Steelworkers, East Bay Community Groups Urge Senator Hancock to Change Legislation That Puts Thousands in East Bay Out of Work

On the eve of Labor Day Weekend, steelworkers who work at local refineries, families, Communities for a Better Environment, Richmond Progressive Alliance and Contra Costa community groups held a press conference in front of Senator Loni Hancock¹s office to urge her to change legislation that will force up to 5,000 steelworkers to lose their jobs while putting communities¹ safety near local refineries at risk. The changes they are seeking will ensure jobs are secure and communities remain safe.

“We stand in opposition to last minute legislation that is currently being jammed through the State Legislature. Senate Bill 54, authored by Senator Loni Hancock is nothing more than a power play that will jeopardize worker and community safety while forcing up to 5,000 workers to lose their jobs,” said Robert LaVenture, District 12 Director for United Steelworkers. “This legislation has been attempted in other venues and it has been continually rejected, as it does not improve safety -- it ousts known, skilled, qualified workers who need a steady paycheck to provide for their families and put a roof over their heads.”

Senate Bill 54 is known as a “gut and amend”, a sneaky legislative tactic that amended an unrelated bill at the last minute, and that will now directly harm safety in our communities. The guise of this legislation is the idea that a new so-called safety curriculum, which does not exist, coupled with current trade apprenticeship programs will improve safety at refineries. However, the reality is that the current workers far exceed the standards of existing trade apprenticeship programs due to their extensive refinery-specific, on-the-job experience and training.  Along with their craft specific experience, they also participate in additional rigorous, refinery-specific safety training.

“We have strong safety standards in place and we have seasoned USW workers in place who know how to keep California refineries safe,” added LaVenture.

SB 54 fails to allow equal educational access for non-trade workers and fails to recognize equivalent training programs that currently exist.  The legislation will solidify the building trades sole control of all training and certification apprenticeship programs in the state, for the work that USW members currently do, without allowing our represented workers equal access to apprenticeship programs.

The legislation passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee today and will be voted next week on the Assembly Floor.