SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A local San Francisco labor union filed a lawsuit against the city and county of San Francisco Wednesday, alleging retaliation for whistleblowing related to public corruption.
The 37-page lawsuit filed Wednesday by Laborers International Union Local 261 alleges in part, gender discrimination and retaliation based on whistleblowing of public corruption.
"What they did was hire their friends in certain categories, and then when they hired their friends, their friends granted out the contracts to nonprofits, even in other cities, that should have gone to Local 261 workers," said attorney Angela Alioto.
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The lawsuit claims that Local 261's leadership blew the whistle on the public corruption scandal that is now the subject of a continuing FBI investigation, which resulted in the arrests and imprisonment of several people, including former Department of Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru who pleaded guilty, and that afterwards, the city targeted Local 261 members. Retaliation, according to the lawsuit, included denying workers access to bathrooms or hand-washing facilities which disproportionately impacted women.
"I begged everybody in the city to give the workers a bathroom but they haven't done it, and these are some of the lowest paid workers," said plaintiff Theresa Foglio-Ramirez.
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