Local labor resurgence includes seats on key local boards
Local labor leaders have recently secured seats on boards governing San Diego’s port district, municipal airport, waterfront convention center and housing commission.
“Those are all strategic for us because they are all economic drivers that affect workers in this community,” said Keith Maddox, leader of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council and the 134 unions it brings together.
The new approach comes as leadership changes, including the arrival of Maddox last year, have stabilized and boosted local labor after scandals and dissension in 2017 limited cooperation among unions.
Labor leaders popping up on so many influential boards and commissions hearkens back to the early years of this century when the influence of local labor was at its peak, said Mike Zucchet, leader of the city’s largest labor union and a new member of the Port District board.
The difference this time around is that labor’s influence has gone beyond a seat on the chamber’s board of directors.
“I feel like that is what labor has been missing the most over the last 10 or 15 years,” Zucchet added.
While labor unions typically clash on many issues with advocates for the business community like the Chamber of Commerce, even leaders of the chamber say labor’s new direction is a welcome change.
“I don't think it's a competition or us versus them — I think it's important to have all the voices at the table," said Jaymie Bradford, the chamber’s chief operating officer.
Bradford said the business community benefits from direct collaboration with labor early in the discussion stages of a project or policy.
Maddox said letting the region’s leaders know where labor stands before big decisions get made was a key motive for securing seats on local boards and commissions.
Having a seat on the dais, instead of exerting influence behind the scenes, allows labor leaders to help shape the conversation or at least force other leaders to consider how their decisions affect the region’s working families.
Each of the four boards that labor targeted control scarce resources owned by the public.
The Port District controls prime land surrounding San Diego Bay that is a catalyst for local tourism and the many thousands of jobs it supports.
The Convention Center board, which now includes Carol Kim of the Building and Construction Trades Council, controls one of the region’s most crucial economic drivers.
The Housing Commission, which now includes Johanna Puno Hester of the United Domestic Workers union, decides how the city spends federal, state and local dollars earmarked for affordable housing.
And the Airport Authority board, which now includes labor-backed appointee Johanna Schiavoni, controls an economic engine that affects thousands of jobs with airlines, rental car companies, shuttle services and related businesses.
Maddox said securing seats on those boards was planned, but that it was dictated somewhat by where vacancies emerged.
“We try to think of the best ways that we can build a stronger middle class,” Maddox said. “How do we do things that benefit not only our members, but the community as a whole?”
Maddox also said the port was an easy choice because it controls goods that come into San Diego and key land that drives the tourism economy.
And he said Zucchet, despite his reputation as somewhat of a maverick, was the ideal choice.
“He is smart, strategic and has both political and union experience," Maddox said of Zucchet.
Maddox also said Kim is a great fit for the convention center.
“She's been a community activist for years but she now works in the labor movement, so she understands housing needs and construction needs," he said.
“That was a natural fit,” Maddox added.
The Housing Commission may seem like a less obvious choice, but Maddox said it was a crucial move for labor.
“The Housing Commission certainly needs a different voice, a different vision and change,” he said.
“The workforce housing in this city has no ties to the jobs that are being created and the wage scales of those jobs. There is zero focus on how we build housing for the workforce of the future,” Maddox added.
Maddox said Hester can make a difference.
