The Work Continues
I need to begin this month with Everett Whorton.
Everett was a native San Franciscan, a product of SFUSD, and a union carpenter who gave nearly 27 years of his life to the district. He began his career there in 1999, became a carpenter in 2012, and later earned a promotion to carpenter supervisor. He knew the buildings, knew the work, and knew the people.
I knew Everett through contract fights and grievances. He was the kind of shop steward who stood up for people even when he was not directly affected. He never wavered. When I needed help representing the trades at SFUSD in my role at the SF Building Trades Council, Everett was there. I could count on him to tell me the truth, not simply what he thought I wanted to hear.
Labor has its politics, personalities, and disagreements. Everett did not let any of that get in the way of doing what was right. He cared about his fellow carpenters, but he also cared about the agenda of every trade at the district. He understood that a union man does not speak up only when his own job and benefits are on the line.
Sherlyn Bura’s remembrance of Everett filled in the picture many of us knew. He organized summer barbecues, St. Patrick’s Day lunches, Thanksgiving meals, and holiday potlucks because he wanted people to sit down, eat, laugh, and feel like a family. He found raffle prizes, and when donations came up short, he reached into his own pocket.
That was Everett. Rather than making speeches about caring for people, he showed it.
Everett passed away at home on Friday, August 7, after fighting cancer for roughly four years. He was surrounded by his wife and children. His family has suffered an incredible loss, and so have SFUSD and our labor movement. I will miss his humor, his straight talk, and his texts. May God grant him peace, bring comfort to his family, and make his memory a blessing to all of us.
The best way I know to honor a trade unionist is to keep doing the work.
“You stand up because it’s right — not only when the fight lands at your own doorstep.”
While I’m on leave from this council’s day-to-day staff duties, I remain as its elected secretary–treasurer, and I continue to monitor our work. President Larry Mazzola Jr., our officers, Board of Business Representatives, staff, and counsel have taken the reins on critical bargaining, pipeline projects, and organizational matters. Consultant and lobbyist Ahsha Safaí has also stepped up to advise the officers and staff on political matters. We continue to track entitlements, legislation, and endorsements. The work has not stopped.
That includes the recent fight at CalPortland.
CalPortland acquired union-signatory employers in the ready-mix concrete industry and then kicked workers off their teamster and operating engineer health, welfare, and pension plans. That threatened more than individual benefits. It threatened standards across the industry.
The teamster locals struck. At the request of Teamsters Joint Council 7, this council stepped in to help open lines of communication among the parties and our project labor agreement partners.
Supervisor Connie Chan loaned me back to the council for this fight, giving me the space to assist mediator Robert Hirsch. Robert is a well-known and highly respected mediator, construction grievance panelist, and standing arbitrator under our PLAs. He knows our agreements and this industry inside and out. His steady hand helped keep the parties focused on a resolution.
Council Vice-President John Doherty of IBEW Local 6 opened his union hall to host the mediation and gave the parties a place to sit down and work through the dispute. I’m grateful to John and Local 6 for once again stepping up when the labor movement needed them.
Mayor Daniel Lurie, Enrique Landa of Fifth Space, Webcor, and many other partners also helped bring people together.
Their help made a difference, but there should be no confusion about who won the day: the rank-and-file teamsters and operating engineers.
They stood together. They accepted the risk. They held the line.
I’m proud to report that industry supplies are moving again and the workers protected the union benefits and standards they had earned.
Everett Whorton understood that kind of solidarity. You stand up because it’s right — not only when the fight lands at your own doorstep.
We will miss him. We will remember him. We will keep doing the work.