john, 

We are thrilled to share groundbreaking news: San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu has secured a $2.1 million deal requiring a major gig economy company to reclassify its workers as employees. This monumental victory underscores the power of collective action and advocacy, ensuring crucial benefits and protections for workers. Let's celebrate this achievement while remaining steadfast in our commitment to continue fighting for rights of all workers.

SAN FRANCISCO (February 22, 2024) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced today that he has reached a groundbreaking agreement with Qwick that requires the company to convert all of its misclassified California workers to employees, ensuring they are eligible for the full range of employee benefits and protections. In 2023, Chiu sued Qwick, a gig economy company that provides on-demand staffing to the hospitality industry, for depriving workers of critical employment protections by misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees.

Under the proposed Final Judgment and Injunction, submitted to the San Francisco Superior Court yesterday for approval, Qwick must pay its California workers $1.5 million in restitution and provide workers that stay on as employees a bank of accrued sick leave hours valued at up to $350,000. Qwick will also pay $250,000 to the City in civil penalties. If the settlement is approved, City Attorney Chiu will have secured the first injunction in California requiring a gig economy staffing company to permanently reclassify thousands of workers.

“Hospitality work is grueling, and our hotel and restaurant workers deserve to be treated fairly,” said City Attorney Chiu. “This proposed judgment puts money back in the pockets of workers, and ensures that they will have the full complement of employee rights and benefits moving forward. It also ensures that law-abiding staffing companies will no longer be at a competitive disadvantage. We are sending a clear message: we will not allow this illegal business model to take root in the hospitality industry.”

“For too long, corporations have gotten away with misclassifying workers as independent contractors to cheat them out of wages and basic rights,” said Lorena Gonzalez, Principal Officer of the CA Labor Federation. “Today’s settlement with Qwick embodies everything we want to see in enforcement efforts: a permanent injunction to reclassify workers as employees, restitution of wages to the workers, and penalties to reimburse the costs of enforcement. We are grateful to City Attorney Chiu and the staff of his Worker Protection Team for leading the way on enforcement— protecting workers and responsible businesses.”

“This settlement is a huge victory for Qwick workers who are entitled to the same protections, wages, and benefits as their peers employed at hotels and restaurants,” said Anand Singh, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “We appreciate the work of the City Attorney’s Office to enforce the law in San Francisco. Employers should be on notice that they can’t get away with worker misclassification here in our city.”

Read full statement here. 

In solidarity,

Fred Yamashita

Secretary-Treasurer

Executive Director
Arizona AFL-CIO

Tell the White House to Stop the Raid on Postal Workers' Pensions

For more than 52 years, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) workers have unfairly had their retirement funds raided by the U.S. government—resulting in more than $90 billion in unjust expenses to the USPS. We need your help to send a message to the Biden administration to do the right thing for postal workers.

Tell Congress: Renew ACP and Keep Families Connected! 

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) currently helps nearly 23 million households access high speed broadband, providing $30 per month to qualify families for affordable internet access. This mean more families online, and more jobs for CWA members. But funding is running out. Unless Congress acts NOW to renew ACP, the program will end by April 2024.

Tell Congress to support the bipartisan ACP Extension Act, support good job, and keep families connected! 

Maricopa Area Labor Federation State of the Union Watch Party

Are you a union member eager to stay informed about the latest developments in the labor movement? Then mark your calendars for March 7th and join us from 5:30PM to 8:00 PM for the Maricopa Area Labor Federation "State of the Union Watch Party"! The State of the Union Address is an annual event where the President of the United States reports to Congress on the current state of the country and outlines his legislative agenda for the upcoming year. As a union member, it's important to stay informed about the political landscape and the policies that affect our daily lives. Don't miss out on this chance to be a part of the conversation - sign up today and secure your spot!

2024 NALC Branch 1902's Wheely Good Cause: Sip & Support for MDA!

$5 Per Ticket Entry or $20 for 5 Tickets 

Each ticket purchased contributes to the cause, aiding research and assistance for those living with Muscular Dystrophy, ALS, and related Neuromuscular Diseases. Join NALC 1902 in raising funds for a noble cause while having the chance to wheel away a treasure trove of beverages. Cheers to charity and making a meaningful difference! 

Arizona AFL-CIO Building Bridges: Free Citizenship Fair 

Join us in facilitating the process of obtaining citizenship for the more than 200,000 eligible Arizonans! The Arizona AFL-CIO is proud to offer the first Citizenship Fair in which applicants will be helped in the process of completing their paperwork and submitting their applications with the help of our amazing Labor affiliates and community partners. Please feel free to share and distribute this flyer and/or information about this Citizenship fair to potentially interested members/individuals/communities! 

2024 Legislative Committee Meeting Alerts - AZ AFL-CIO 

Join us every Friday at 9:30 AM via Zoom to get updates and alerts on the 2nd Regular Session of the 56th Legislature. Click on the button below and complete the form. 

For additional questions, contact our Political Director, Joe Murphy at [email protected].  

Union Events and Action

We want to uplift what you are doing for our members and our community!

