http://www2.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/archive/ en rband@calaborfed.org Copyright 2012 2012-05-16T21:30:11+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/new_report_reveals_shocking_rate_of_injury_among_pomona_dining_hall_workers http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/new_report_reveals_shocking_rate_of_injury_among_pomona_dining_hall_workers#When:21:30:11Z by Rolado Araiza I’ve worked as a cook at Pomona College in Southern California for 6 years. My coworkers and I have been asking the college to agree to a fair and neutral process to let us choose whether or not to join a union, but the college hasn’t agreed yet. A few weeks ago, some of my coworkers and I filed a complaint with Cal/OSHA about the injuries food service workers have suffered while working at Pomona. UNITE HERE and Workers for Justice have compiled a new report documenting the injuries in Pomona’s dining halls. 2012-05-16T21:30:11+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/grocery_workers_mobilize_for_new_contract http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/grocery_workers_mobilize_for_new_contract#When:17:04:46Z by Mike Henneberry On the heels of an overwhelming strike vote at Raley’s/Nob Hill, Northern California grocery workers are continuing to mobilize for a new contract. UFCW members at Lucky/SaveMart, Raley’s/Nob Hill and Safeway, as well as their retired sisters and brothers, are joining forces with community allies and elected officials. They are bringing the fight for a settlement that preserves affordable healthcare and good jobs directly to store management. 2012-05-16T17:04:46+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/unions_kaiser_permanente_reach_tentative_agreement http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/unions_kaiser_permanente_reach_tentative_agreement#When:17:50:14Z by Mike Hall Kaiser Permanente and the nearly 100,000 members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, reached tentative agreement yesterday on a new, three-year national contract. The tentative agreement covers workers at hundreds of Kaiser Permanente health care facilities in nine states. The current agreement expires Sept. 30. The tentative agreement includes wage increases and maintains current benefits plus improves the dental plan.  Kaiser Permanente also has committed $19 million annually to two existing educational trust funds to ensure career development for its diverse workforce. 2012-05-15T17:50:14+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/fighting_back_against_hyatts_war_on_mamas http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/fighting_back_against_hyatts_war_on_mamas#When:19:14:29Z by Julia Wong 2012 has been a year of wars. There’s the War on Women – an intense legislative assault on women’s access to reproductive health care – and the War on Workers – be they public sector workers trying to hold on to their right to bargain collectively or private sector workers staving off subcontracting, outsourcing, and union-busting. The battleground in the War on Immigrants has shifted from Arizona to Alabama and, finally, to the US Supreme Court. The War on Moms was an attempt by Republicans to brand Democrats as hostile to stay-at-home mothers, and the Real War on Moms was an attempt by Democrats to refocus the debate on the disastrous effect that right-wing economic, immigration, and health care policies have on poor and working-class women and their families. 2012-05-11T19:14:29+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/csu_faculty_take_fight_for_a_fair_contract_to_trustees http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/csu_faculty_take_fight_for_a_fair_contract_to_trustees#When:16:31:01Z by Alice Sunshine The California State University Trustees were meeting inside, first in closed session to discuss “executive personnel matters” and collective bargaining. Then they met in committee on yet another new policy to give more raises to campus presidents, now from university auxiliaries. Meantime, 150 faculty from 20 campuses all over California protested outside. The faculty made a strong pitch that the CSU Trustees and management need to adopt policies that put instruction and student services first, and to settle a fair contract with the faculty. The protest outside the Trustees meeting was held just a week after the California Faculty Association announced a 95% member vote to authorize rolling two-day strikes through the California State University's 23 campuses if bargaining fails to get a settlement. The strike would affect some 400,000 students. 2012-05-11T16:31:01+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/california_domestic_workers_celebrate_mothers_day_with_visit_to_lawmakers http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/california_domestic_workers_celebrate_mothers_day_with_visit_to_lawmakers#When:16:46:40Z by Tula Connell Mother's Day in California will be extra special this Sunday, as working families, students and elected officials honor mothers by recognizing the role of domestic workers in our households. The events coincide with the launch of video highlighting the work of domestic workers around the state and the need for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Domestic workers and their supporters will gather in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Santa Rosa to celebrate working mothers and preview the video, by Brave New Foundation’s Cuéntame. 2012-05-10T16:46:40+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/workers_and_riders_unite_to_urge_bart_board_of_directors_to_buy_american_ma http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/workers_and_riders_unite_to_urge_bart_board_of_directors_to_buy_american_ma#When:22:17:07Z by Lisa Hoyos The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system needs new rail cars. But will BART seize the opportunity to hire a company to manufacture the rail cars that will create as many jobs as possible here at home? That’s the subject of tomorrow’s BART Board of Directors meeting, where the Board will have the opportunity to move toward selecting a company that will produce rail cars using 95% domestic content.  Alstom is a NY-based rail car manufacturing company that has produced more than 7,000 safe and reliable metro cars for transit systems throughout the country. If they’re selected by the BART Board of directors (as opposed to another company that would use nearly one-third less domestic content), the company would help create and sustain a passenger rail supply chain that will serve commuter systems in California and across the country. 2012-05-09T22:17:07+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/teachers_shape_our_dreams_celebrating_the_california_day_of_the_teacher http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/teachers_shape_our_dreams_celebrating_the_california_day_of_the_teacher#When:21:37:01Z by Danielle Tipton Today is the 30th annual California Day of the Teacher, a day to appreciate everything teachers do for our state, our children, our communities and our future. Teachers are often the first role models we remember in life. They teach us facts, but they also teach us about the kinds of people we want to be, and they are frequently reason we end up pursuing a particular passion or career path. Just about everyone has had at least one teacher that really made an impact on their lives. For California Teachers Association President Dean Vogel, that person was his 4th grade teacher, Mr. Chavez. In today’s Long Beach Press Telegram, Vogel recalls how Chavez’ accepting and encouraging personality influenced him to become a teacher years later: 2012-05-09T21:37:01+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/because_of_us_california_is_getting_healthier http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/because_of_us_california_is_getting_healthier#When:16:48:23Z by Ollie Allen Last year, SEIU-UHW launched “Let’s Get Healthy, California,” a big and bold campaign whose aim is to improve the quality of healthcare in California, lower costs, create good healthcare jobs and dramatically reduce the number of people who suffer from chronic health conditions. We knew when we set out that what we were attempting to achieve was going to be tough, but that if we were successful, we would have fundamentally changed the healthcare system in California–for workers, for patients, and for communities– for the better. 2012-05-08T16:48:23+00:00 http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/corporate_tax_loopholes_the_real_waste_fraud_and_abuse_in_californias_budge http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/corporate_tax_loopholes_the_real_waste_fraud_and_abuse_in_californias_budge#When:18:04:50Z by Rebecca Band One BILLION Dollars. That’s how much California gives away every year to big corporations, thanks to a wasteful tax loophole that actually incentivizes companies to close up shop in California and move those jobs elsewhere. According to LA Times columnist George Skelton, "You might think a tax law that rewards companies for killing California jobs and resurrecting them in another state would be dumped. Very quickly. Especially if it also rewards them for selling off property here and rebuilding elsewhere. Or, put another way, if the law provides a tax incentive not to hire or invest in California in the first place. You'd repeal it. A no-brainer." 2012-05-07T18:04:50+00:00