by James Parks
In a major display of solidarity, longshore workers, actors, janitors and many others will join with community leaders in a 28-mile march from Hollywood to the docks of Los Angeles.
Along they way, they will talk with citizens about the fight to save middle class jobs, the battle to help workers freely join unions and the importance of voting.
Beginning today and continuing for three days, workers and community supporters will walk and camp out overnight along the route. The march will make its way from Hollywood, where contracts for members of the Screen Actors (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) expire June 30, to the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro, where contracts with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) expire July 1. The march will conclude April 17 with a massive rally at the port.
For a complete list of events for the march, click here.
The march is a key part of the Fight for Good Jobs campaign by Los Angeles-area workers. This year, more than 350,000 union members in 30 local unions will renegotiate their contracts. At the same time, more than 30,000 port drivers, security officers, carwash workers, hotel workers, construction workers and L.A. airport passenger service workers will continue their fight to move out of poverty by joining a union. Under the leadership of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, workers are combining their resources in contract fights, organizing and politics into a single campaign.
Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the L.A. federation, says:
Whether it’s workers fighting to ensure that their jobs remain good middle class jobs, or it’s about fighting to move out of poverty by joining a union or voters ensuring that elected leaders fight for workers and children—all of these struggles overlap for one common goal—the need for good jobs, not poverty jobs. So in 2008, workers will work together like never before. We will combine all of our resources and tap every ally to ensure that we win.
The Fight for Good Jobs campaign hits at the heart of the city’s economic woes. With a shrinking middle class and 3.7 million Los Angeles residents living in poverty, the dream of owning a home is often unattainable in the L.A. area—even without the nation’s massive mortgage crisis.
Today, one-third of the county’s 3 million full-time workers earn less than $25,000 a year, an income not even near the $133,506 needed to make a down payment on a median ($549,000) priced home.