The National Union of Healthcare Workers endorsed its lawyer, Dan Siegel, who’s running for Mayor of Oakland.
Here’s my interview with Dan Siegel just three weeks ago:
The National Union of Healthcare Workers was formed in 2009, and after a split with the Service And Employees International Union, or SEIU. In 2010, there’s no official record of the NUHW endorsing a candidate for Mayor of Oakland.
As far as I can tell, this is the first official major endorsement by a union for a candidate in the Oakland Mayor’s Race for 2014. Right now, the race is between Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Bryan Parker, Libby Schaaf, Joe Tuman, Patrick McCullough, Nancy Sidebotham, and an eighth candidate to be advanced by The Oakland Green Party. (They’d better hurry up.)
While, its easy to poo the decision as Dan’s client endorsing him, it’s a clear sign that Jean Quan’s being harmed by Dan Siegel’s entry into the Oakland Mayor’s race.
In 2010, Quan picked up the endorsement of the SEIU, and here’s the full list of union endorsements she got then:
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021
Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE/AFL-CIO) Local 21
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Northern California Council
UNITE HERE Local 2850
Oakland American Federation of Teachers Local 771
Given the SEIU’s stance against Quan in the Port of Oakland and the Oakland Workers Strike, the SEIU could be next. Siegel’s drawn blood.
Here’s the NUHW’s full statement:
The National Union of Healthcare Workers is proud to announce its endorsement of Dan Siegel for mayor of Oakland.
As a civil rights attorney specializing in employment and labor law, Siegel represents NUHW and its 10,000 members, making a valuable contribution to the union’s mission to improve patient care, working conditions, and wages and benefits for workers throughout the healthcare industry.
“Dan understands the challenges faced by working people in today’s world,” says NUHW President Sal Rosselli. “He is a selfless advocate for the 99 percent, having dedicated his life to progressive causes. We support his effort to continue that struggle at Oakland City Hall.”
Siegel’s administration will protect city workers from attacks on their wages and benefits and will work with the community to build an economy that provides good paying jobs, to address neighborhood safety issues, and to improve our schools so that they equitably serve all of Oakland’s students.
An East Oakland resident since 1975, Siegel has successfully represented victims of employment discrimination and government misconduct for forty years. He graduated from UC Berkeley law school and was president of the UC student government and a leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement. He served as president of both the Oakland School Board and the Oakland Housing Authority Commission and was an author of Oakland’s Community Policing Ordinance and the Oakland Unified School’s District’s nationally acclaimed nutrition policy.
Siegel announced his candidacy January 9 at 14th and Broadway, which served as the entrance to the Occupy Oakland encampment three years ago. Siegel was an adviser to Mayor Jean Quan at the time of the Occupy movement but resigned in protest when Quan ordered a police crackdown on the encampment in the fall of 2011.
“No longer Mayor Quan’s legal advisor,” Siegel tweeted on the morning of his resignation. “Resigned at 2 am. Support Occupy Oakland, not the 1% and its government facilitators.”
Stay tuned.