|
08/2010 Labor's Edge Blog Articles
8/31/10
Top Five Reasons Carly Fiorina “No Es Mi Amiga”
Much like her CEO pal Meg “Wall Street” Whitman, GOP Senate candidate “Corporate” Carly Fiorina has been pretending to be a friend to Latinos as of late, in a cynical ploy to garner votes.
But the more Latinos learn about the real Carly, the less they like. The fact is, Fiorina’s positions on the issues that Latinos care most about, like immigration, jobs, education and health care, put her in direct opposition to Latino values and California values.
8/27/10
Rants & Raves for the Week of August 23rd
* Whitman-Samueli fundraiser raises ethical questions * GOP touts support for suffrage, despite female GOP candidates' poor voting record * New report finds quid-pro-quo at the Board of Equalization * Whitman camp storms Oakland, is afraid of Oakland residents *
* State legislature passes labor-backed corporate tax accountability package * Thousands rally to support suffrage, oppose Whitman * Assembly approves resolution in opposition to Colombia Free Trade Agreement *
8/27/10
Nurses to Whitman: ‘Women Vote for Women Who Vote!’
by Mike Hall
More than 1,500 people, including many women in early 20th century fashion, marched and rallied in Sacramento yesterday to mark the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that gave women the right to vote.
The rally, sponsored by the California Nurses Association (CNA), also spotlighted how Republican gubernatorial candidate, billionaire CEO Meg Whitman, hasn’t exercised that right during most of her adult life. She has admitted her voting history is “atrocious.”
8/26/10
Assembly Approves Resolution to Oppose Colombia Free Trade Agreement
by Rebecca Greenberg
Over the last 20 years, at least 2,754 union workers in Colombia have been murdered, simply for exercising their right to organize, bargain collectively and, if necessary, strike. In 2009, 48 Colombian union workers were killed, and 29 have already been murdered this year.
Today, California state legislators took action to block former President Geroge's W. Bush's trade agreement with Colombia by voting to approve Assembly Joint Resolution 27, sponsored by Assemblymember Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont), which urges the U.S. Congress to oppose the Colombia Free Trade agreement.
8/23/10
Whitman-Samueli Fundraiser Raises Questions
by Steve Smith
As millions of Californians continue to struggle in this economy, Meg Whitman will spend her evening today collecting huge checks from corporate insiders at the posh Corona Del Mar mansion of fellow billionaire CEO Henry Samueli.
Of course, there’s nothing unusual about candidates holding fundraisers, even billionaires like Whitman. But there’s more to meets the eye with this particular fundraiser considering the host’s background. And there’s some serious questions that need to be raised about whom exactly would have Whitman’s ear if she were to be elected governor.
8/20/10
Rants & Raves for the Week of August 16th
* Furloughs for state workers are back on * Carly Fiorina wants to extend Bush tax cuts, increase deficit *
* Carwash owners get jail time for workplace violations * Seniors and disabled hit the streets to protest IHSS cuts * Meg Whitman's ads make people not want to vote for her *
8/18/10
Judge Sentences Carwash Owners to a Year in Jail for Workplace Violations
By Chloe Osmer
This week, carwash workers, and community and union members of the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), rallied at Vermont Hand Wash in support of carwash workers who have been fighting for a voice on the job for more than two and a half years. The event celebrated the car wash workers’ victory against corporate abuse: the announcement by the City Attorney that two of Los Angeles’ worst carwash owners –brothers Benny and Nissan Pirian-- have each been sentenced to one year in jail.
8/17/10
Meg Whitman Loves Latinos… Except When She Doesn’t
by Rebecca Greenberg
Where does Meg Whitman stand on immigration? Well, that all depends on when she’s being asked, where she’s being asked, and who is doing the asking.
By our count, Whitman has changed her position on immigration at least five times since announcing her candidacy. And in her cynical ploy to mask her true positions, Whitman managed to alienate both the left and the right… and certainly isn’t making a case to Latinos. A recent poll shows that Jerry Brown still has a commanding lead among Latinos -- 42 percent for Brown compared to just 18 percent for Whitman.
8/13/10
Trumka: ‘We’re Going to Rebuild America With Jobs’
by James Parks. Crossposted from AFL-CIO Now Blog
In the political showdown between Wall Street and Main Street, California is a key battleground. With the third highest jobless rate in the country and a towering budget deficit, California needs leaders who can create and save jobs, not just spout ”more of the same corporate bull,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told 
a crowd of thousands at a mass jobs rally in Los Angeles today.
“How are we going to rebuild America? With jobs! Who’s going to rebuild America? Working people with jobs!”
The choice for voters is clear in California, said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. The Republican candidates for governor and U.S. senator, respectively, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, are mirror images of each other.
8/12/10
Meg Whitman’s Bad Week
by Steve Smith
Every once in a while you have one of those weeks where it seems like nothing goes right. For Meg Whitman, it’s been one of those weeks.
Workers and community allies have been out in force protesting at a number of her recent appearances, she continues to get slammed from both the left and the right for her hypocrisy on immigration and other issues, top economists shredded her economic plan and polls show she’s continuing to lose support, even though she’s up on the air with wall-to-wall TV ads.
8/10/10
The Economists Rate Meg Whitman
by Araceli Ruano
Meg Whitman's economic plan for California will dig our state into an an even deeper hole, not help us get out. It's long on political rhetoric, short on sound economics, and today the Center of American Progress hosted a press call in which a UC Berkeley economist, Michael Reich, explained why.
Reich recently wrote an analysis of Whitman's economic blueprint entitled Can Californians Trust What Whitman is Selling? which was released today by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. In addition to Reich's report, a letter to California voters from over a dozen prominent economists from universities around the state was also released endorsing the analysis. The voters deserve the facts.
8/6/10
Rants & Raves for the Week of August 2nd
* Schwarzenegger vetoes farmworker overtime bill * Meg Whitman's new ad leaves out the facts about her failures at eBay *
* CSEA members converge on Capitol to speak out against budget cuts * US Senate passes bill to preserve public service jobs * Protesting workers bombard the opening of Whitman's East LA office * UC postdocs reach tentative agreement on union contract *
8/5/10
New Approaches to Organizing Women and Young Workers
by Brandy Davis
A new report by the Labor Project for Working Families, Cornell ILR Programs and UC Berkeley Labor Center takes a closer look at organizing women and young workers on the issues they value most using a burgeoning organizing tool: social media.
From interviews with young women organizers, the report finds that many unions are using social media to create online identities to build credibility, disseminate information and coordinate action, and communicate with workers via technology both in real time and at flexible times. Although not a replacement for face to face interaction with workers, young women organizers are calling for greater social media training, resources and support to use these new tools more effectively.
8/5/10
UC Postdoctoral Researchers Reach Tentative Deal
by James Parks
They are some of the smartest people in the nation. Proving just how smart they are, the 6,500 postdoctoral researchers in the University of California (UC) system became union members and negotiated a first-ever union contract even though Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed cutting $2.5 billion from education in his budget proposal. These members of Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (PRO/UAW) reached a tentative agreement with university administrators Aug. 1