San Francisco Social Services Employees Union Records

Title: San Francisco Social Services Employees Union records

Date (bulk): 1962-2010

creator: San Francisco Social Services Employees Union

Extent: 6.25 Cubic Feet (5 cartons, 1 box)

Call number: larc.ms.0415

Accession numbers: 2016/001

Abstract: Records of the Social Services Employees Union (SSEU), an independent public workers union in San Francisco. The union, established in the mid-1960s and made up of rank and file social workers and social service employees within the San Francisco Department of Social Services (DSS), was entirely employee-run and governed, and remained unaffiliated with any other official union. Files consist of administrative records, correspondence, DSS inter-office memorandums and meeting minutes, SSEU Negotiating Committee and SSEU Executive Committee meeting agendas and minutes, reference material related to welfare work, and various SSEU-produced newsletters, flyers, and grievance-related materials.

Physical Location: Collection is available onsite.

Language of Material: Languages represented in the collection: English.

Arranged in three series: Series 1: Founding Documents, 1962-1968; Series 2: Administration, Communication, and Organizing Files, 1965-2010; and Series 3: Publications, 1962-1975.

The Social Services Employees Union (SSEU) was an independent public workers union in San Francisco, active from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s. The union, made up of rank and file social workers and social service employees within the San Francisco Department of Social Services (DSS), was entirely employee-run and governed, and remained unaffiliated with any other official union. The SSEU was founded on July 14, 1966 in response to the low pay and difficult working conditions experienced by many welfare workers in the DSS and the dissatisfaction they felt with their current union, the Building Service Employees' International Union, Local 400 (later to become the Service Employees International Union, Local 400). Opposed to strikes and any acts of insubordination that would lead to a member's dismissal, the SSEU used collective action and creative resistance as organizing tactics to bring attention to issues they felt were frequently ignored by management. The SSEU required no mandatory dues or payments; all members were invited to attend Executive Committee meetings and every SSEU member present was able to cast a vote. People were encouraged to write letters to management, request administrative hearings, file grievances, and be as vocal as possible on the problems facing city welfare workers. Members represented themselves and their co-workers in disputes and grievances. SSEU created a Negotiating Committee and the actions of that committee, along with grievance updates, were reported in newsletters and bulletins distributed to worker's desks. The Rag Times and Dialog, SSEU newsletters, published unedited and uncensored, quickly became the main forum for workers to voice their opinions and concerns on issues covering a range of topics, from high caseloads and difficult supervisors, to a shortage of office supplies. The SSEU, as was the case for many small independent unions, struggled to survive long term. It faced opposition not just from management, but also from other unions competing to represent the same welfare workers. In 1967, SEIU established Local 535, as a new statewide local for social workers that covered federally-employed welfare workers. SEIU Local 535 took over the representation of welfare workers from SEIU Local 400 (San Francisco) and, with the power of the national SEIU behind it, campaigned heavily for exclusive bargaining rights for its members. Although the SSEU continued on through the late 1970s, the last issue of Dialog was in 1975, and the last official SSEU meeting was in 1976.

This collection contains partly restricted materials. Access restrictions are noted at the series level. Please contact the Director of the Labor Archives and Research Center for more information.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Collection donated by the San Francisco Social Services Employees Union (SSEU) in 2016; accession number 2016/001.

[Identification of item], San Francisco Social Services Employees Union (SSEU) Records, larc.ms.0415, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Processed by Frances Kaplan in 2017.

The collection comprises documents related to the establishment and day-to-day running of the San Francisco Social Services Employees Union (SSEU), the bulk of which are newsletters, flyers, member correspondence, and reports. Newsletters were used as the primary form of communication between the SSEU and its members. Distributed to each worker's desk, they gave a voice to member's opinions and grievances and provided updates on any on-going disputes with supervisors and administrators in the San Francisco Department of Social Services (DSS), including cases where people had been suspended, fired, or transferred to different departments. Letters and comments in the newsletters were published unedited and reveal a department plagued by low morale, budget cuts, high caseloads, poor working conditions, and worker dissatisfaction with management's actions and methods of communication. Dialog, the main newsletter of the SSEU, ran from 1966 through 1975, with each issue containing a mix of member letters, editorial commentary, articles, cartoons, committee updates, and a listing of upcoming events. Other records reveal SSEU's efforts to gain a greater voice for their members, and to change the way grievance procedures are handled within the department. These include correspondence between the SSEU and the San Francisco Department of Social Services (DSS), DSS meeting minutes and inter-office memorandums, SSEU Negotiating Committee meeting agendas and minutes, and SSEU Executive Committee meeting minutes. The bulk of the records created after 1980 comprise DSS memorandums, correspondence, and reports. The collection also contains correspondence and promotional materials from unions and welfare rights organizations active in the Bay Area during the 1960s and 1970s, including: SEIU, Local 400; SEIU, Local 535 (San Francisco); South of Market Welfare Rights Organization; the San Francisco Poverty Workers Association, Inc.; the San Francisco State Student Strike Against Racism; and the National Federation of Social Service Employees (NFSSE).