Union workers from SEIU Local 265 plan to continue picketing outside several East Bay cemeteries until employers grant their contract demands.

Cemetery workers of Local 265 say they have been working without a contract, and have been negotiating for about four and a half years.

Picketing has been ongoing at the Holy Angels Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery in Hayward since last week.

Picketers say they are not striking and emphasize that they are still working. They plan to hold picket signs daily on their lunch break from noon to 12:25 p.m., and at the end of their workday, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The Holy Angels Holy Sepulchre is part of the Oakland Diocese Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services. Between 25 and 27 union employees will continue to gather at six different cemetery locations within the Oakland Diocese, until they get what they want.

Workers believe that Robert Seelig, executive director of Roman Catholic cemeteries, is to blame. They argue he has not followed the slogan of CFCS, “Living our mission.”
“To us, how is he living his mission if he is trying to do this to us? And that’s why we have signs saying ‘living our mission’ and ‘praying for a contract’,” said a picketer who wished to remain anonymous.

However Seelig, in a letter addressed to families, visitors and staff of the Catholic cemeteries, writes, “Our management team has been meeting regularly with the union over the last four years and has submitted a contract proposal that benefits and protects employees to an extent that is unheard of within the cemetery industry.”

Previously, the union’s leadership agreed to a 10-year contract proposed by the employers. In the proposal, one section addresses the use of sub-contractors to perform lower wage work such as mowing and landscaping. This, according to Seelig, will increase wages for the workers.

By allowing subcontracts, the Holy Sepulchre would be able to hire workers from unions outside of the Local 265. With subcontractors, union workers and employees would lose their jobs, claim picketers. When workers quit, retire, and get fired, the picketers claim nothing is done and no replacements are found.

“We are here to serve the people,” said another worker, who also wished to remain anonymous. “We don’t want our jobs taken. We aren’t doing this for a paycheck.”
To date, the union has submitted no alternative proposals.

The biggest issue, according to the letter, is the union’s SEIU National Industry Pension fund. The fund “imposed an average of 40 cents per hour per employee pension surcharges on the employer in each of the last five years to correct underfunding caused by the mismanagement of the union fund,” said Seelig in the letter.

“To withdraw the pension fund, will cost the employer $4.6 million even though the fund is a union managed pension fund,” according to the letter.

This is the third time that Local 265 has picketed outside of Holy Sepulchre for what they call a “fair and just contract.” The first occurred in April 2006 and the second in September 2013.
Workers from Local 265 met with Seelig on Thursday and Friday last week to discuss contract demands.

“Please continue to support our cemetery workers and us as we seek to bring these negotiations to a close,” said Seelig. “While it is not our intention to make these negotiations public or contentious, we do feel that it is important to provide our community the knowledge that we are working to find a solution that is both fair and just.”