Please fill out all the required information to have your Local's event uploaded to our Arizona AFL-CIO website or featured in our next Labor Dispatch. If you have any questions please reach out to Alina Cordoba, Communications & Operations Director at [email protected].

The Lost Legacy of Okemah: A Historic Black Community in Phoenix Decimated by Highways 

"A century ago, when Phoenix was segregated, hundreds of Black families found faith and belonging southeast of downtown in a community called Okemah.The area along the Salt River between roughly 32nd and 48th streets bounded by Broadway Road to the south didn't have much.The community went without utilities and running water for decades. The roads weren't paved for most of its existence. Kids swam in the same canal that families used for fishing and churches used to baptize families."

36-Hour Shifts, 80-Hour Work Weeks: Workers Are Being Burned Out by Overtime

"Americans say they are being required towork an exorbitant amount of overtime to compensate for staffing shortages that have plagued the economy."

Starbucks Just Saw the largest Single-Day Union Drive in the Company's History

"Employees at 21 Starbucks stores across the United States informed the global coffee giant’s CEO on Tuesday that they are launching the largest single-day unionization in company history. The baristas — who are employed at Starbucks in 14 states — said in a letter to CEO Laxman Narasimhan that they’ve “decided to follow in the footsteps of over 396 other stores and nearly 10,000 partners to demand better.” Their union, Starbucks Workers United, cited low pay, inconsistent scheduling, and safety concerns as reasons for filing for union elections."

Home Depot Broke Labor Law by Firing an Employee with 'BLM' On Apron, NLRB Rules 

"In late spring and summer of 2020, the United States was engulfed in Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. In a Home Depot store in New Brighton, Minnesota – a suburb of Minneapolis, where police killed Floyd – several workers hand-wrote “BLM” on the company’s distinctive orange aprons. The store fired at least one employee, Antonio Morales, over the matter."

Is Hollywood Sleepwalking Toward Strike Three?

"It is nearly their time. Just months after the conclusion of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, top crew unions the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Hollywood Teamsters (Teamsters Local 399) are scheduled to enter the bargaining room March 4. The groups — IATSE represents a broad swath of craftspeople, from costume designers to cinematographers and writers assistants, while the Teamsters membership includes drivers, dispatchers and animal trainers/wranglers — will start together, hammering out details of their benefits plans alongside other unions in the Hollywood Basic Crafts coalition."

Elon Musk and Amazon Team Up to Demolish Workers' Rights 

"Elon Musk is not a fan of unions. Nor are Amazon, Starbucks, or, apparently, Trader Joe’s. Those four companies opened the new year by mounting a legal campaign to destroy the federal agency charged with protecting workers from unfair anti-unionization efforts and maintaining labor peace. If they succeed, they could radically tip the scales in favor of corporations and away from the workers who hope to organize their workplaces."

Company Hired 24 Minors to Clean Slaughterhouses, Labor Department Says 

"A Tennessee-based company employed at least two dozen children as young as 13 to work overnight shifts cleaning dangerous equipment in slaughterhouses, including a 14-year-old whose arm was mangled in a piece of machinery, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. The department filed a request on Wednesday for a temporary restraining order and injunction in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa against the company, Fayette Janitorial Service LLC. It provides cleaning services at slaughterhouses in several states, including Iowa and Virginia, where the department said an investigation had found that the company had hired children to clean plants. The Labor Department opened its investigation after an article in The New York Times Magazine reported that Fayette had hired migrant children to work the overnight cleaning shift at a Perdue Farms plant on the Eastern Shore of Virginia."

Faith Leaders Call Out Racial Disparities in Pay for Sky Harbor Workers

“Public pressure is mounting on the city of Phoenix to address complaints against the company it uses to manage concessions at Sky Harbor International Airport as workers raise concerns about racial inequities in pay, discriminatory discipline and unsanitary conditions. Religious leaders sent a letter to Phoenix City Council on Thursday asking for officials to investigate allegations of racial disparities by airport contractor SSP America."

Arizona teamsters Applaud Committee Passage of Legislation to Protect Transit Workers

“Teamsters Local 104, which represents 1,400 transportation workers across all industries, is applauding the passage of Arizona House Bill 2742 out of the State House Judiciary Committee. The bill aims to protect transit, airline, and rail workers by significantly increasing the criminal penalty for assaulting them."

The Vote Breakdown on Proposed Bill to Weaken Arizona University Shared Governance

"Republican lawmakers have proposed several bills fortifying the authority of the Arizona Board of Regents and university presidents while attempting to weaken the longstanding shared governance role of faculty at the three state universities — the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University."

How Much Are Arizona Employees Paid? See Republic's Latest Salary Database

“Arizona doesn’t publish a list of salaries for public employees, though they are among the most significant costs any government incurs (a single employee like a college football coach can earn $3.9 million in salary)."

Thank you for reading the Arizona Labor Dispatch! Can you help us grow our readership by sharing our sign-up form? 

If you'd like to promote an event for your union in our weekly newsletter, fill out our submission form or email AZ AFL-CIO  Communications & Operations Director Alina Cordoba at [email protected]