Pilar Schiavo is the Legislative Aide to San Francisco Board of Supervisor, Tom Ammiano. In just the short time on staff Pilar has worked on key legislation including Living Wage legislation and creating a Municipal ID Card for all San Francisco Residents, regardless of immigration status. In her work a the City and prior to joining Supervisor Ammiano’s staff Pilar worked to convene a coalition of union, community and city staff to address the SSA No Match rule change by the Department of Homeland Security. Through that work the coalition has initiated a campaign to strengthen the City’s Sanctuary status through internal and external education and outreach.
Pilar joined the San Francisco Labor Council (SFLC) as its Political Director in August of 2005. As Political Director, she developed and implemented the SFLC’s political campaign field operations, including: worksite education, mobilizing, trainings, precinct walks, phone banking, rallies and actions, voter registration, and all other related Get Out The Vote activities. Pilar worked on all Labor Council legislative priorities including organizing the community/labor coalition that worked to pass Supervisor Ammiano’s legislation to provide healthcare to all uninsured San Franciscans. In her role as a political organizer Pilar is working with Labor’s allies to build community partnerships that build a broader and stronger labor movement in San Francisco.
Pilar has wide-ranging labor and community experience working as an Organizer for the California Nurses Association. Prior to joining CNA, Pilar was the Regional Campaign Director for the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2004 in Oregon, where she directed Labor’s Presidential field program that was the most extensive and active campaign in Lane & Douglass County history.
At the AFL-CIO Pilar recruited and trained union organizers on both the east and west coast. With SEIU 285 Pilar was a Field Representative and Internal Organizer for nursing home and mental health workers throughout western Massachusetts. As a community organizer she built coalitions between clergy and labor and organized day labor and low income tenants for job training and placement programs and an end to day labor abuses. As a researcher she worked such issues as day labor and temp worker organizing and strategies to coordinate bargaining across borders. Prior to her work in labor and community organizing Pilar worked for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians to connect children and families to services and culturally based educational resources through working with the Tribal Headstart and public schools.
Pilar graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a master’s degree in labor research and relations and has a bachelor’s degree in American Multicultural Studies from California State University, Sonoma. Pilar also studied in Guatemala where she researched best practices for maquiladora organizing and improving working conditions through union organizing, independent monitoring, and NGO organizing.