Photo by: Connor Gorry
The California Union Union, the largest California professional “union union,” which protects union union members working in unions, went on strike Friday, effectively ceasing most of California’s unions’ current strikes and effectively resuming regular work for most of California’s unions’ members.
The CUU cited a stoppage of regular wages, zero working hours, and a thorough lack of gratitude as reasons for its massive strike against California’s rank-and-file unions.
“Unions simply aren’t paying union workers on strike enough to support themselves and their families,” said Arlene Holt-Baker, the CUU’s Primary Strike Organizer in Northern California. “You would think that organizations that help workers would be humane enough to consider that employees on strike don’t get paid, but I guess not.”
“In addition, union workers really deserve more thanks and respect for the work they do to benefit their colleagues,” continued Holt-Baker. “When’s the last time you said thanks to your buddy the union rep?”
The California Construction Federation (CCF) is one of the largest unions with an ongoing strike put on hold by the CUU’s union worker strike.
“It is unfortunate that the CUU has decided to strike during our strike,” responded CCF Head Union Representative Arlene Holt-Baker to Holt-Baker’s comments. “As our union workers now refuse to perform their on-strike duties of not reporting to work, they have no choice but to perform their not-on-strike duties of reporting to work, where they face insufficient wages, excessively long working hours, and a lack of substantial consideration for worker safety.”
The company with the most employees in the CCF is Bulldoors, Billurs, & Puellers (BBP), a construction firm with over fifteen major ongoing construction projects across California. In response to news of the CUU strike and the resultant interruption in the CCF strike, BBP Senior Negotiator Arlene Holt-Baker released a statement affirming that it would resume construction throughout the state.
“While we did not come to an agreeable conclusion with the CCF, we are delighted to welcome our employees back and will immediately begin efforts to realign with our proposed project timelines,” said Holt-Baker.
After a lengthy discussion between the CUU and unions affected by the strike, such as the California Construction Federation, the two parties agreed to conclude the strike on the condition that a basic anonymous feedback pool be established for union members to thank other union members.
Following the accord between the CUU and the CCF, the CCF resumed negotiations with the companies affected by the paused strike, such as Bulldors, Billurs, & Puellers, on how to better improve the construction workers’ lives and safety.
At press time, Holt-Baker was seen furiously arguing with Holt-Baker on the legalities of whether to pay BBP’s construction interns, with Holt-Baker observing the proceedings as a member of the union delegation. Holt-Baker and Holt-Baker could not be reached for further comment, but Holt-Baker was overheard muttering that “that Holt-Baker can be a real stubborn jackass.”
