SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25 -- Activists in San Francisco are calling on the city to preserve a historic building which witnessed the city's most important strikes, including the first Chinese immigrants' strike in 1938.
The more-than-a-century old Redstone Building, formerly known as the San Francisco Labor Council, once served as the organizing hub for city unions and now houses over a dozen community groups and many independent artists.
After its owner put it on the market earlier this year, the activists are afraid that the building will become another victim of gentrification, and the history of the city's labor movement will also be forgotten as more tech companies crowd into the rich cultural neighborhoods.
The owner is expected to make a decision by the end of next month.
The four-story building played a significant role in the 1917 United Railroads streetcar strike and the San Francisco Maritime strike that led to the 1934 San Francisco General Strike for better working conditions for all workers, according to FoundAF, a group aiming to preserve San Francisco's history.
Among the 12 murals that decorate the building's hallways is the one depicting the organization of Chinese women garment workers, called "Local 341."
In the mural, one of the three women workers holds a dress which bears the Chinese characters - "Happy New Year" and "Wish the Victory of Chinese People's Resistance War against Japan."
The Chinese women garment workers organized against unfair labor practices at Joe Shoong's National Dollar Stores sewing factory, forming the Chinese Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in 1938.
They went on strike for 15 weeks. It was the first strike of Chinese immigrants in the history of San Francisco and also the longest strike at that time in the history of San Francisco Chinatown.
"Their hard-won victory was due as much to their determination to win as to the economic and political circumstances of the depression that nurtured their union activism," says the Museum of Chinese in America, a New-York based organization which exhibits Chinese American history.
The activists, who wish to preserve the historic building as well as the history associated with it, has formed a group called "Redstone Labor Temple Association".
The group started an online petition to call on Mayor of San Francisco London Breed to protect the building as well as the tenants from being displaced.
They have garnered 695 signatures to reach the goal of 1,000 signatures.
