Last November, workers across California stood together to beat Prop. 32. But the same Orange County politicians who helped write that dangerous ballot measure have kept up their attacks. This time, they’re going after the workers in Orange County who have been standing up against entrenched career politicians and telling them their corrupt ways have to end.
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Rosa Lopez, a San Diego janitor and immigrant success story will return home today after attending President Obama’s State of the Union Address as a guest of Congressman Juan Vargas. Rosa is active in her union, SEIU United Service Workers West.
Rosa was born on a small ranch in Oaxaca, Mexico where her parents farmed crops and raised animals to support their family. As a young girl, Rosa helped her parents planting chilies, beans and corn, but she dreamed of a better life.
Read Moreand Gary Cohn
Last week’s announcements about 2013 earnings by California’s largest public pension funds suggest the agencies may be making significant progress in shaking off the lingering after-effects of the 2008 stock market crash.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) said it rode a 25 percent run-up in stock prices to post a 16.2 percent gain for its 2013 portfolio — its best showing in a decade. For its part, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) reported an impressive 19.1 percent return on its 2013 investments, led by a 28 percent return on its stock holdings.
Read MoreDavid Lyell
Prior to the LAUSD vote January 13, 2014 to approve Phase II of the district's $1 billion iPad project, I shared the following remarks with school board members during the three minutes allotted each speaker during Public Comment:
“Good afternoon, board members, Superintendent, sorry about that [jumping the gun], I was looking for my iPad. Part of this discussion about iPads has been framed as — I'm David Lyell, UTLA Secretary — it's been framed as a debate about who should and should not have access to technology. No one is opposed to providing students with access to technology. This project really isn't about technology. This is about providing a vehicle for students to conveniently complete common core state standards testing.”
Read More, AFL-CIO
Today, as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and working families all over the country are coming together in marches for civil and workplace rights, we ask you to join them in a simple pledge.
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In a classic union representation election that pitted anti-union managers and consultants against an energetic organizing team, workers at Sacramento-based Sunoptics chose to be represented IBEW Local 1245.
The vote, conducted under the supervision of the National Labor Relations Board on Jan. 10, was 48-29.
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There’s a new narrative emerging from right-wingers like Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio on the growing problem of income inequality. Rubio and California Republicans like Assemblymember Dan Logue are blaming inequality on taxes on the wealthy and government regulations that protect workers and the environment. Problem is, this new narrative is pure fantasy.
As California Labor Federation leader Art Pulaski and Jessica Bartholow of the Western Center on Law and Poverty wrote in Saturday’s Sacramento Bee, Rubio and company have entered the Twilight Zone when it comes to their phony posturing on poverty and income inequality.
Read More, AFL-CIO
Since the House GOP left 1.3 million people out in the cold this holiday season when it refused to extend emergency unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, working families advocates, including President Barack Obama, are continuing to urge Congress to do the right thing.
Call your representative today and ask him or her to renew the emergency UI benefits: 877-318-0483.
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