When urban policy becomes labor policy: State structures, local initiatives, and union representation at the turn of the century

Theory and Society

Volumn 31, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 115-146

  Wells, Miriam J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0036116066     PISSN: 03042421     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1014408615367     Document Type: Review

References (91)

1. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, "Global Village or Global Pillage: A One-World Strategy for Labor," International Labour Rights (Washington, D.C., 1994); Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith, "The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward the Local," Institute for the Study of Globalization (San Francisco, 1997); Charles Tilly, "Globalization Threatens Labor's Rights," International Labor and Working Class History, 47 (spring 1995): 1-23.
2. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, "Global Village or Global Pillage: A One-World Strategy for Labor," International Labour Rights (Washington, D.C., 1994); Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith, "The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward the Local," Institute for the Study of Globalization (San Francisco, 1997); Charles Tilly, "Globalization Threatens Labor's Rights," International Labor and Working Class History, 47 (spring 1995): 1-23.
3. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, "Global Village or Global Pillage: A One-World Strategy for Labor," International Labour Rights (Washington, D.C., 1994); Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith, "The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward the Local," Institute for the Study of Globalization (San Francisco, 1997); Charles Tilly, "Globalization Threatens Labor's Rights," International Labor and Working Class History, 47 (spring 1995): 1-23.
4. Tilly, "Globalization Threatens Labor's Rights," 21.
5. Craig Jenkins, The Politics of Insurgency: The Farmworker Movement in the 1960s (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985); Charles Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution (Reading, Penn.: Addison-Wesley, 1978).
6. Craig Jenkins, The Politics of Insurgency: The Farmworker Movement in the 1960s (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985); Charles Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution (Reading, Penn.: Addison-Wesley, 1978).
7. William H. Sewell Jr., "A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation," American Journal of Sociology 98: 1 (1992): 1-29.
8. Germany and Switzerland, however, are quite decentralized and Canada probably even more so than the United States.
9. Bodenheimer et al., An Introduction to the Anglo-American Legal System (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1980); Glendon et al., Comparative Legal Traditions (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1994); John H. Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985).
10. Bodenheimer et al., An Introduction to the Anglo-American Legal System (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1980); Glendon et al., Comparative Legal Traditions (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1994); John H. Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985).
11. Bodenheimer et al., An Introduction to the Anglo-American Legal System (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1980); Glendon et al., Comparative Legal Traditions (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1994); John H. Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985).
12. Bodenheimer et al., An Introduction to the Anglo-American Legal System, 12.
13. S. William E. Forbath, Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991); Christopher L. Tomlins, The State and the Unions: Labor Relations, Law, and the Organized Labor Movement in America, 1880-1960 (N.Y: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
14. S. William E. Forbath, Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991); Christopher L. Tomlins, The State and the Unions: Labor Relations, Law, and the Organized Labor Movement in America, 1880-1960 (N.Y: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
15. This article is based on a larger research project funded by the Cultural Antropology Program of the National Science Foundation and the University of California, Davis, that explores the relationship between unionization and globalization in the San Francisco hotel industry. A total of 85 interviews of from one to four hours long were conducted by the author between October 1996 and June 2001 with government officials and staff, attorneys, hotel workers and managers, union staff, employers' association spokespersons, representatives of community and immigrant organizations, and the staff of several firms that do research on the hotel industry. Attendance at the meetings of governmental bodies that considered the ordinance provided useful data on the positions and self-presentations of vested actors, as has perusal of local newspapers for the duration of the project.
16. Robert Gorman, Basic Text on Labor Law. Unionization, and Collective Bargaining (St. Paul: West Publishing, 1976), 1.
17. Belying claims that nation-states are uniformly unwilling or unable to protect labor's rights, U.S. law provides less protection from attacks than do the laws of most other advanced industrial countries because of administrative features that increase its vulnerability to unsympathetic political leadership and diminish the speed and fairness with which it expedites unfair labor practice litigation (Edwards et al., Unions in Crisis and Beyond: Perspectives from Six Countries (Dover, Mass: Auburn House, 1986); Jane Jenson and Rianne Mahon, editors, The Challenge of Restructuring: North American Labor Movements Respond (Philadelpha: Temple University Press, 1993). Lengthy election procedures and the law's permission to replace striking employees permanently are also impediments.
18. Belying claims that nation-states are uniformly unwilling or unable to protect labor's rights, U.S. law provides less protection from attacks than do the laws of most other advanced industrial countries because of administrative features that increase its vulnerability to unsympathetic political leadership and diminish the speed and fairness with which it expedites unfair labor practice litigation (Edwards et al., Unions in Crisis and Beyond: Perspectives from Six Countries (Dover, Mass: Auburn House, 1986); Jane Jenson and Rianne Mahon, editors, The Challenge of Restructuring: North American Labor Movements Respond (Philadelpha: Temple University Press, 1993). Lengthy election procedures and the law's permission to replace striking employees permanently are also impediments.
