Thank You John Bowers

Senior field representative John Bowers, one of SEIU's early leaders and visionaries, is retiring. A dedicated trade unionist, he helped lay the ground work for Local 535 and helped build SEIU into the largest and most progressive union in California.

John was an Alameda County child protective services social worker in 1966 when SEIU organizer Bob Anderson sat down in front of his desk. "He wondered whether I was at all interested in joining 535, which had recently been formed and was trying to represent social workers statewide."

The union was small then. Bowers' only contact with 535 had been through Irv Kestin, who was then one of only three members of Local 535 employed in the welfare department. At the time, the welfare department had adopted some draconian policies toward their clients.

"We were told we would have to make midnight bed checks on our clients," recalls Bowers. "One social worker got fired for refusing to do it, and the rest of us made arrangements with our clients to make sure no one was home that night. I decided to get involved in what was then called the Alameda County Employees Association, the forerunner to SEIU Local 616. They had a presence in the welfare department and I got started helping them analyze state legislation. I found it a job I enjoyed."

Bowers assisted ACEA in developing a Welfare Reform Task Force. A group of community activists, it set itself up in place of the Welfare Commission to hold alternative public hearings on the welfare department. "The local public television station, Channel 9, covered the hearings. We invited local citizens and pastors to listen to welfare recipients testify about the atrocities being worked on them by the welfare department. To my surprise the system moved, grants went up, and the board of supervisors responded to being embarrassed by the hearings. I was impressed that it was possible, through collective action, to make social change.

"Anderson, like a good organizer, had continued to come back, never pushing too hard, just coming back and asking 'is it time yet?' For a long time I told him no, but the next time he showed up I said 'it's time'. I ran for the 535 Statewide Executive Board my first year and was elected. The second year I ran for Alameda County Chapter president and also won. I was hooked."

535's Early Days

Though still working for the county, Bowers helped Anderson write 535's bylaws. "In those days we used to fly down to LA for $13.00 carrying our sleeping bags. We would sleep in members' houses, on their living room floors, and when they came north, they slept on ours. This was the beginning of the 535 Statewide Executive Board."

In 1968 Bowers quit the welfare department and went back to school, earning an MSW from the University of California at Berkeley. At the time public sector SEIU Locals, 535, 616, and 250, were organizing and needed a person in the SEIU research department. Bowers was hired right out of graduate school, and for the next 15 years he was the SEIU research department for public sector locals in Northern California.

"At the beginning it was really fun. Nobody had ever negotiated anything and so they depended on me. Because I had worked in Alameda County and was the only person with any contract negotiation experience, and knew all these new union activists, they called on me to head up the union bargaining teams. It was great."

Joint Bargaining

In 1973 Bowers negotiated the first Alameda County public employee contract. It was one of the first attempts at joint negotiations with representatives from SEIU Locals 250, 616, 535, and 390.

Until 1968, the California Brown Act allowed unions to sign-up public employees, but little else. "Negotiations in those days for public employee unions consisted of standing up in front of a board of supervisors and giving pitches for raises," says Bowers.

In those days, unions were called public employee associations. They were organized around the civil service and retirement system. "We used to show up at civil service hearings to defend workers, but in those days there was no such thing as third party arbitrations or grievance procedures. Instead of negotiations, they did civil service comparison surveys to determine wage increases."

That all changed in 1968 with the passage of the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. It mirrored the National Labor Relations Act and gave unions the right to represent their members. In the coming years, Bowers put together the tri-local contract in Alameda County and the four-local contract in San Francisco. In both cases he was the chief negotiator for the first two or three contracts. "It was the best part of my job. It was exciting. I still enjoy it. You win or lose. It's always a challenge, always different."

On Strike

He was also the chief spokesperson for negotiations in 1976, when Alameda County employees struck for seven weeks. The 1976 strike was highlighted by the mass arrest of the bargaining team in the offices of the county's director of human resources.

"For seven weeks that strike was like living in a bell jar. We were totally consumed. But the strike brought out new union leadership. We were not only on strike, we were building the union. People learned the lesson, if you wanted to gain something you had to have power, political power."

Bowers grew up in New Jersey and attended Princeton University. Following a two-year stint in the Army he came west in 1962. "I had heard how great it was in San Francisco. I remember I was still living in Chicago at the time and it was in the middle of the winter, cold and snowing. In those days, flying time was 12 hours to the West Coast. I had fallen asleep and woke up as the plane flew over the Rockies. I remember looking out of the window, the sun was like a gold ball, the sky was blue, and I knew I was doing the right thing."

Bowers has worked at Local 535 since 1987. He has represented Northern California Kaiser, La Clinica de la Raza, and Catholic Charities. "The reason I have worked here is I like, care about, and respect the people, the members. I will miss the members. I have met some really good people over the years, and will be sorry not to be out there doing it. To do this job, you have to believe that people can work together and get great things done. It is always rewarding to see that happen."

"John leaves behind a wealth of accomplishments. We have much to thank for his tireless efforts and dedication to the union spirit," adds David Kramer, Local 535 executive director. The union will be celebrating John's retirement on June 30th, 2000. For more information on tickets contact Kerry Newkirk at (510) 893-8766.