Message from the Secretary-Treasurer

"Since Carl DeMaio announced last year he was teaming up with government contractors to strip the City of San Diego of its contracting and workplace standards, the Labor Council sounded the alarm that DeMaio's initiative amounted to a harmful giveaway to contractors at the San Diego public's expense.

"DeMaio's ballot measure threatened to stop many of the gains that workers, union and non-union, have made or strive to make in this city. DeMaio set out to ban the Living Wage Ordinance, which has become the hallmark victory of the Labor Movement in San Diego over the past decade, even though it primarily benefits non-union, unrepresented workers. DeMaio also set out to ban project labor agreements, which are the only way to guarantee that all workers, union and non-union, on a City of San Diego-funded project are city residents and are provided employee health care.

"The recent news that Carl DeMaio withdrew his initiative is welcome, but it doesn't put to rest the challenges facing San Diego's middle class.

"If Carl DeMaio is serious about continuing his initiative campaign for a future election, we welcome the additional time to educate San Diego about the unintended consequences in his initiative. However, the Labor Movement is more interested in working with San Diego's business, neighborhood, and civic leaders who want to make our city and region a better place to work and live."