December 3, 2003

opinion

THIS FALL MEMBERS of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union, Local 2, joined union activists and community groups from around the country in organizing the Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides. Across the nation, a diverse coalition was organized and mobilized to win dignity for immigrants – on the job, in the streets, and at the borders. Traveling from town to town, busloads of immigrant workers and their allies converged on Washington, D.C., and New York City to demand an overhaul of this nation's immigration system.

Our union's participation in the Freedom Rides stems from a simple conviction: that people's interests at the workplace are intertwined with their interests in the community. This straightforward concept can be seen emerging throughout the new labor movement – from workers' engagement in health care reform to their struggle to obtain driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. This is the philosophy that's putting the "movement" back in the labor movement.

It is out of this conviction that Local 2 spent long hours walking the streets for Mayor Willie Brown, because he offered hotel workers an unprecedented measure of respect and support. It is out of our organizing of low-wage workers that we worked to pass Proposition L, turning back the steady erosion of the minimum wage. And it is out of our commitment to the community that we fought the Republicans' latest effort to short-circuit representative democracy, in their recall of former governor Gray Davis.

Today our belief in the link between workplace and community justice leads us to support Matt Gonzalez.

Issue by issue, Gonzalez offers a clear vision of San Francisco's future. His economic plan balances community-based decision making with the need to bring more well-paying jobs to our city's residents. His education plan highlights the need for better funding and gives noncitizens a say in the decisions that affect their children. His housing plan outlines the changes we urgently require to bring affordable housing within the reach of San Francisco workers.

Gonzalez has defined his campaign on the basis of these ideas. Contrast this with his opponent, Gavin Newsom, who has built a career not on a positive vision but a negative one: dismantling the safety net of San Francisco's poorest residents and threatening imprisonment for those who panhandle in order to survive after their meager cash assistance is taken away.

Even more important than Gonzalez's policies is the broad base of supporters he has brought together in this campaign. A vibrant and democratic community depends on the active participation of diverse interests – at every level of civic life. Gonzalez's campaign has become a rallying point of just such a coalition.

Immigrant groups and environmental activists, tenant associations and labor unions have allied themselves – many for the first time – in common cause. More than any single piece of his platform, this coalition will be the hallmark of the Gonzalez administration.

Sadly, many of our sisters and brothers in the labor community have chosen not to join us in supporting Gonzalez, or even in taking a position at all. For perhaps a majority, the deciding factor was that Gonzalez is not a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party. While we respect their decision, we'd challenge them on that point.

Since the 1930s, Local 2 has had a valued relationship with the Democratic Party. Throughout California and nationwide, HERE continues to be one of the Democrats' staunchest allies in fighting for progressive causes. But that history cannot blind us to the shifting definition of what it means to be a Democrat. It is not our endorsement of Gonzalez but rather the Democrats' endorsement of his opponent that signals a departure from our shared tradition, values, and vision.

Too often, working people's interests are sidelined in political campaigns underwritten by corporate, Republican, and wealthy donors. Matt Gonzalez has scorned those big-money interests, and for San Francisco's workers, he is the best choice for mayor.