Pittsburg, Calif. — The North Coast States Carpenters Union today demanded investigation and accountability after union members were subjected to racial slurs, threats and intimidation by anti-data center protesters while attending a Pittsburg City Council meeting.
The union submitted a formal complaint to the Pittsburg City Council requesting the preservation of meeting and police recordings, and an investigation into what occurred and stronger protections for members of the public attending future hearings.
Approximately 25 union Carpenters attended the August 3 meeting to express support for the AVAIO Perseus Data Center development at the Pittsburg Technology Park. Union members said anti-data center protesters became increasingly hostile whenever Carpenters or other building-trades representatives spoke in favor of the project.
Black Carpenters were subjected to the N-word and other disgusting, degrading and hateful racial and homophobic epithets. Protesters accused the Black union members of selling themselves to white people and betraying their race.
Latino Carpenters were called sellouts and accused of choosing money over their community, union members reported. Other Carpenters were called the f-word (homophobic slur), members of the KKK, “disgusting” and people who had “sold their souls to the devil.”
An individual approached the Carpenters and repeatedly ordered that “all union workers need to get out” out of the council overflow room.
“This went far beyond passionate disagreement about a development project,” said Jay Bradshaw, head of the North Coast States Carpenters Union. “Black and Latino working people were racially degraded, intimidated and told to leave a public meeting because they stood up and expressed a different point of view. That conduct is reprehensible, and any organization associated with the protest must condemn it without qualification.”
The confrontation occurred in an overflow room after the main council chambers reached capacity. Union representatives said the disruption became so loud that the Council called for a reset and Pittsburg Police officers entered the area.
To prevent the situation from escalating, Carpenters Union representatives directed members to give up their seats and stand at the rear of the room. The Carpenters remained at the meeting and continued peacefully supporting the project.
“Our members showed extraordinary restraint,” said Bradshaw. “They refused to be provoked, but no worker should have to surrender a seat or fear for personal safety simply because he or she supports a project at a City Council meeting.”
The union’s complaint asks the City of Pittsburg to preserve meeting recordings, security video, police body-worn-camera footage and other evidence; interview witnesses; review the police and meeting-management response; and determine whether any threats or conduct should be referred to law-enforcement or civil-rights authorities.
The union said California’s Ralph Civil Rights Act, the Bane Civil Rights Act, the Brown Act and Penal Code section 422.6 may be relevant because the reported threats, intimidation and race-based abuse appear to have been used by anti-data-center protesters to interfere with the Carpenters’ protected rights to speak, assemble, petition their government and participate safely in a public meeting.
“These abuses go well beyond rude or offensive political speech,” Bradshaw. “When racial abuse, threats and intimidation are used to attack Black and Latino workers and prevent them from exercising their rights at a public meeting, the City and the appropriate authorities have an obligation to investigate, and our Union will not stand for it!”
The union is also requesting more Pittsburg Police and protocols for future high-attendance hearings, including police escorts for speakers entering and leaving City Hall and consistent, viewpoint-neutral enforcement against conduct that disrupts meetings or threatens participants.
“Project opponents have every right to organize, demonstrate and vigorously criticize the data center,” said Bradshaw. “But they do not have the right to use racial hatred and intimidation against union members. Our union stands in fierce opposition to racism, homophobia, and discrimination of any kind. We will not tolerate these attacks on our hard-working membership. Free speech belongs to everyone, including the working men and women who support this project.”
The AVAIO Perseus Data Center is planned within the Pittsburg Technology Park.
Read the Letter: Carpenters Union NCSCU Letter to the City of Pittsburg_City Council AVAIO Perseus Data Center
About the North Coast States Carpenters Union
The North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters, publicly known as the North Coast States Carpenters Union, represents more than 57,000 carpenters and affiliated craftspeople across Northern California, Oregon and Washington. The union advocates for family-supporting wages, strong benefits, safe working conditions and opportunities for workers to build careers in the skilled construction trades.
Previous
- Aug 4, 2026 – Video: Pittsburg Study Session on Data Centers
- June 30, 2026 – Pittsburg Launches Webpage on AVAIO Data Center
- June 19, 2026 – Editorial: Threats and Intimidation Have No Place at City Hall
- June 16, 2026 – Update: Pittsburg Data Center to Return to City Council Agenda
- June 16, 2026 – Residents Blast Pittsburg City Council Over Data Center Approval
- Dec 2024 – AVAIO Digital Partners Achieves Major Milestone for Pittsburg Technology Park “Perseus” Data Center Project
- June 7, 2018 – Council Agrees to Begin Process to Bring 100-Acre Technology Park to Pittsburg
- May 8, 2018 – Pittsburg City Council Opts to Permanently Close Delta View Golf Course in Favor of Economic Opportunities
