* Senate blocks unemployment extension for hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans * Meg Whitman launches attack on California nurses *
* Senate and House negotiators reach deal on financial industry reform * LAUSD passes resolution to use only CLEAN carwashes * Air and rail workers move closer to fair union elections *
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Hundreds of Rite Aid workers and supporters from Pennsylvania, New York and California rallied this morning outside the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Harrisburg, Pa., to demand good jobs and a voice at work.
During the rally, Sylvia Estrada and Angel Warner, two workers from Rite Aid’s massive distribution center in Lancaster, Calif., described the five-year struggle by 550 employees to form a union.
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The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board passed a resolution yesterday calling for the district to wash its huge fleet of vehicles only at carwashes that have signed the CLEAN Agreement, which commits the companies to abide by minimum employment, health and safety and environmental standards and to respect workers’ right to join a union.
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* Whitman and Blakeslee team up to attempt corporate takeover of CA * Senate Republicans block extension of unemployment benefits * BP tries to mask truth about sick oil clean-up workers *
* Jerry Brown announces clean energy jobs plan * New study reveals economic benefits of high-speed rail *
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by Rebecca Greenberg
Last night, Meg “Wall Street” Whitman teamed up with SD 15 GOP candidate Sam “The Oil Man” Blakeslee for a ritzy Silicon Valley garden reception and fundraiser. Blakeslee, a former Exxon executive who is bought and paid for by the Big Oil interests that want to drill off California’s coast, was trying to squeeze out some last-minute campaign cash before Tuesday’s special election, when he'll face off against labor-endorsed candidate and champion for working families, John Laird.
The idea of Big Oil and Wall Street coming together in an effort to wage a hostile corporate takeover of our state was too unnerving for some South Bay workers, who protested outside the fundraiser in Los Gatos with signs and chants, saying “Sam and Meg, you shall fail – California is not for sale!”
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is holding a gun to the heads of over 300,000 California state employees. He’s salivating at the opportunity to drop state employee pay to federal minimum wage if a budget isn’t enacted by July 31st. He’s also announced that he won’t sign a budget unless it includes worker concessions on their pensions.
That’s right. The federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, 75 cents below CA’s $8 an hour minimum wage. Sacramento’s economy would come to its knees. Local restaurants, car repair, grocery stores, landlords, banks, would all lose revenue as a result.
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* Whitman's new TV ad on unemployment patently offensive * Study finds eBay sellers don't comply with state sales tax laws * Fiorina caught on camera gossiping about Boxer *
* Labor-endorsed candidates form the “Main Street Slate” * New tv ad targets Whitman's spotty voting record * Arkansas working families put up strong fight for Halter to de-seat Lincoln * Domestic workers demand better working conditions * Unions brief legislative staff on teachers' rights and education *
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by Matthew “Oki” O'Connor
After more than 17 months and 57 bargaining sessions, Postdoctoral Scholars at the University of California (UC) still don’t have a contract. UC’s stalling has drawn widespread criticism from elected officals and workers’ rights organization yet we still haven’t made any progress toward a contract. This week our union – Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/United Autoworkers filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) with the Public Employee Relations Board charging that UC deliberately delayed negotiations and attempted to undermine our union.
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As Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina celebrated spending a combined $100 million to buy their primary victories at the GOP “victory” breakfast this morning, California workers and families protested outside the Anaheim Hilton. The working Californians who would be harmed by Whitman and Fiorina’s anti-worker Wall Street agenda chanted and waved signs declaring that 'California will not be sold to the highest bidder.'
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