Cover Story - May '97

Jerry Butkiewicz is out to put the union label on San Diego. "I see the potential in this town to be wall-to-wall union," he says. "When 80 percent of the wealth is controlled by 14 percent of the population and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting bigger, not smaller how are you, as a single employee, going to go to your boss and say, 'Hey, do you think I could get a raise?' Give me a break. There's no question the union is the way to go."

With 86 percent of San Diego County's work force nonunionized, the secretary treasurer of the Labor Council of San Diego and Imperial Counties has his work cut out for him. Trade union activists say Butkiewicz is just the person to meet the challenge.

The energy level that he has - he can go in and talk to an organization and inspire them ..." says Jef Eatchel, secretary treasurer of Local 30 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. "I call Jerry Butkiewicz the no bullshit, get something done kind of guy."

After a year in office, Butkiewicz has brought a combination of heart, practicality and hard working enthusiasm to the Labor Council that many say had lost sight of its mission under Joe Francis' 14 year leadership. One of several labor activists pushing for changes at the council, the 43 year old former postal worker became the candidate of change and took over with a program to unify local trade unions and invigorate the staid labor organization.

This local philosophy rejecting complacency and focusing on renewing trade union unity, organizing campaigns and political action parallels the national shift that took place in the AFL-CIO with the election of John Sweeney to head the national organization.

Designed to unify, assist and coordinate political activities of the 100 or so AFL-CIO trade union locals in the two counties, the Labor Council has a small staff funded through affiliate dues. In his first 12 months, Butkiewicz brought in nearly two dozen AFL-CIO union locals as new or returning Labor Council members and energized a fledgling political organizing network that last November helped elect several labor-friendly candidates.

In addition, as the public face of the trade union movement in San Diego, Butkiewicz has extended labor's reach through alliances with business, government and community groups as part of his broad program to improve the lot of the worker.

Butkiewicz and other labor leaders, for example, quietly met with Sharp Healthcare President Michael Murphy to discuss how the quality of health care could be affected by the proposed purchase by Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. and the new labor union voted in by hospital nurses.

In January, Butkiewicz agreed to join the 24 member Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce Jerry Butkiewicz is out to put the union label on San Diego. "I see the potential in this town to be wall to wall union," he says. "When 80 percent of the wealth is controlled by 14 percent of the population and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting bigger, not smaller - how are you, as a single employee, going to go to your boss and say, 'Hey, do you think I could get a raise?' Give me a break. There's no question the union is the way to go."

The energy level that he has - he can go in and talk to an organization and inspire them ..." says Jef Eatchel, secretary-treasurer of Local 30 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. "I call Jerry Butkiewicz the no-bullshit, get-something-done kind of guy."

After a year in office, Butkiewicz has brought a combination of heart, practicality and hard-working enthusiasm to the Labor Council that many say had lost sight of its mission under Joe Francis' 14-year leadership. One of several labor activists pushing for changes at the council, the 43-year-old former postal worker became the candidate of change and took over with a program to unify local trade unions and invigorate the staid labor organization.

In January, Butkiewicz agreed to join the 24-member Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce executive committee, commencing "a new experiment" for organized labor. The goal? Open communication and build partnerships between labor and business, he says.

We aren’t a bunch of cigar-smoking, Cadillac-driving people who come in and demand things," he adds. "What we want to do is walk in very professionally and say, 'We’re in a partnership. When you make money, we want to make money too.'

Labor solidified its credibility in the business community's eyes during the recent battle over the expansion of the stadium. Unions donated funds for pro-expansion newspaper advertisements and sent thousands of members to a key stadium support rally. "He's been able to deliver very well," says Gilbert Partida, chamber president and CEO.

Since January, Butkiewicz and Partida have worked together to defuse several potentially explosive labor-company disputes. Neither would provide specific examples; both said their efforts have been effective.

Partida says the invitation to labor - initiated by Chairman Steven Cushman - is part of a broad chamber diversification program begun in the early 1990s to expand the Republican dominated business organization to include other political viewpoints, a broader range of ethnicities, women, and now, labor.

He brings another perspective that has been lacking," Partida says. "It’s not only been a wise strategic move, but it works very well to have labor's participation. We will agree on 90 percent of the issues."

The differences usually aren’t that big," agrees Butkiewicz. "It’s the us and them mentality that makes it feel like it’s a huge difference. That's what we’re trying to change here. I’m working real hard to change it on the labor side."

Nonetheless, while labor and business can unify around issues of economic growth and job creation, they often disagree on just who will hold those jobs and, of course, whether new jobs should be unionized. The convention center expansion is a case in point. The Labor Council supports the expansion but differs with the chamber and City Hall over the question of who should be employed in construction. Labor is firmly committed to a local hiring requirement - through local union halls. For the most part, any union employment requirements raise the hackles of business owners and leaders in San Diego. Butkiewicz disagrees, but accepts the difference. "Where we’re going to go our separate ways is after we create the jobs," he says. "We’re going to organize them. The chamber and 95 percent of its members don’t want us to organize, but that’s OK. They're going to do what they've gotta do. We’re going to do what we’ve gotta do, but we’re going to work together to create them (jobs) so we have a better community to live and work in."

