City Council Proclamation – MEA 100th Anniversary Day
On August 25, 2026, the San Diego City Council unanimously proclaimed the San Diego Municipal Employees Association 100th Anniversary Day in Council Chambers.
MEA Executive Board members, MEA Counsel Ann Smith, and MEA General Manager Michael Zucchet accepted the proclamation on behalf of all MEA members.
San Diego Municipal Employees Association 100th Anniversary Day
Presented by Mayor Todd Gloria, Council President Joe LaCava, Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee, Councilmember Henry Foster III, and Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera
August 25, 2026
WHEREAS, the San Diego Municipal Employees Association (MEA) was formally founded in 1926 by City employees for City employees, to provide mutual aid and to accomplish together what cannot be done alone; and
WHEREAS, MEA began as the Viva Voce Club, a social organization that met at the 20th and B City facilities, and became an official association to help pass and implement the City’s first retirement benefits for general employees; and
WHEREAS, over the decades, MEA has changed the face of public service, fighting for fairness and member voice in the workplace, addressing the ever-changing circumstances of the City and society, and consistently pushing for the expansion of rights and protections for the good of employees and residents alike; and
WHEREAS, in the beginning, City employees worked a 44-hour, 6-day work week, with no benefits and no voice in the workplace. Members received health, dental, vision, life, auto, and home insurance through their union, and following the collapse of banks following the 1929 Stock Market Crash, MEA members started their own credit union, with member deposits funding member loans; and
WHEREAS, over the years, MEA and its members have been an instrumental force for the creation, implementation and enforcement of fairness in the workplace, from shaping Civil Service protections (e.g. the prohibition of bias on the basis of race in 1949), retirement and health benefits (e.g. the first City-sponsored health benefits offered in 1959), and the many other benefits and workplace conditions that make the City an employer of choice in the region; and
WHEREAS, the provision of quality services to the residents of San Diego demands a stable, quality workforce and MEA has consistently fought for improvements in wages, benefits, and working conditions that have enabled the City to build back from the dark times caused by misguided decisions of the mid-2000s to currently being more competitive in recruitment and retention of employees; and
WHEREAS, the MEA Board had faith in the counsel of Attorney Ann Smith when she said that the citizens’ initiative that took the defined benefit pension away from employees was illegal and would be overturned, and voted to spend MEA’s resources on a lawsuit to fight for the future of the City. Ten years and millions of dollars later, Ann Smith and the MEA Board were proven right when the California Supreme Court unanimously invalidated Prop B and restored defined benefit pensions for City employees; and
WHEREAS, many MEA members come from the communities that they serve, have grown up at their neighborhood library or recreation center, and work for the City to give back to their neighbors, with a commitment and dedication that comes from understanding mutual aid and how to build solidarity rooted in fairness and care; and
WHEREAS, without City employees, there are no City services, and when workers experience fairness in the workplace they can extend and uphold it in their daily tasks on behalf of the residents of San Diego. As we treat the employees, such is their treatment of the public, and a strong, vital union is the best partner for upholding the purpose of public service and the practice of fairness and democracy for all; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT PROCLAIMED, by the Mayor and the Council of the City of San Diego, that this Council, for and on behalf of the people of San Diego, does hereby proclaim August 25, 2026 to be the San Diego Municipal Employees Association 100th Anniversary Day in the City of San Diego.
