Unos 50 sindicalistas se reunieron en el parque Duboce a primera hora de la mañana del sábado para apoyar la candidatura de Ahsha Safaí a la alcaldía.
Safaí, supervisor del Distrito 11 y candidato a la alcaldía, había trabajado como director político del sindicato SEIU Local 87, que representa a los trabajadores de limpieza, durante ocho años, de 2008 a 2016.
El sábado recibió el apoyo de tres sindicatos: SEIU Local 87 (poca sorpresa), United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 y Local 648.
Con el sonido de fondo de los trenes Muni pasando por la avenida Duboce y los perros correteando y atrapando pelotas en sus paseos matutinos, los líderes sindicales que representan a trabajadores de supermercados, educadores, ingenieros fijos y conserjes pronunciaron discursos sobre cómo Safaí se ganó su apoyo.
“En el momento álgido de la pandemia, no tuve que llamar a Ahsha”, recuerda Jim Araby, director de la organización del Local 5 de la UFCW. “Ahsha me llamó y me dijo: ‘¿Qué podemos hacer para mejorar las condiciones de tus miembros?”.
“Este es el tipo de persona que necesitamos en la ciudad de San Francisco, que se levante cada día y no piense en cuál es su próximo trabajo”, continuó Araby. “Sino que piense en qué puede hacer cada día por la gente trabajadora, porque sé que todos nosotros pensamos en eso cada día”.
En vísperas de las elecciones, Safaí ha recibido el apoyo de los sindicatos: El San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, que representa a 32 sindicatos, apoyó tanto a Safaí como a Mark Farrell como primeros candidatos; United Educators of San Francisco apoyó a Safaí y a Aaron Peskin; National Union of Healthcare Workers y Unite Here Local 2 apoyaron primero a Peskin y después a Safaí.
Pero también hay lagunas en la lista de sindicatos que apoyan a Safaí: El Local 798 de los Bomberos de San Francisco solo apoyó a Farrell, y el SEIU 1021, el mayor sindicato de la ciudad, solo apoyó a Peskin. El sindicato de la policía ha apoyado a la alcaldesa London Breed.
Ese respaldo del SEIU se sumó a Peskin, a pesar de que Safaí está trabajando con el sindicato en la Proposición I, una medida electoral para mejorar la contratación y retención de los operadores sindicalizados del 911 y las enfermeras mediante el refuerzo de sus beneficios de pensión.
“Siempre hablamos de qué pasaría si uno de nosotros se postula a las elecciones. ¿Nos uniríamos todos en torno a esa persona? ¿Nos aseguraremos de que la voz de los trabajadores de a pie se escuche en los pasillos del poder?”, preguntó Rudy González, secretario-tesorero del San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council.
Y la respuesta, por parte de los líderes sindicales y simpatizantes presentes en la manifestación del sábado, fue un sí.
“Estamos con ustedes. Hemos estado con ustedes. Seguiremos estando con ustedes”, dijo Olga Miranda, presidenta del Local 87 y una de las más apasionadas defensoras de Safaí. “Y, por favor, no olvides nunca de dónde carajo vienes, ¿de acuerdo?”.
Historial laboral de Safaí
Para Cassondra Curiel, presidenta de United Educators of San Francisco, uno de los ejemplos más concretos de la labor de Safaí fue conseguir un estipendio para los paraeducadores, que a menudo pasan apuros durante las vacaciones de verano y tienen que ahorrar durante el curso escolar o trabajar en varios empleos de verano para salir adelante. Los estipendios fueron aprobados por la Junta de Supervisores en 2023 y unos 1,600 paraeducadores pudieron optar a ellos.
Lo primero que le vino a la mente a Larry Mazzola, Presidente del Consejo de Oficios de la Construcción de San Francisco, fue el Proyecto de Acuerdo Laboral para toda la ciudad.
Presentada por el entonces supervisor Farrell en 2017, la normativa se aprobó en 2019. Según el acuerdo, los contratistas están obligados a adoptar los convenios colectivos de varios sindicatos cuando licitan en proyectos del Departamento de Obras Públicas de San Francisco y el Departamento de Recreación y Parques de San Francisco.
“Después de que estuviéramos en negociaciones, Ahsha se encargó de intervenir en las negociaciones. Tomó la iniciativa”, dijo Mazzola. “Sin él, creo que el proyecto nunca se habría llevado a cabo”.
