Northern California District Council of Laborers

Last updated
Northern California
District Council of Laborers
Laborers' International Union of North America
FoundedApril 13, 1903
Members
30,000
Key people
 Oscar De La Torre, Business Manager
Affiliations Laborers' International Union of North America
Website www.ncdc-laborers.org

The Northern California District Council of Laborers (NCDCL) is a labor organization affiliated with the Laborers' International Union of North America. The NCDCL was chartered in 1937 in San Francisco, California and today represents over 30,000 men and women, who are collectively employed as laborers by its network of 1700 signatory employers. [1]

Contents

About

The purpose of the NCDCL is to raise the living standards of its members. With that responsibility, the Council obligates itself to its members. The NCDCL does not limit their efforts to simple representation, they take a long-term view of their members and successive generations and annually award college scholarships to members or their families [2]

The construction industry differs in that bargaining units are not organized by the workers who then form a shop through elections. The construction company management chooses to be a union shop because they value the benefits and services they receive and in exchange they agree to hire members of that union. To further achieve the goal of raising member living standards through jobs, the NCDCL must gain signatory employers. The obligation to provide a service to employers is a shared obligation hand-in-hand with the NCDCL's primary goal of obtaining their members a dignified and sustainable standard of living. The NCDCL's goal - like all labor unions - is a wage that provides that the children of members can obtain as good or better of a standard of living as their parents.

The NCDCL provides valuable services to their signatory employers by providing work opportunities through political action, job tracking, advanced training and re-training, competitive wage rates, prevailing wage cost savings benefit, workers’ compensation alternative dispute resolution, marketing, health and safety, and legislative advocacy.

NCDCL Board of Directors

The NCDCL is collectively governed by its board of directors. Members of the board are elected by the NCDCL Delegates and serve for four-year terms. As of 2019, the board of directors is composed of the following elected officials: [3]

Leadership

Oscar De La Torre is the business manager of the NCDCL. Prior to his election to the District Council, De La Torre was the business manager/secretary-treasurer for Laborers’ International Union Local No. 261. Under De La Torre, Local Union No. 261 increased and diversified its membership and currently serves over 3,200 men and women working in both private and public labor sectors.

De La Torre is a third-generation laborer and has dedicated his entire career to the advancement of the Labor Movement. De La Torre’s mission is to advance the fundamental rights of workers by bettering salaries, health care coverage, pension, and retirement options.

De La Torre is co-chairman of the Northern California Health & Welfare, Northern California Pension Funds, Northern California Training & Retraining Fund and Northern California Apprenticeship Training Committee.

De La Torre is dedicated to the community and has built strong coalitions with non-profit community groups. He currently sits on the California Labor Federation, Mission Housing Development Corporation, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) and Instituto Laboral De La Raza. [3]

In 2010, De La Torre was appointed vice president at large of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA). [4] Under the leadership of LIUNA General President Brent Booker and LIUNA General Secretary/Treasurer, Michael Sabitoni, De La Torre serves with 13 other LIUNA Vice Presidents who make up the LIUNA General Executive Board. The General Executive Board is charged with implementing policy and direction for the 9 Regional Offices, 46 District Councils and 475 Local Unions that comprise LIUNA’s North America operations.

Affiliated local unions

The affiliated local unions in Northern California are as follows:

Local unionAddressBusiness Manager
Laborers' Local 678400 Enterprise Way, Room 19, Oakland, CA 94621Victor Parra
Laborers' Local 733984 Cherokee Road, Stockton, CA 95215Carlos Bodilla, Jr.
Laborers' Local 1851320 National Drive, Sacramento, CA 95834Doyle S. Radford, Jr.
Laborers' Local 2613271 – 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110Ramon Hernandez
Laborers' Local 270509 Emory Street, San Jose, CA 95110Enrique Arguello
Laborers' Local 2945431 East Hedges, Fresno, CA 93727James Hammond
Laborers' Local 30429475 Mission Blvd, Hayward, CA 94544-6118Fernando Estrada
Laborers' Local 324611 Berrellesa Street, Martinez, CA 94553Keith LeMoine
Laborers' Local 11302549 Yosemite Blvd., Ste K, Modesto, CA 95354Joshua Lepper

Through these affiliated locals the NCDCL covers the following counties in Northern California: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Service Employees International Union</span> North American trade union

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare, including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services ; and property services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living wage</span> Minimum income to meet a workers basic needs

A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor productivity. Needs are defined to include food, housing, and other essential needs such as clothing. The goal of a living wage is to allow a worker to afford a basic but decent standard of living through employment without government subsidies. Due to the flexible nature of the term "needs", there is not one universally accepted measure of what a living wage is and as such it varies by location and household type. A related concept is that of a family wage – one sufficient to not only support oneself, but also to raise a family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America</span> Labor union in North America

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, often simply the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC), was formed in 1881 by Peter J. McGuire and Gustav Luebkert. It has become one of the largest trade unions in the United States, and through chapters, and locals, there is international cooperation that poises the brotherhood for a global role. For example, the North American Chapter has over 520,000 members throughout the continent. 