19. A "captive audience" speech refers to an anti-union speech given at a meeting employees are required to attend. Kate Bronfenbrenner and Tom Juravich, The Impact of Employer Opposition on Union Certification Win Rates: A Private/Public Comparison, Economic Policy Institute Working Paper No. 113, Economic Policy Institute (Washington, D.C.: 1995).
20. Paul Weiler, "Promises to Keep: Securing Workers' Right to Self-Organization under the NLRA," Harvard Law Review 96 (1983):1769-1786.
21. Paul C. Weiler, "Milestone or Tombstone: The Wagner Act at Fifty," Harvard Journal on Legislation 23/1 (winter, 1986), 1-31; For a detailed critique of the NLRA's performance, see Has Labor Law Failed?: Oversight Hearings before the Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations of the Committee on Education and Labor, and the Subcommittee on Manpower and Housing, the Committee on Government Operations 98th congress, 2nd Session (1984).
22. Paul C. Weiler, "Milestone or Tombstone: The Wagner Act at Fifty," Harvard Journal on Legislation 23/1 (winter, 1986), 1-31; For a detailed critique of the NLRA's performance, see Has Labor Law Failed?: Oversight Hearings before the Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations of the Committee on Education and Labor, and the Subcommittee on Manpower and Housing, the Committee on Government Operations 98th congress, 2nd Session (1984).
23. Steven Greenhouse, "Bruised Unions Trying an End Run," New York Times (March 10, 1997), Section A.
24. Ibid., A10.
25. Matthew Josephson, Union House, Union Bar: The History of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, AFL-CIO (New York Random House, 1956), 46-49.
26. Dorothy Sue Cobble and Michael Merrill, "Collective Bargaining in the Hospitality Industry in the 1980s," in Paula Voos, editor, Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector (Madison, Wisconsin: I.R.R.A., 1994), 447-489; Josephson, Union House, Union Bar: The History of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, AFL-CIO, 46-49; Miriam J. Wells, "Unionization and Immigrant Incorporation in San Francisco Hostels," Social Problems 47/2 (2000): 241-265.
27. Dorothy Sue Cobble and Michael Merrill, "Collective Bargaining in the Hospitality Industry in the 1980s," in Paula Voos, editor, Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector (Madison, Wisconsin: I.R.R.A., 1994), 447-489; Josephson, Union House, Union Bar: The History of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, AFL-CIO, 46-49; Miriam J. Wells, "Unionization and Immigrant Incorporation in San Francisco Hostels," Social Problems 47/2 (2000): 241-265.
28. Dorothy Sue Cobble and Michael Merrill, "Collective Bargaining in the Hospitality Industry in the 1980s," in Paula Voos, editor, Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector (Madison, Wisconsin: I.R.R.A., 1994), 447-489; Josephson, Union House, Union Bar: The History of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, AFL-CIO, 46-49; Miriam J. Wells, "Unionization and Immigrant Incorporation in San Francisco Hostels," Social Problems 47/2 (2000): 241-265.
29. James Russell, "Letter from San Francisco Rank-and-File Union Victory," Radical America 12/5 (1978): 70-74.
30. Wells, "Unionization and Immigrant Incorporation in San Francisco Hotels," 252-256.
31. Dean Calbreath, "Union-Hounded Parc Fifty-Five Cuts Back Staff," San Francisco Business Times 6 (46) (17 July 1992), Sec. 1, p. 1.
32. Eric Brazil, "Hotel, Union End Long Battle," San Francisco Examiner (30 March 1993), A1.
33. San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon (Garmon), 359 U.S. 236,79 S. Ct. 773, L.Ed.2d 775 (1959).
34. Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (Machinists), 427 U.S. 132, 96 S. Ct. 2548, 49 L.Ed.2d 396 (1976).
35. Both Machinists and Garmon allow localities to regulate the conduct of industrial relations in two particular circumstances: when the conduct is of peripheral concern to the NLRA and when the conduct implicates interests deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility.
36. Associated Builders v. Seward (Seward), 140 LRRM 2541 (9th Cir.) 287 (1992).
37. The NLRA permits pre-hire agreements in the construction industry, but no other, to accommodate its special conditions such as the short-term nature of employment, the contractor's need for predictable costs and a steady supply of skilled labor, and the longstanding custom of pre-hire in the industry.
38. Building and Trades Council v. Associated Builders (Boston Harbor), 113 S. Ct. 1192 (1993).
39. Ibid., 1196.
40. Harvey M. Jacobs, editor, Who Owns America? Social Conflict over Property Rights (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998).
