South Bay Labor Council
| Founded | July 9, 1958 |
|---|---|
| Members | 100,000 |
| Affiliation | AFL-CIO |
| Key people | Ben Field, Cindy Chavez, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Amy B. Dean, |
| Office location | San Jose, California |
| Country | United States |
| Website | www |
The South Bay Labor Council, AFL-CIO (SBLC), is the labor council of Santa Clara and San Benito counties in California's Bay Area. The SBLC is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, one of the national labor confederations of the United States. The SBLC represents over 100,000 men and women of 101 unions in Silicon Valley. The current Executive Officer is Ben Field. The organization gained public attention in the late 1990s for supporting legislative efforts to redistribute income to Silicon Valley's poor and low income residents.
In the General Election of November 2012, the South Bay Labor Council led a campaign to pass Measure D, an initiative developed by sociology students at San Jose State University to raise the minimum wage in San Jose. The measure passed with 60 percent of the vote.
The progressive think-tank Working Partnerships, USA began as the policy arm of the SBLC, but has since separated and become an independent organization. The South Bay Labor Council runs one of the largest, most sophisticated organizational campaign operations in Northern California.
In the late 1930s Santa Clara County's trade unions wrestled with the AFL-west for control of the then existing central labor council. Twice, in 1938 and 1939, the council had its charter revoked after electing leaders disapproved of by the national organization. The South Bay Labor Council in its current form was chartered in 1958 as the Central Labor Council of Santa Clara County.
In 1987 council Executive Director Rick Sawyer persuaded then mayor Tom McEnery to negotiate an organizing agreement at the newly opened Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose. The agreement led to the unionization of every major hotel in downtown San Jose by UniteHERE Local 19, and to a prevailing wage commitment for city contracts above $50,000.
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