Brothers and Sisters,

As we start a new year under a new American president and new community leaders, our union must fortify working families to combat the challenges on the horizon.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump told hardworking, blue-collar men and women across the country that he would protect us and revitalize our communities. Now that his policy platform is taking shape, we’ll be reminding him of these promises. Like Trump, we want to see an end to bad trade deals that enrich corporations at the expense of working people, and we want the to president make good on his pledge to restore US manufacturing. But we also want to protect our right to collectively bargain. President Trump will appoint three of the five members of the National Labor Relations Board, the agency charged with interpreting and enforcing the nation’s labor laws; In partnership with the UA International, UA Local Union 393 will be calling on the president to pick people who can fairly supervise union elections and referee labor-management disputes.

To protect our future, we will be raising awareness that the president’s support of expanding so-called right-to-work laws runs counter to his campaign platform of making the economy work for everyday Americans. We’ll be rallying with our brothers and sisters across the country against his choice for Labor Secretary, a fast-food CEO who hates unions and criticizes California’s leadership in advancing the rights of working people.

We’ll also be taking this fight to our own backyard. We must stop South Bay cities from supporting private developments that lack community benefits or local hire provisions. Local 393 will be pushing for “community workforce agreements,” or CWAs, which are project labor agreements with a targeted hire provision designed to get low-income workers into construction careers. The success of Measure JJJ in Los Angeles, which requires developers who want zoning changes to build affordable housing and hire local workers, provides a roadmap for our members to launch a similar measure in San Jose if we deem it necessary.

Lastly, we must look inward. None of this is possible without recommitting to the goals of the Campaign for a Secure Future. This program is about building real power for our membership to ensure we have work through booms and busts. We will work even harder to organize our non-union competition. We will educate our members on land use, development, public speaking, and more.

We must continue to fight so we can protect the work we have and ensure a strong future for our union and our members. We demand real, lasting change that goes beyond the ballot box.

Bill Guthrie
Business Manager
UA Local Union 393