SLOCEA Makes History, Celebrates 75 Years!
This year SLOCEA makes history by recognizing our 75-year Anniversary as a labor union in San Luis Obispo County. While that’s a lot of history, preserving the rights of workers goes back much farther.
The formation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) in Philadelphia in 1794 marks the beginning of sustained trade union organization among American workers. This followed the earliest recorded strike in 1768 when New York journeymen tailors protested a wage reduction.
The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.
75 years ago, SLOCEA was founded on these same basic principles. In 1947 a group of County employees felt that an organization was needed to help improve the salaries, benefits and working conditions for the employees working for San Luis Obispo County. That year SLOCEA was founded as an Unincorporated Association.
These SLOCEA "pioneers" negotiated for many of the benefits that we take for granted today. Among them are the Civil Service system, a 40-hour/5-day workweek, a County retirement plan, a medical insurance plan and many other gains that we now consider basic to employment.
SLOCEA officially incorporated on December 10, 1969, largely to comply with the State and County requirements to achieve recognition as the "Exclusive Representative" of SLO County bargaining units following the passage of the Meyers-Milias Brown Act.
SLOCEA was granted formal recognition by San Luis Obispo County, as the “Exclusive Representative" of County bargaining units, on November 8, 1971. At that time recognition was granted for two-years at a time, requiring SLOCEA to re-apply to the County to be re-recognized every 24 months, but the law has since then changed.
Much has happened since 1947. SLOCEA led the first ever strike in the County in December 2018 to protest the County’s lack of meaningful compensation during that negotiation cycle and subsequent imposition.
The foundational principles that SLOCEA was built on in 1947 are the same as those of the laborers in 1768, and the principles that we still strive for today. SLOCEA works hard to preserve the rights of our members while seeking meaningful increases in salaries and benefits for the employees that we represent.
Theresa Schultz
Senior Labor Representative