I became a union activist the day I realized my manager wasn’t following the contract. I had always assumed we could rely on management knowing the contract and having our backs. There were a lot of violations. I got involved with the union, saw the changes we could make to improve working conditions and how we deliver care, and that was it.
Read MoreUnions: Working People Standing Together Video and Website
Happy Labor Day, friends!
Read MoreTeamsters Intensify National Handbilling of Albertsons Grocery Stores
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters intensified rolling handbilling actions this week outside grocery stores under the Albertsons umbrella, demanding that the grocery stores hold their food supplier, Taylor Farms, accountable for a long list of human rights violations or cease purchasing food from the company.
Read MoreThe worst kind of surprise
1 in 4 Californians have experienced the worst kind of surprise over the past two years: a medical bill in the mail they had zero anticipation of ever receiving. These surprise medical bills happen when an insurer pays less for medical procedures than expected and they can be devastating for working families. Fortunately there’s a […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s $15 Minimum Wage Earthquake!
Governor Jerry Brown recently signed legislation boosting California’s minimum wage from $10 to $15 an hour — a 50 percent increase that made the state’s minimum wage the highest in the nation. The hike will be phased in over six years, then automatically adjusted annually to offset rising costs of living. According to the UC […]
Read MoreValley Fever Risk Looms in Central Valley
IBEW Local 1245 Business Representatives were recently informed of a case of Valley Fever from a PG&E lineman who went undiagnosed for several months. The member, Aaron Tulchinsky, was not aware of the health risk associated with Valley Fever in the Central Valley, and spoke up to the union because he wants other members to know about his experience, and hopes that those who move to or work in the Valley understand the risks.
Read MoreSenate Bill 308 Would Help Homeowners to Keep Equity
In 2016, recent reports of job growth are encouraging to learn. Yet these and other economic measures have yet to lessen the economic anxiety faced by so many California families. Struggles to make financial ends meet are particularly prominent for people of color.
Read MoreStand #WithRefugees Ahead of Global Summit
by Charlie Fanning
Read MoreFrom LA with Love: The Time When Justice Trumped Business
This post originally appeared at the LIFT Fund.
July 2016 is an important month in the history of the city of Los Angeles. That history is one of a pro-business city, where a trajectory of unbridled capitalism, as well as contemporary expectations of how the economy should work, did not point to success in implementing what became one of the most impactful minimum wage and wage-enforcement ordinances across the country. July 2016 is a month when, against great obstacles, justice trumped business.
Read MoreCalifornia’s Comeback Provides a Model for Rest of Nation
Conservatives are downright bitter about California’s jobs success since Gov. Jerry Brown took office. That success includes the creation of 2 million jobs and the state’s unemployment rate being cut in half. It includes California leading the nation in job growth, accounting for one in every six jobs created nationally during the recovery. California accomplished this comeback while passing some of the strongest bills in the country to protect working people, and increasing taxes on the very wealthy to fund our schools and invest in the future.
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