41. Babler Brothers, Inc. v. Roberts, 995 F.2d 911 (9th Cir., 1993); Colfax Corporation v. Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, 79 F.3d 631 (7th Cir., 1996); Alameda Newspapers, Inc. v. City of Oakland, 1996. 95 F.3d 1406 (9th Cir).
42. Babler Brothers, Inc. v. Roberts, 995 F.2d 911 (9th Cir., 1993); Colfax Corporation v. Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, 79 F.3d 631 (7th Cir., 1996); Alameda Newspapers, Inc. v. City of Oakland, 1996. 95 F.3d 1406 (9th Cir).
43. Babler Brothers, Inc. v. Roberts, 995 F.2d 911 (9th Cir., 1993); Colfax Corporation v. Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, 79 F.3d 631 (7th Cir., 1996); Alameda Newspapers, Inc. v. City of Oakland, 1996. 95 F.3d 1406 (9th Cir).
44. Cannon v. Edgar, 1994. 33 F.Ed 380 (7th Cir); Chamber of Commerce of U.S. v. Bragdon, 1995. 64 F.3d 497 (9th Cir.); Chamber of Commerce of U S. v. Reich, 1996. F.3d 1322 (D.C. Cir).
45. Cannon v. Edgar, 1994. 33 F.Ed 380 (7th Cir); Chamber of Commerce of U.S. v. Bragdon, 1995. 64 F.3d 497 (9th Cir.); Chamber of Commerce of U S. v. Reich, 1996. F.3d 1322 (D.C. Cir).
46. Cannon v. Edgar, 1994. 33 F.Ed 380 (7th Cir); Chamber of Commerce of U.S. v. Bragdon, 1995. 64 F.3d 497 (9th Cir.); Chamber of Commerce of U S. v. Reich, 1996. F.3d 1322 (D.C. Cir).
47. Manuel Castells, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 102-103.
48. Ibid., 102ff.
49. Economics Research Associates, The Economic and Employment Impacts of Visitors to San Francisco (San Francisco, August 1987); Michael Potepan and Elisa Barbour, San Francisco's Employment Roller Coaster: A Report on the City's Employment Economy from 1980 to 2000, Report submitted to the Mayor's Office of Community Development (San Francisco, 1996); Richard Walker, "Another Round of Globalization in San Francisco," Urban Geography 17 (1996): 60-94.
50. Economics Research Associates, The Economic and Employment Impacts of Visitors to San Francisco (San Francisco, August 1987); Michael Potepan and Elisa Barbour, San Francisco's Employment Roller Coaster: A Report on the City's Employment Economy from 1980 to 2000, Report submitted to the Mayor's Office of Community Development (San Francisco, 1996); Richard Walker, "Another Round of Globalization in San Francisco," Urban Geography 17 (1996): 60-94.
51. Economics Research Associates, The Economic and Employment Impacts of Visitors to San Francisco (San Francisco, August 1987); Michael Potepan and Elisa Barbour, San Francisco's Employment Roller Coaster: A Report on the City's Employment Economy from 1980 to 2000, Report submitted to the Mayor's Office of Community Development (San Francisco, 1996); Richard Walker, "Another Round of Globalization in San Francisco," Urban Geography 17 (1996): 60-94.
52. Richard De Leon, Left Coast City: Progressive Politics in San Francisco: 1975 1991 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 50ff; Chester Hartman, The Transformation of San Francisco (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld, 1984), 164ff.
53. Richard De Leon, Left Coast City: Progressive Politics in San Francisco: 1975 1991 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 50ff; Chester Hartman, The Transformation of San Francisco (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld, 1984), 164ff.
54. Castells, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements, 104.
55. For example, hotel developers in the Tenderloin agreed to create a housing subsidy and a social services fund for the neighborhood, and to give priority in half of the jobs at the new hotels to residents.
56. Hartman, The Transformation of San Francisco, 289.
57. Castells, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements, 105.
58. Katz was appointed to the Board of Supervisors by Mayor Willie Brown in June 1996 and elected in November 1996. Her involvements exemplify the diverse bases of support that successful city leaders must develop. She is also Vice Chair of the Health, Family and Environment Committee, former President and a continuing member of the San Francisco Community College Board; Vice Chair and member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee; President of the local chapter of the National Women's Political Caucus and a member of the Planned Parenthood and Jewish Community Relations boards.
59. Rachel Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan, " San Francisco Examiner (28 October 1997), A4; John Diaz, "Tilting the Field," San Francisco Chronicle (22 December 1997), A22.
60. Rachel Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan, " San Francisco Examiner (28 October 1997), A4; John Diaz, "Tilting the Field," San Francisco Chronicle (22 December 1997), A22.
61. These included Leslie Katz, Amos Brown, Mabel Teng, Sue Biermans, Susan Leal, Michael Yaki, Leland Yee, Tom Ammiano, and Jose Medina.
62. Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan," A4.