This basic difference in perspective underlies the cordial Chamber labor partnership - and Butkiewicz says it’s up to business whether labor kisses or bites. "We can probably be one of the best partners of business in this town, and business is going to decide if we’re going to be their partners or their worst enemy."

Sitting in his midcity office discussing why unions are good for their workers, Butkiewicz is in his element. Serious and direct, he returns again and again to the ethics of a living wage and the value of collective bargaining. Grandson of Polish immigrants and son of a union painter, it didn’t take Butkiewicz long to join the union way of life. As a young postal worker right out of high school, he joined the American Postal Workers Union, quickly became shop steward and within a few years rose to president of the local. He's been a union man - in Phoenix, Oceanside and now San Diego - ever since.

Butkiewicz's personal credo aside, labor's clout boils down to a numbers game. And organizing is the number-one priority of the Labor Council this year.

The Labor Council soon will kick off a pro-union advertising campaign complete with toll-free number (1-888-B Union 2) in an effort to boost trade union membership numbers above the current 100,000. Right now, Butkiewicz estimates that one union election is being held each week somewhere in the two counties with unions picking up wins about 60 percent of the time.

Labor also is more united on the picket line these days. The new Labor Council "Street Heat" corps of volunteers is ready to hit the sidewalks on short notice. And Butkiewicz is particularly effective at inspiring the troops, numerous labor colleagues say. At the Hotel del Coronado last fall, he helped marshal a force of 200 to stage a sit-in to protest stalled contract negotiations, a mobilization that would not have been possible a year ago, says Eatchel.

Such union solidarity is critical for success, Butkiewicz notes. "What’s going to happen in this county is this: If an employer takes on a union, he’ll be taking on 100,000 union members in San Diego County. The Labor Council will encourage dialogue but make no bones about it; we’re united now in San Diego County."

That unity also was evident last November in the council's effective Labor to Neighbor political organizing campaign. Full-time organizer Donald Cohen directed the campaign, which canvassed union members about their concerns and then queried candidates about their positions on those issues. Eight candidates were endorsed, and labor activists campaigned actively in trade union circles.

Assemblyman Howard Wayne (D-San Diego) was one of the seven candidates who won with labor's help. Wayne said he had no direct way of measuring the impact that Labor to Neighbor's endorsement and canvassing had on his victory, but praised the effort. "They were well organized," says Wayne. "They had a definite message, a definite targeted message. They had a lot of people out, and they were working hard. I think they made a big contribution."

As Eatchel sees it, Butkiewicz played a key role in getting the job done. "He gathered all the unions together and said, 'Hey guys, look, here's what we can do. We can get together, get our members out to knock on doors, make telephone calls, donate some money, get them out to vote, get our people in office, or we can sit back and get our ass kicked again. What do you want to do?'"

Up until May 1996, Butkiewicz ran campaigns of a different sort. Fourteen years ago, he was hired as the full time labor liaison to the United Way. He organized philanthropic fund raising campaigns in companies with trade unions, a job that took him into top corporate offices as a partner working on a common goal. Those relationships helped him establish credibility and trust in the business community, Butkiewicz says. He remains active in the United Way as a director.

As a prominent labor representative, Butkiewicz attends numerous benefits for community organizations and has little time during the week for his wife Julia and two young children. He also has three children from a previous marriage and recently became a grandfather for the first time.

On weekends, Butkiewicz retreats to tend his pigs and sheep and play a little ball on his five acre homestead in Temecula. A serious baseball player during his youth in Arizona, he tended third base on one of the top summer high school teams in the country, and was offered college but had a young family to support. He has a diamond and a batting cage on his lot where he takes a few swings and helps his sons with the game.

Butkiewicz recently took his eldest son, Jerry, to meet a vice president at University Mechanical and Engineering Contractors, one of the unionized companies where Butkiewicz ran United Way campaigns. Frank Drachman was glad to discuss goal-setting and other career topics with the young geologist.

I'd do anything Jerry Butkiewicz asked me to do," Drachman says. "On a personal basis, he's a great friend. On a professional basis, he's a huge, important leader in our community."

Butkiewicz's former boss, United Way President and CEO Bruce Boland, also is a staunch Butkiewicz fan. "He brings a tremendous amount of energy to whatever he does," says Boland. "The San Diego-Imperial County Labor Council is on a bright, fresh, new start with Jerry."

If there's one complaint colleagues have about Butkiewicz, it’s his lack of punctuality. "The biggest drawback is getting Jerry to a meeting on time," quips Boland. "We always say, if we’re 15 minutes into a meeting, 'Well, Jerry should be here any minute now.'"