New head for labor council: Shelley Kessler retiring, Julie Lind Rupp takes over top job in August

Rupp is the council’s current political director and will take over Kessler’s job as executive secretary-treasurer starting Aug. 1.

The council endorses local candidates who are union friendly and advances legislation to protect workers’ rights. It also urges boycotts of local businesses that do not employ union workers and advocates for members during collective bargaining.

Rupp joined the council in 2010 and staffs the Airport Labor Coalition.

“Julie is well suited to lead the council in the next phase of organizational development necessary to meet the upcoming challenges the labor movement will face. This is the opportunity for the next generation to reinvigorate the fight for social and economic justice in our community and we wish her the greatest success,” Kessler wrote in a letter to members.

With an uptick in office and apartment construction, local labor is doing fine as far as being employed, Rupp said.

The problem, however, is the area’s high housing costs that prevent individuals from living where they work, she said.

“It’s daunting to live here,” she said.

Rents soaring above $2,500 for a one-bedroom apartment makes living in the county “inaccessible for a large portion of the workforce,” Rupp said.

The upcoming presidential election has also spawned an attack from the right against unionizing public sector jobs, she said.

The attacks, however, only reenergizes the labor movement to organize and recruit, she said.

Locally, an effort to unionize custodians at large tech firms such as Google have been successful.

In May, the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West brokered a new labor agreement that covers 23 janitorial service contractors and 8,000 workers in the region.

Under the old contract, most union janitors made $14.24 an hour. The new deal boosted that rate to $15 and is scheduled to rise to $16.50 by 2019.

The San Mateo County Central Labor Council represents approximately 110 affiliated local unions with 70,000 members.

Kessler started her work at the council 31 years ago as its political director.

She’s been active in the labor movement since 1977 when she worked for General Motors in Fremont.

The union helped Kessler find a voice in a male-dominated industry. She later worked at Westinghouse Electric in Sunnyvale and joined the International Association of Machinists Local 565, according to the California Labor Federation.

One of the council’s top objectives is to encourage all workers regardless of race, creed, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or ancestry to share equally in the full benefits of union organization and to promulgate the principles enunciated by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations that the concern of one is the concern of all and to uphold the constitution of the AFL-CIO.

Rupp worked in the offices of both Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga, and state Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-Fremont. She is also the former political director for California Young Democrats.

She has also volunteered for the Make-A-Wish Foundation locally since 2014.

bill@smdailyjournal.com

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