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Unions Rally to Defund Police and Call for OPOA to Embrace Reform Unions Rally to Defund Police and Call for OPOA to Embrace Reform

Published

5 years ago

June 25, 2020

By Kiki

Approximately 150 union members and community leaders rallied June 17 at the Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA, the police officer’s union) at 555 5th Street in Oakland to demand reform.

Service Employees International Union, United Service Workers West (SEIU USWW), UNITE HERE 2850, AFSCME 3299, Oakland Education Association, UFCW 5, CWA 9415, and UAW 2865 came together to issue this call. Collectively these unions represent over 100,000 workers throughout California. East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, San Francisco Jobs with Justice, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists also joined the call.

Placards read “Essential Workers for Black Lives Matter,” “Janitors for Black Lives Matter,” chants included “Si se Puede” “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace”, and the back of a tee-shirt read “Ya Basta’’.

Nadira Mambuki, Industry vice president Security Division SEIU USWW said “reform is important, and we want to show we want to meet with the Oakland Police Officers Association.”

Mambuki was born in Oakland at Highland Hospital and recalls police cruising through her neighborhood.

Ben May, a member of USWW and a security officer in downtown Oakland, said “I have firsthand experience of what over-policing means for the Black community. We need to move the police budget into things that my community actually needs.”

The organizations demanded Police Associations be expelled from local, state, and national labor federations.

“Our labor movement is about fighting for the common good and making sure that the voices of the unheard are heard,” Sanjay Garla, vice president of SEIU-USWW said. “What we need to do is invest in our communities and to make sure they are able to thrive, so we cannot advocate for policing over the lives of the vast majority of the labor movement, especially for our black members, our brown members, who are struggling to make ends meet.”

One specific ask is to move 50% of the Oakland police budget into community needs.

“The Labor Movement fights for the common good. We want all people regardless of the color of their skin to feel safe. Police Associations need to get in line with this vision or should be ejected from our labor federations” said Denise Solis, 1st Vice President, SEIU USWW.

By Kiki

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Oakland Post: Week of November 26 – December 2, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 26 – December 2, 2025

Published

1 week ago

November 28, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of November 19 – 25, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 19 – 25, 2025

Published

2 weeks ago

November 24, 2025

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IN MEMORIAM: William ‘Bill’ Patterson, 94

Bill devoted his life to public service and education. In 1971, he became the founding director for the Peralta Community College Foundation, he also became an administrator for Oakland Parks and Recreation overseeing 23 recreation centers, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland, Lake Merritt, and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.

Published

3 weeks ago

November 20, 2025

Oakland Post

William "Bill" Patterson, 94. Photo courtesy of the Patterson family.

William “Bill” Patterson, 94, of Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away peacefully on October 21, 2025, at his home in Oakland, CA. He was born on May 19, 1931, to Marie Childress Patterson and William Benjamin Patterson in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Dunbar High School and traveled to Oakland, California, in 1948. William Patterson graduated from San Francisco State University, earning both graduate and undergraduate degrees. He married Euradell “Dell” Patterson in 1961. Bill lovingly took care of his wife, Dell, until she died in 2020.

He served on the boards of Oakland’s Urban Strategies Council, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, and the Oakland Workforce Development Board.

He was a three-term president of the Oakland branch of the NAACP.

Bill was initiated in the Gamma Alpha chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

In 1997 Bill was appointed to the East Bay Utility District Board of Directors. William Patterson was the first African American Board President and served the board for 27 years.

Bill’s impact reached far beyond his various important and impactful positions.

Bill mentored politicians, athletes and young people. Among those he mentored and advised are legends Joe Morgan, Bill Russell, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, and Lionel Wilson to name a few.

He is survived by his son, William David Patterson, and one sister, Sarah Ann Strickland, and a host of other family members and friends.

A celebration of life service will take place at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (Calvin Simmons Theater) on November 21, 2025, at 10 AM.

His services are being livestreamed at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1250167107131991/

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Euradell and William Patterson scholarship fund TBA.