Did Kevin Johnson work behind the scenes to fire Sacramento labor leader Bill Camp?
A look at the fight for strong mayor and Measure L and the SEIU
One thing you’d expect the Sacramento Central Labor Council to get right: following labor rules.
Yet Bill Camp, the labor council’s outspoken executive secretary, was fired without warning or reason last week—then reinstated after the AFL-CIO said his firing was illegal. Meanwhile, Camp’s supporters are now calling for the ouster of the labor leaders who tried to fire him.
All this is apparently due to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s efforts to peel off labor support for his strong-mayor initiative. If the mayor’s plan was to divide and conquer, he is halfway there.
The Sacramento Central Labor Council, or CLC, is made up of dozens of local labor unions, all coordinating to influence the political process and take action on issues important to labor. The people who fired Camp were CLC board president Lino Pedres, with the SEIU United Service Workers West union, and Margarita Maldonado, the labor council board’s recording secretary, who represents SEIU Local 1000.
Camp said he was not told why he was fired. “They just told me ’You’re fired, clean out your stuff.’”
But events leading up to Camp’s dismissal suggest a power struggle in the local labor movement over the divisive strong-mayor proposal Measure L, which will appear on the ballot this fall.
Since Johnson was elected in 2008, the CLC has taken a position against strong mayor. And, as executive secretary, Camp successfully sued to get a strong-mayor initative kicked off the ballot in 2010.
This time, however, Johnson convinced enough members of the council’s executive board—Camp’s bosses—to recommend that the larger CLC membership vote to endorse Measure L.
But on August 19, at a subsequent meeting of the larger body of delegates from more than two dozen local unions, Measure L again failed to get enough votes for an endorsement.
Unions supporting strong mayor included SEIU Local 1000 (state workers), the local firefighters, sheet-metal workers, and grocery workers with the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Opposed were the stationary engineers (city workers), teachers and electrical workers, among others. SEIU Local 1021, which represents classified employees in the Sacramento City Unified School District, was also opposed.
The votes were weighted according to the number of members in each union, but even with the advantage of SEIU Local 1000’s 24,000 members, the largest bloc in the labor council, the pro side came up short.
Camp was vocal in his opposition. And delegates who attended the meeting said SEIU’s Maldonado was visibly upset about the outcome.
On the same day as the council’s Measure L vote, Grantland Johnson—local progressive hero and also a former labor-council employee—died. Camp was one of the people to deliver a eulogy at Johnson’s memorial service, attended by many political figures, including former Mayor Heather Fargo and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
During his comments, Camp mentioned that one of Grantland Johnson’s last political acts was to sign his name to the ballot argument against Measure L. This caused a stir among the supporters of Measure L present, who complained Camp’s remarks were inappropriate.
According to Camp, Pedres came to Camp’s home on Monday night and attempted to deliver a letter telling Sacramento News & Review - Did Kevin Johnson work behind the scenes to fire Sacramento labor leader Bill Camp? - News - Local Stories - September 4, 2014:
Yet Bill Camp, the labor council’s outspoken executive secretary, was fired without warning or reason last week—then reinstated after the AFL-CIO said his firing was illegal. Meanwhile, Camp’s supporters are now calling for the ouster of the labor leaders who tried to fire him.
All this is apparently due to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s efforts to peel off labor support for his strong-mayor initiative. If the mayor’s plan was to divide and conquer, he is halfway there.
The Sacramento Central Labor Council, or CLC, is made up of dozens of local labor unions, all coordinating to influence the political process and take action on issues important to labor. The people who fired Camp were CLC board president Lino Pedres, with the SEIU United Service Workers West union, and Margarita Maldonado, the labor council board’s recording secretary, who represents SEIU Local 1000.
Camp said he was not told why he was fired. “They just told me ’You’re fired, clean out your stuff.’”
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| Bill Camp has always been against Kevin Johnson’s strong-mayor pitch. Did Johnson get Camp fired last week over the upcoming Measure L strong-mayor ballot initiative? PHOTO BY DARIN SMITH |
Since Johnson was elected in 2008, the CLC has taken a position against strong mayor. And, as executive secretary, Camp successfully sued to get a strong-mayor initative kicked off the ballot in 2010.
This time, however, Johnson convinced enough members of the council’s executive board—Camp’s bosses—to recommend that the larger CLC membership vote to endorse Measure L.
But on August 19, at a subsequent meeting of the larger body of delegates from more than two dozen local unions, Measure L again failed to get enough votes for an endorsement.
Unions supporting strong mayor included SEIU Local 1000 (state workers), the local firefighters, sheet-metal workers, and grocery workers with the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Opposed were the stationary engineers (city workers), teachers and electrical workers, among others. SEIU Local 1021, which represents classified employees in the Sacramento City Unified School District, was also opposed.
The votes were weighted according to the number of members in each union, but even with the advantage of SEIU Local 1000’s 24,000 members, the largest bloc in the labor council, the pro side came up short.
Camp was vocal in his opposition. And delegates who attended the meeting said SEIU’s Maldonado was visibly upset about the outcome.
On the same day as the council’s Measure L vote, Grantland Johnson—local progressive hero and also a former labor-council employee—died. Camp was one of the people to deliver a eulogy at Johnson’s memorial service, attended by many political figures, including former Mayor Heather Fargo and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
During his comments, Camp mentioned that one of Grantland Johnson’s last political acts was to sign his name to the ballot argument against Measure L. This caused a stir among the supporters of Measure L present, who complained Camp’s remarks were inappropriate.
According to Camp, Pedres came to Camp’s home on Monday night and attempted to deliver a letter telling Sacramento News & Review - Did Kevin Johnson work behind the scenes to fire Sacramento labor leader Bill Camp? - News - Local Stories - September 4, 2014: