Tesla’s recent firing spree raises more serious questions about the company’s treatment of its workers. Today at the Tesla plant in Fremont, workers, elected officials, members of community groups and many more rallied inside the showroom of the facility to ask the company to reinstate every worker who was fired without just cause in the recent round of terminations.
Read More“Our Commitment to Stand Together”
As a case backed by billionaires will soon be heard by the Supreme Court of the US, working people are joined by the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board in denouncing the insidious attempt to silence our voices and weaken the middle class. The case- Janus v AFSCME– claims to be about “freedom” but it’s really about a powerful anti-worker agenda that seeks to further stack the deck against everyday Americans to line the pockets of the wealthy elite.
Read MoreThe Affordable Care Act is Still Under Attack
While the repeal efforts aimed at the Affordable Care Act (A.C.A.), or ObamaCare, are over for now, efforts to destabilize the landmark health care law are ongoing. We need to stay focused on the attacks on health care that threaten access to care.
Read MoreUnion-Made in America Halloween
If you want your Halloween to be all treats and no tricks, make sure all your candy is union-made in America. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s resource site, Labor 411, has a list of union-made candies, as does Union Plus. Here are some highlights, featuring sweets made by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
Read MoreImportant information for workers in areas affected by wildfires
We’ve been hearing reports that many are being forced to work outdoors—in areas directly affected by the fires—with no respirators or masks of any kind. Given the extremely harmful air quality caused by these catastrophic fires, such activity is completely unacceptable and likely a direct violation of an employer’s legal responsibility to protect workers from known hazards. In addition, given the unprecedented number of structures burned, the chemical makeup of this air is potentially even more harmful than that usually seen in wildfire-afflicted regions.
Read MoreWhat Working People Are Saying About the Janus Supreme Court Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the case Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, meaning the court will hold a hearing and make a ruling on the case. The case started with the billionaire governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, attempting to undercut the voice of public service workers through the courts. Janus is party of a broader strategy by corporate-funded organizations like the State Policy Network, which admits that the whole point of Janus is to strike a “mortal blow” and “defund and defang” unions. Working people are speaking out against these attempts to use the courts to attack their rights.
Read MoreGovernor Signs SB 17 (Hernandez)—the strongest prescription drug transparency bill in the country!
Victoria Stuessel is 32-year old wife and mother from La Puente, California. A year ago she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) which is a disabling disease of the central nervous system. She was put on a cocktail of drugs that costs her and her family $7000 a month, even with their health coverage. She also takes six drugs to treat the symptoms of MS that cost over $1,200 a month. When Victoria relapses, she needs a 5-day IV infusion of very expensive high-dose steroids—and she never knows when she’ll need them so it’s impossible to budget for that expense. There is no cure for MS. These are drugs that Victoria will have to take every day for the rest of her life.
Read MoreChasing Irma: Local 1245 members provide mutual aid in Florida
While hundreds of thousands of Floridians raced to evacuate their homes in anticipation of Hurricane Irma, more than 100 members of IBEW Local 1245, including PG&E line crews, operators and field support staff, headed directly into the path of the storm.
Read MoreGovernor Signs SB 306 into Law, Protecting Whistleblowers on the Job
Governor Brown delivered a major victory to California’s workers by signing SB 306 (Hertzberg), landmark legislation to better protect whistleblowers facing employer retaliation when reporting illegal activity. As of January 1, 2018, this bill—sponsored by the California Labor Federation—will add important protections for working people who report health and safety violations, wage theft, minimum wage violations, or other crimes.
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