63. Paul Johnston, Success While Others Fail: Social Movement Unionism and the Public Workplace (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, 1994), 30-32.
64. Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan," A4; Diaz, "Tilting the Field," A22.
65. Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan," A4; Diaz, "Tilting the Field," A22.
66. Leslie Katz, Packet Submitted to the Finance Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 17 December 1997, in Support of the San Francisco Employee Signature Authorization Ordinance (San Francisco, 1997).
67. Experts cited included attorneys for the city, the Chamber of Commerce, and HERE Local 2, as well as labor scholars Kate Bronfenbrenner, Adrienne Eaton, Jill Kriesky, and Michael Reich. Interested parties cited included the Chamber of Commerce, the San Francisco Committee on Jobs, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, and the San Francisco Building Owners Management Association, as well as the San Francisco Labor Council and HERE Local 2.
68. Katz, Packet Submitted to the Finance Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 5.
69. Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 2, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff, vs. Marriott Corporation, Defendant, NO C-89-2707 MHP, Memorandum and Order, August 24, 1993.
70. Katz, Packet Submitted to the Finance Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 7.
71. Ibid., 8.
72. The size of firm was a matter of political negotiation. The ordinance was initially written with a 25 employee cutoff; pressure from the Mayor's Small Business Advisory Commission and the City Attorney, as well as pragmatic recognition that larger firms were more defendable as posing a significant economic threat, led to the cutoff being raised to 35 then to 50.
73. The quotations in this section are from the transcript of the hearing, at which the author was present.
74. Reich found a permanent drop in shareholder equity of about 4 percent and a perstrike cost of about $80 million in 1980 dollars for 700 industrial strikes studied between 1968 and 1982. He indicated that losses in service sector firms would likely be much higher.
75. Diaz, "Tilting the Field," San Francisco Chronicle; Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan."
76. Diaz, "Tilting the Field," San Francisco Chronicle; Gordon, "Joining Union Would Be Easier under Katz Plan."
77. Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. City and County of San Francisco (GGRA-1), N.D. Cal. No. C-98-0642-VRW (1998).
78. Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. City and County of San Francisco, First Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (GGRA-2), N.D. Cal. No. C-98-2342-VRW (1999).
79. This section has benefited especially from interviews with several union leaders and labor lawyers, and with Ken Jacobs, former campaign director of the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition.
80. Indi Talwani and Scott Kronland, "Organizing-Related State and Local Legislation," paper presented at the Lawyer's Coordination Conference, AFL-CIO (San Francisco, 24 May 2001); Louis Uchitelle, "Minimum Wages, City by City: As More Local Laws Pass, More Businesses Complain," New York Times (19 November 1999), A10.
81. Indi Talwani and Scott Kronland, "Organizing-Related State and Local Legislation," paper presented at the Lawyer's Coordination Conference, AFL-CIO (San Francisco, 24 May 2001); Louis Uchitelle, "Minimum Wages, City by City: As More Local Laws Pass, More Businesses Complain," New York Times (19 November 1999), A10.
82. Rochelle Sharpe, "What Exactly is a 'Living Wage?"' Business Week (28 May 2001), 78-9; Carol Zabin and Isaac Martin, "Living Wage Campaigns in the Economic Policy Arena." Ms. Report, Center for Labor Research and Education (Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, 1999).
83. Rochelle Sharpe, "What Exactly is a 'Living Wage?"' Business Week (28 May 2001), 78-9; Carol Zabin and Isaac Martin, "Living Wage Campaigns in the Economic Policy Arena." Ms. Report, Center for Labor Research and Education (Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, 1999).
84. Mindy Lazarus-Black and Susan Hirsch, editors, Contested States: Law, Hegemony, and Resistance (N.Y., London: Routledge, 1994), 1.
85. John Walton, Western Times and Water Wars: State, Culture, and Rebellion in California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 307.
86. I b i d.
87. Elisabeth Clemens, The Peoples' Lobby: Organizational Innovation and the Rise of Interest Group Politics in the United States, 1890-1925 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997).
88. Ann Swidler, "Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies," American Sociological Review 51 (April 1986): 273-286.
89. Lazarus-Black and Hirsch, Contested States: Law, Hegemony, and Resistance; E.P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act (New York: Pantheon, 1975); Walton, Western Times and Water Wars: State, Culture, and Rebellion in California; Miriam J. Wells, Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996).
90. Lazarus-Black and Hirsch, Contested States: Law, Hegemony, and Resistance; E.P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act (New York: Pantheon, 1975); Walton, Western Times and Water Wars: State, Culture, and Rebellion in California; Miriam J. Wells, Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996).
91. Lazarus-Black and Hirsch, Contested States: Law, Hegemony, and Resistance; E.P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act (New York: Pantheon, 1975); Walton, Western Times and Water Wars: State, Culture, and Rebellion in California; Miriam J. Wells, Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996).