By Ian Anderson | Downtown News

With a singularly influential June primary approaching, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council has issued a “Working Families Report Card,” meting out classroom-style grades to the sitting members of the San Diego City Council.

Five of the eight city council members received failing grades of 59% or below in the report, which targeted their positions on 27 specific issues brought before the governing body in the past eighteen months.  While the lowest grades were reserved for republicans, the bulk of the criticism seems to have been directed at council democrats, particularly Todd Gloria (60%), and Sherri Lightner (54%), each of whom is running for reelection.  Although the Labor Council supported both candidates in 2008, this year it has declared “no endorsement” in both of their districts.

As an affiliate of the national AFL-CIO, the Labor Council acts as advocate for more than one hundred local unions, representing workers in both the public and private sectors, including health care, education, hospitality and construction.  It has never issued such a report card before, and the preponderance of low grades illustrates the current disparity between city politics and labor interests, while its timing suggests an attempt to impact the June 5th primary election.

Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez dispels any notion that it’s intended to chastise democrats, though. “Standing up for working families shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” she said. Gonzales also says the council’s report card is “a wake-up call for all of us.”

However, the political reality may actually be that pro-labor rhetoric is not a factor in this election. Things were quite different four years ago.  A 2008 general election that featured a very popular Barack Obama prompted increased voter turnout among democrats.  As a result, a vast majority of the labor-leaning candidates and positions endorsed by the Labor Council were victorious.  It also left San Diego County with a greater number of registered democrats than republicans for the first time in more than two decades.

While the latter still holds true, a couple of circumstances of the June 5th election conspire to swing the balance of power back to the right.  Primary elections historically inspire lower voter turnout, meaning tight races and controversial ballot initiatives — such as Propositions A and B — may be decided by only a handful of ballots, either way.  With the GOP presidential primary expected to increase conservative presence at the polls, pro-business voting blocks have had an opportunity to shape the issues going into this campaign season, and the Labor Council’s critique of city council positions reflects that.

For example, a closer look at the report card’s grading criteria shows that pension reform factored heavily into the assessments, including each official’s position on Proposition B, which would move new city hires to a 401(k) plan while reducing pensions of current employees by extending a five year salary freeze.  Negative scores were given to those who support the ballot measure, and additionally, to those who failed to support an alternative plan, or voted against delaying the initiative until November’s general election.  Grading was similarly imposed against supporters of Proposition A, which would prevent collective bargaining agreements (CBA’s) from being required for locally funded construction projects.

The latter may contribute to the Labor Council’s position on the largest single issue addressed in the Report Card; the planned Convention Center expansion.

Gonzalez points out that the expansion could “generate thousands of middle class construction and convention jobs that would anchor the economic recovery of communities throughout the city.”  However, local funding, combined with the passage of Prop A, would mean contractors would not be compelled to hire union members.  Implementation and funding the estimated billion-dollar project contributed to no fewer than five of the 27 issues evaluated, comprising roughly 20% of the each council member’s final score.

Furthermore, six of the council members received negative marks for most or all of these criteria, in effect dropping each of them as many as two whole letter grades.  On this key issue for labor, both parties seem to side under the banner of “open competition,” even though CBA’s have reportedly never been used by the city anyway.  Whereas the expansion itself won’t show up on the ballot, Prop A may stand as a proxy vote on the principle of CBA.

While the Labor Council has an obligation to promote the interests of its unions, the elected officials counter that they have an obligation to enact the interests of their constituents.  Of the city council members dinged in the report, Lightner has the most to lose running to reclaim her seat.  She faces three challengers, including fellow democrat Bryan Pease and the better-funded republican Ray Ellis.  When asked about her failing grade and loss of labor endorsement, she said, “I’m not ‘on the side’ of anyone, other than the constituents of my district.”  Ironically, she has attacked by her opponents for their positions on some of the same issues, as well as the idea she doesn’t “stand up to special interests.”

City council candidate Mat Kostrinsky has faced similar rhetoric during his campaign from opponent Scott Sherman in District 7.  Kostrinsky, running for the first time, has yet to be graded by the Labor Council, but has received their endorsement– though he acknowledges it’s not always a boon.  “It’s a dual-edged sword,” he said, describing interactions with both his opponent and members of his community.  “You talk to some angry voters … what they’re being told is that the unions control city council.”  However, it would seem voters are currently the only ones under this impression.  As Kostrinsky points out, if the Labor Council is revoking endorsements following a successful 2008 campaign, “Clearly they didn’t get what they wanted.”

Ian Anderson is an author and reporter, who has published books about e-commerce and the environment, and written articles on food, music, community events and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].