing with vaccination hesitancy and then outright vaccination rejection.
On October 27, San Francisco building trades leaders met with Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) representatives for an in-depth tour of the Salesforce Transit Center’s dynamic interior.
Each year, billions of dollars in wages are stolen from workers in California’s underground economy. Due to unique labor-standards compliance challenges and the often-transitory nature of work, the construction industry has the distinct dishonor of coming in second place for highest number of labor-standards violations.
Ever wonder how San Francisco got so union-strong in the first place? To learn the answer, we must look to the militant tenacity of our union forebears and their absolute commitment to the cause of organized labor to see what clinched the city as a workers’ town.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, who is up for election on June 7, has been a consistent friend to labor throughout his political career. As a San Francisco County supervisor, he advocated for the creation of new construction jobs and more housing.
Apprentices and veterans are highly valued in San Francisco’s building trades locals, and some members fall into both categories. November marked Veterans Day, which fell on the 11th, and National Apprenticeship Week, which ran the 15th through the 21st.
