Members of Local 1018 who work at Lanterman Regional Center, a non-profit organization, won a three-year contract in late June after going on strike for 12 days. The strike began June 11 when the company refused to make an acceptable offer on raises and seniority benefits. After the almost two-week strike, the members won a 4.5 percent raise in the first year and reopeners in the second and third year with a minimum guaranteed raise of one percent each year and the right to strike during the reopener negotiations.
The members won Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an additional holiday, additional union space including two offices at each building and one bulletin board at each facility, and additional language for parental leave. The new contract also includes an equity pay bump of three percent for senior members with over ten years of seniority. Local 1018 members also won remote work language preventing the company from requiring unnecessary paperwork for employees who are current in their job requirements for the previous three months and are not on a corrective action plan.
“People are more appreciative of the union,” said Local 1018 member Karen Bernard Reyes. “If it wasn’t for the union, we wouldn’t have gotten the pay increase, we wouldn’t have protected remote work, we wouldn’t have gotten the extra holiday; if we didn’t start the union years ago we never would have had these wins.”
Prior to the strike, members took their concerns to the Board of Directors as part of an escalation plan where they gave speeches about their current working conditions. After the board meeting, Local 1018 President Jackie Palacios said, “The company says that they care about the community and care about the people that we serve but they then turn around and treat their employees horribly. It is heartbreaking,” said Palacios. The members of Local 1018 help with life assistance for disabled community members of all ages.
Local 1018 Chief Steward Eric Escobar said, “I think management's indifference towards their workers reflects their indifference towards their clients. Burn out, low wages, poor treatment, it all leads to workers being unable to take care of themselves and in turn they cannot take care of the client.”
On the picket line, members chanted together and marched with music and drumming that filled the street each day. Bernard Reyes said, “It was motivating… It was nice to see the comradery, get to know other people, that they had the same convictions we did, and that it made a difference. If we didn’t do that, and those people never showed up, we never would have gotten the results that we did.”
The bargaining committee consisted of Local 1018 President Jackie Palacios, Chief Steward Eric Escobar, Financial Secretary Linda Mnatsakanyan, and Recording Secretary Tamar Megueiran. They were assisted by Staff Coordinator Kim Lawson and Field Organizer Fred Hatef.