California College of the Arts Employees to Start Strike This Week
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Staff at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco planned to go on strike Tuesday over claims of unfair labor practices and the fact they still don't have a contract after two years of negotiations.
The union, a part of SEIU 1021, authorized the strike back with 97% of union members voting yes on Dec. 13. Among the motivations for the strike are demands for livable wages, job security and input in decision-making, but also because of reported maltreatment by the school. For example, the school didn't call union president Matt Kennedy back to work for a full-year back in 2020, despite him having a nine-year career with CCA.
But most importantly, the union and the school have yet to agree on a contract.
"When we started the bargaining process in October 2019, CCA administration said they wanted to settle a contract within a few months. It's clear that was a lie," said CCA Film Studio Manager Brian Woods, a member of the staff bargaining team, back in December. "They stall and do everything in their power to keep us from a fair contract. They continue making presentations on boilerplate minutia. They haven't responded to any of our economic proposals, which are our top priority. There's not even an acknowledgment that we've even submitted these–there's been no response at all."
The strike will run for at least a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the college's San Francisco campus on 8th Street, with the exception of Wednesday when the picket lines will take place at the Oakland campus at Clifton Street and Broadway.
Union officials added that a tandem sympathy strike will take place with participation from adjunct faculty, ranked faculty and students.
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