Listen to the interview with Anchor Union organizing committee member Patrick in Report Back, the DSA SF podcast.

The collective power of a union is the strongest organizational tool that workers can use to shift the power balance in a workplace. We are proud to announce that DSA SF and the ILWU have been working together to help workers organize at @anchorbrewing in SF this past year.

This large “craft” brewery employs about 100 workers at a single production facility in SF. The craft brewing industry has essentially no union labor and hides its exploitation behind a hip industry profile. Anchor was actually recently acquired by the multinational Sapporo Co.

We believe this is one of the first major attempts to unionize the workforce of a craft brewery and hope it could lead to more unionization across the industry.

Jobs at Anchor Steam used to be regarded as some of the best in the city. But as the cost of living continued to rise significantly, wages stagnated. We stand in solidarity with Anchor Brewery workers who are sick of poverty wages, inaccessible benefits, and a lack of respect.

We demand that Anchor Brewing recognize their union and show the world that San Francisco is a union-friendly town that respects working families, not union-busters! Show your support in these three ways:

Show Anchor Steam that the community has these worker’s backs:

1. Post a message of support to the social media platform of your choice with the hashtags #anchoredinsf and #anchorunion
2. Sign the support petition petitions.moveon.org/sign/support-w…ers-unionizing
3. Join a poster drop organized by a DSA chapter near you. San Francisco. Find out when the next mobilization is by following AnchorUnionSF twitter.com/anchorunionsf

At our February meeting, DSA SF voted to endorse Dean Preston for Supervisor in District 5 because of his consistent, unwavering work in tenants rights, affordable and social housing, and the many projects we’ve taken on together in San Francisco.

Aside from leading countless fights against slumlords and being an active member of DSA, Dean was also the proponent of Prop F, the country’s only universal right to counsel law for tenants facing eviction, which was DSA SF’s first foray into electoral politics. Our chapter was the driving force in passing that measure with an all-DSA staff and largely DSA volunteer base. The victory helped secure DSA as a formidable political force in the city, and forged coalitions with allied housing and social justice groups. Dean also worked with DSA members to help pass Prop C, and hosted multiple lit drops and phone banks in District 5 in support of the measure. He has since publicly called for a moratorium on sweeps.

Dean’s grassroots campaign will focus on: the Public Bank and the ways that it can boost working class power through debt forgiveness and the creation of affordable and social housing, a Green New Deal for San Francisco that focuses on PG&E divestment and an improved public transit system, and building our communities of color, not just fighting displacement, through saving Midtown, and making affordable housing and well-paying jobs for working class people.

DSA doesn’t feel the need to weigh in on every candidate or measure, but when we do, it’s because of a campaign’s deep commitment to social and economic justice that moves directly towards a future where everyone can live with dignity. This early endorsement was brought to our chapter as a way to not just support a Democratic Socialist candidate, but help shape the campaign. We dream big: Join us in rethinking what’s possible in SF.

www.votedean.com

?Listen to the report back on the public hearing from DSA SF co-chair Shanti Singh in the DSA SF podcast Report Back. ?

Thursday, February 7 members from the Plaza 16 coalition packed the San Francisco Planning Commission’s hearing for the building development planned for 1979 mission street, dubbed the Monster in the Mission.

Our chapter members have supported the 5 year struggle for the 100% affordable alternative and joined the Plaza 16 coalition in an epic 2 hour public comment to demand the SF Planning Commission listen to the will of the Mission Districts residents: No Monster in the Mission.

The US White House’s statement supporting Juan Guaidó’s illegal government in Venezuela is another example in the long historical line of the US meddling in the affairs of Latin America. The Trump regime, largely backed by two major American political parties, is fomenting a coup in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. It is our duty oppose it.

For centuries, the US has used its military, statecraft, and financial resources to inflict misery and death onto the workers and peasants of Latin America. We say no more to this bipartisan thuggery! We call on DSA members in elected office to condemn this coup and fight against it by all means necessary. We call on all DSA members to pressure these elected officials and to consider US imperialism in all of the work that we do. Hands off Venezuela!