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laborers' International Union of North America</span> American and Canadian labor union

The Laborers' International Union of North America, often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of whom are in Canada. The current general president is Brent Booker who was appointed general president in 2023. There are nine regions across North America; these regions are further divided into 500 local unions. One region is in Toronto, Canada, and is led by Joseph Mancinelli, Local 183, which is the largest construction local union in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Green (U.S. labor leader)</span> American trade union leader

William B. Green was an American trade union leader. Green is best remembered as the president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) from 1924 to 1952. He was a strong supporter for labor-management co-operation and was on the frontline for wage and benefit protections and industrial unionism legislation.

The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Latino organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win federation. It was founded in 1972 to provide Latino trade union members in the United States with a more effective voice within the AFL-CIO, to encourage Latino participation in the democratic process, and to encourage the organization of Latino workers into labor unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terence M. O'Sullivan</span>

Terence M. O'Sullivan is a labor union activist who was president of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) from 2000 until 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">María Elena Durazo</span> American politician

María Elena Durazo is an American politician serving in the California State Senate. A Democrat, from 2018 to 2022 she represented the 24th State Senatorial district and has been representing the 26th district since 2022 which encompasses Central Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, and Vernon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Smith (trade unionist)</span> American labor leader

Edward M. Smith (1954-2024) was an American labor leader who served as the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Ullico Inc., a labor-owned insurance and investment company headquartered in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davis–Bacon Act of 1931</span> US law on wages for public works

The Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 is a United States federal law that establishes the requirement for paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects for laborers and mechanics. It applies to "contractors and subcontractors performing on federally funded or assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers</span> Labor union in the US and Canada

The International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers (IUANPW) is an American labor union representing over 18,000 employees. Traditionally it organized workers at toy factories but, as that industry moved overseas, it evolved into a general union in a variety of industries. The union is affiliated with the AFL–CIO.

The Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO), later known as the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union, was an organization of farm workers throughout the United States and Canada formed on April 15, 1915, in Kansas City. It was supported by, and a subsidiary organization of, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Although the IWW had advocated the abolition of the wage system as an ultimate goal since its own formation ten years earlier, the AWO's founding convention sought rather to address immediate needs, and championed a ten-hour work day, premium pay for overtime, a minimum wage, good food and bedding for workers. In 1917 the organization changed names to the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (AWIU) as part of a broader reorganization of IWW industrial unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles streetcar strike of 1919</span>

The Los Angeles streetcar strike of 1919 was the most violent revolt against the open-shop policies of the Pacific Electric Railway Company in Los Angeles. Labor organizers had fought for over a decade to increase wages, decrease work hours, and legalize unions for streetcar workers of the Los Angeles basin. After having been denied unionization rights and changes in work policies by the National War Labor Board, streetcar workers broke out in massive protest before being subdued by local armed police force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North America's Building Trades Unions</span> Department of the US trade union center AFL–CIO

The Building and Construction Trades Department, commonly known as North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU), is a trade department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) with 14 affiliated labor unions in the building trades. It was originally founded by the American Federation of Labor in 1907.

The Worker Standards Board, Wage Board or Industry Committee aims to improve wages and working conditions for all workers within a specific industry. When implemented along with other regional labor policies, such as paid family leave, the Worker Standards Board is a useful alternative or supplement to a collective bargaining agreement and a formal labor union, when the situation does not support a union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Paulson</span> California labor leader (born 1952)

Timothy Dale Paulson is a California labor leader, who currently serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council after being unanimously elected in July 2018, and sworn in by San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Los Angeles special election</span>

The 2023 Los Angeles special election was held on April 4, 2023 with a runoff occurring on June 27, 2023. Voters will elect a candidate in a nonpartisan primary, with runoff elections potentially scheduled. One of the fifteen seats on the Los Angeles City Council was up for election due to the vacancy of one member, councilwoman Nury Martinez of District 6, who resigned in the wake of the 2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal. Sharon Tso was installed as a caretaker to the district, but no formal appointment was made. There was potential for a recall over Kevin de León's statements made during the 2022 Los Angeles City Council scandal as well, though due to the lack of signatures turned in by the deadline on April 1, 2023, the petition to recall de León failed. Former City Attorney Mike Feuer also proposed that a special election be held on a referendum to replace the Council's ability to redraw the City Council districts with an independent commission before the 2024 elections.

Peter Fosco was a Polish-born American labor union leader.

Arthur A. Coia is a former American labor union leader.

Brent Booker is an American labor union leader.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.