IBEW 1245 in the House
Willie Garris, Steve Ramirez, Daniel Ahern, Sr. Assistant Business Manager Al Fortier, Assistant Business Manager Hunter Stern, Jose Artiga, Sr. Advisor Eileen Purcell
San Francisco, CA – IBEW 1245 Staff, Executive Board members and rank and file attended the 2025 San Francisco COPE banquet at the St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco.
Kim Tavaglione, Executive Director of the San Francisco Central Labor Council celebrated the achievements of the last year. She also issued a call for unity and action as the house of labor faces one of the more anti-union administrations in recent history.
IBEW 1245 Executive Board members Willie Garris and Steve Ramirez, IBEW 1245 member Daniel Ahern, Senior Assistant Business Manager Al Fortier, Assistant Business Manager Hunter Stern, Sr. Advisor to the Business Manager Eileen Purcell, and Jose Artiga, Executive Director of the SHARE Foundation and friend of 1245 represented IBEW 1245.
UNITE HERE President Lizzie Tappia & UNITE HERE Local 2 staff from the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco being honored for the successful strike at hotels in the greater Bay Area
Lizzie Tappia, President of Unite Here Local 2, received the “Outstanding Leadership Award” in recognition her role leading a series of strikes at several hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area in the fall of 2024. More than 10,000 hotel workers participated in the “open-ended” strike, some for more than four months, to preserve hard-won healthcare benefits that management sought to reduce. The St. Francis Hotel where the COPE banquet was being held was one of the hotels that led the strike. Hotel staff lined the wall to listen to Tappia recount the story of the fight and their victory.
“A year ago owners wanted major concessions. 10,000 workers went out on strike on Labor Day across several cities. Some won contracts after a few days. But the San Francisco hotels held out, forcing us to embark on an open-ended strike. The picket line became our home. After 52 days on the line, and no negotiations, management agreed to meet, only to offer us a two-tier health care benefit,” she shared. Management was confident members would sell out future generations. But when Tappia went to the picket line to ask the membership, “Our strikers were defiant and furious…if we were willing to sell out future generations, who would we be.” They dug in, prepared to escalate, and ultimately won.
Tappia thanked the unions in the room, including IBEW 1245 whose Executive Board voted to contribute financial support to subsidize striking workers to help them feed their families during the strike. “We won because all of you had our back. You supported us with funds, with food, with toiletries; you walked the picket line, played drums, and some of you got arrested. You pulled your events out of hotels where we were on strike.”
She added, “You stood in solidarity with us. Solidarity does not equal a bumper sticker. Solidarity is what you do when it’s hard, uncomfortable, and you do it anyway.”
IBEW 1245’s Eileen Purcell. recently elected to the Executive Board of the San Francisco Central Labor Council Executive Board with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and other Board members
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi also addressed the crowd, praising organized labor as vital to protecting the middle class and democracy. “The middle class is the backbone of the American economy and democracy, and it has a union label on it,” she said to a rousing ovation. Pelosi warned that the current administration wants to eliminate the right to collective bargaining and eliminate the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB was founded in 1935 during the FDR presidency. Its mandate is to protect workers’ rights, including the right to unionize.
She assured the labor leaders gathered that she is fighting for working families but added, “We are only effective inside because of your outside mobilizations.” While the challenges are great, Pelosi projected optimism and hope.
She noted that May 8th marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, a day when democracy prevailed over fascism. She also lifted up the election of a new Pope, Leo XIV which was announced that same day. She pointed out that the new pope chose the name “Leo” in a nod to Pope Leo XIII, who, in 1891, authored the papal encyclical, Rerum Novarum – The Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor. Latin for “new things,” Rerum Novarum became a seminal pillar of Catholic thought in defense of workers and the moral imperative for economic and social justice.
Sister Tavaglione ended the evening thanking all in attendance.