En la legislación final, los contratistas locales más pequeños, que temían que el acuerdo les dejara fuera de juego, quedaron exentos a menos que el presupuesto del proyecto superara los 5 millones de dólares.
“Realmente ayudó a salvar las diferencias en esas conversaciones”, dijo González. “Tiene un temperamento y unas dotes de negociador que a menudo se pasan por alto en un candidato. La capacidad de reunir a la gente, asegurarse de que no solo son escuchados sino que además se sientan respetados, y luego llevar a la gente a una conversación basada en soluciones”.
“Siempre que surge algo controvertido, nos llama y se sienta con nosotros”, coincidió Mazzola.
Los sindicatos no están satisfechos con la alcaldesa Breed, sobre todo por su apoyo al uso de viviendas modulares. “Quiero que apoyen a los trabajadores locales y no que desplacen los puestos de trabajo fuera de la ciudad, como está haciendo la actual alcaldesa”, dijo Mazzola.
El Consejo de Oficios de la Construcción respaldó a Safaí y Farrell para la alcaldía en junio. “Ambos cumplen los requisitos”, dijo Mazzola. “Más que nada, queremos que la gente se reúna con nosotros y nos invite a la conversación”.
Polémica
Si resulta elegido, Safaí declaró el año pasado a San Francisco Chronicle que nombraría a un “miembro de alto rango del personal” con experiencia en cuestiones laborales, como parte de un esfuerzo por asegurarse de que los sindicatos se sintieran “parte del proceso de toma de decisiones”.
Pero su estrecha relación con los líderes sindicales también ha suscitado críticas durante su mandato.
En 2017, su primer año como supervisor, Safaí se enfrentó a críticas cuando él y la entonces presidenta de la Junta de Supervisores, Breed, intentaron nombrar a Miranda, presidenta del Local 87, para la Comisión de Policía.
En ese momento, Miranda se enfrentó a dudas sobre su idoneidad para servir como comisionada de policía por su carácter temperamental: supuestamente agredió a un colega durante una reunión en 2016, informó San Francisco Examiner. Miranda retiró su candidatura en junio de 2017, cuando quedó claro que no contaba con los votos necesarios después de que el entonces supervisor Jeff Sheehy le retirara su apoyo.
“Pensaron que lo estaba convirtiendo en algo personal y político, y no era así. Solo quería una nueva voz”, dijo Safaí. “Si no estaba capacitada o no era alguien apta para hacer el trabajo, yo habría sido el primero en decírselo”.
El apoyo del soporte laboral
Es año de elecciones, y se ha invertido mucho dinero en las contiendas. Hasta el 6 de septiembre se habían recaudado unos $33.85 millones de dólares, según los archivos locales, la mayor parte destinados a medidas electorales y a la contienda por la alcaldía.
A principios de esta semana, Michael Bloomberg, multimillonario y exalcalde de Nueva York, donó un millón de dólares al PAC que apoya la reelección de la alcaldesa London Breed.
Los datos sobre el financiamiento de la campaña entre el 7 y el 28 de agosto muestran que Daniel Lurie donó $1.5 millones de dólares a su campaña. Si se descuenta la autofinanciación de Lurie, la mayor parte de las donaciones superiores a $1,000 dólares procedieron de los sectores tecnológico o financiero, mientras que las donaciones de los sindicatos solo representaron el 8% del total.
Es “desalentador” que las personas más ricas de la ciudad intenten comprar la alcaldía, dijo Kim Tavaglione, directora ejecutiva del Consejo Laboral de San Francisco. “Tenemos todas estas leyes en los libros para que sea un campo de juego justo para que la gente común pueda postularse, pero los ricos siempre encuentran maneras de eludir las leyes”.
“No vamos a revolcarnos en la masa política. Nuestro dinero no va a parar ahí”, dijo Curiel, del sindicato de profesores. “Puede que nuestro apoyo no produzca un montón de anuncios de Hulu, pero es una declaración de valores”.
Lo que tienen los sindicatos es poder popular, dijeron los líderes sindicales. Los sindicatos “intensificarán su juego” en las elecciones después del Día del Trabajo, y el mitin del sábado fue un ejemplo de ello.
“Se puede comprar tiempo de emisión, se puede comprar publicidad, se pueden comprar asesores, pero no se puede comprar el terreno”, dijo González. “Tenemos que hacer llegar el mensaje sobre el terreno. Y eso es algo en lo que los trabajadores se han comprometido a ayudar [a Ahsha]”.
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