Listen to the rank and file: Political lessons from something I missed 25 years ago

Listen to the rank and file: Political lessons from something I missed 25 years ago

As folks get ready for the April 5 protests, I’m reminded of a lesson I learned 25 years ago. When I was working for SEIU’s Justice for Janitors campaign in San Francisco in the late 1990’s, a major San Francisco business with more than with a dozen office buildings (including an art deco landmark on new Montgomery St.) was about to restructure its janitorial and maintenance services. These buildings traditionally were cleaned and maintained by …