From

Clerk to

City Council

Lamar Heystek brings values he learned as a UFCW Steward to the City of Davis

It should be no surprise that a former UFCW Steward would continue to be labor-friendly after winning a seat on the Davis City Council.

Lamar Heystek was a UFCW 588 member for nine years, working part time at Safeway and Albertson’s while taking classes at the University of California at Davis.

During that time he served as a Steward, performing duties as the Union’s “eyes and ears” at the workplace.

    The Union returned the favor when activists from UFCW 8 campaigned hard

for Heystek’s election. “President Jacques Loveall and the staff and members of UFCW 8 performed an

instrumental role in the effort,” Heystek said.

   Soon after taking office last June, Heystek introduced a “living wage” ordinance that would require billion-dollar retail employers —companies with stores of 100,000 square feet or more — to pay their employees at least $10 per hour and provide an additional $3 per hour in benefits.

  “Companies that have huge yearly profits can well afford to treat their employees fairly and pay them a living wage,” Heystek said.

   “Employees of big-box retailers often depend

on public health care, subsidized housing and

other taxpayer-funded services. That’s an indirect subsidy of large corporations. When all companies pay a living wage, it levels the playing field for companies that behave responsibly.”

   Heystek was born in San Francisco and raised in San Leandro. He came to Davis to obtain his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in applied linguistics. He works as a lecturer in the Linguistics Department at UC Davis.

Top: Lamar Heystek when he

was a clerk for Safeway.

Above: Heystek at a rally

during his campaign for Davis City

Council.

Below: Heystek on a UFCW picket line during the SoCal strike.