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Tag: Unions

Minimum Wage protest, California (Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty)

Minimum Wage Inflation: Dems Want State Hike to $13 per Hour

The California State Senate voted on party lines Monday to raise the minimum wage to $13 per hour by 2017–a 44% increase from where it stands today, at $9 per hour. Just two years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that increased the minimum from $8 per hour in 2013 to $10 per hour by 2016. The new bill, introduced by State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) as a measure to reduce poverty and inequality, would amount to a staggering and unprecedented 62.5% increase in four years.

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File

CA Dems Want State-Subsidized Child Care

Now that the California Assembly has approved AB 641, which would enable home-based childcare providers to unionize, a joint budget-writing committee will consider it, according to the Sacramento Bee. If approved, the resultant collective bargaining expansion would add thousands of child-care slots and trigger a rise in reimbursement rates.

Eric Garcetti Raise the Wage (Eric Garcetti / Flickr / CC / Cropped)

Hypocrites: L.A. Labor Wants Exemption from $15 Min. Wage

Labor leaders, who insisted for most of the last year that no exemptions should be allowed when instituting a minimum wage hike for the City of Los Angeles, have changed their tune now that the Los Angeles City Council approved the hike to $15 last week, asserting that companies whose employees are unionized should be exempted from the forced wage hike.

California fruit farm workers (Donna Sutton / Flickr / CC / Cropped)

Cal Fruit Growers Win Big Precedent Against UFW Union

In a huge victory for farmers and their workers, California’s 5th District Court of Appeal ruled last week that the state’s “Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation” process, which allows a mediator to impose a binding contract on farm companies and agricultural unions when the negotiation process breaks down, is unconstitutional.

Steve Glazer (Steve Glazer / Flickr / CC)

CA Unions Lose Big in East Bay Special Election

California’s powerful unions lost a key special election this week in an all-Democrat race for State Senate in the East Bay that pitted a reformist candidate, Orinda Mayor Steve Glazer, against a reliable Big Labor vote, Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla. The race took place on what was nominally Republican turf, after State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier resigned. Heavy spending by independent groups on both sides–and the state’s new “jungle” primary–helped Glazer win 55%-45%.

AP Photo/San Francisco Examiner, Mike Koozmin

Testing the Cutting Edge of Taxi Innovation—Things Go Awry

Uber is systematically wiping out taxis in San Francisco. As of last year, average taxi trips per month had reportedly plummeted 65 percent in just 2 years. In an effort to save the industry, a new startup, FlyWheel, has begun outfitting taxis with the Uber-like convenience of smartphone hailing and payments.

Uber (Reuters)

Uber Taking over from Taxis in Key Metro Markets

Uber’s popularity overtook traditional taxi service for San Francisco and Dallas business reimbursements in the first three months of 2015, reflecting an overall nationwide trend toward the innovative transportation company, according to analysis of millions of receipts processed through expense management software provider Certify.

Long Beach Port (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Unions Talk Port Strike Win–but Lose Jobs to Automation

As West Coast union dockworkers celebrate a tentative agreement for a five-year contract featuring even higher wages and benefits than the current $1,200-per-day, shipping companies intend to introduce new mega-container-ships and port handling equipment that will help automate away many union jobs.

AP Photo

Teamsters on a Roll, Organizing More Drivers in Silicon Valley

As Breitbart reported last week in “Teamsters Win Big in Silicon Valley, Target Tech Companies”, after the Teamsters Local 853 organized Facebook contract shuttle bus drivers a week ago, over the weekend they won elections organizing drivers for Yahoo, Apple, Genentech, eBay and Zynga.

Teamsters Hoffa (Phil McCarten / Reuters)

Teamsters Win Big in Silicon Valley, Target Tech Companies

With tech workers still expected to log 70-hour work weeks, shuttle drivers for Facebook voted to become a union affiliate of the Teamsters. After getting a leg in the tech industry door, the Teamsters intend to unionize Silicon Valley and have already scheduled union elections for workers at Apple, Yahoo, eBay, and others.

California Oil Refinery (Paul Sakuma : Associated Press)

West Coast Dock Strike Settles–Just in Time for Oil Refinery Strike

With the West Coast ports labor dispute involving 13,600 unionized dockworkers inflicting pain on 318 million Americans by causing billions of dollars a day in losses to the U.S. economy settling yesterday, now 30,000 unionized refinery workers across America intend to play the same leverage game by cutting off two-thirds of all U.S. diesel and gasoline supplies.

REUTERS/ENRIQUE DE LA OSA

Communists Thank SEIU for Help in Releasing Cuban Mass Murderer

Gerardo Hernandez, a spy for Communist Cuba and the man responsible for the murder of four humanitarian workers (three of whom were American citizens) over international waters, was freed from prison last year by the Obama administration, due in part to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Long Beach Port (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

$1,200-per-Day Union Port Workers Want Employers to Pay Double-time

America’s best-paid union members caused another four day shut-down of the 29 West Coast ports that move 43% of U.S. imports and exports. About 80% of heavy crane operators have been calling in sick in an apparent scheme to delay port activity until the union can force employers to pay double-time for work on the four union contract holidays for “Lincoln’s Birthday” and “President’s Day.”

UNION Scabs

Union Leaders Plead Guilty to Arson, Violence and Extortion

Three more members of Ironworkers Local 401 in Philadelphia pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of conspiracy, extortion, and racketeering in an ongoing RICO case against the labor union. They join eight others who have pleaded guilty in recent months to

Chomsky: Reagan ‘An Extreme Racist’

Chomsky: Reagan ‘An Extreme Racist’

Professor and political activist Noam Chomsky argued that “Ronald Reagan was an extreme racist” on GRITtv’s “The Laura Flanders Show” broadcast on Tuesday. “this is a very racist society, I mean it’s pretty shocking” he declared, before launching into a

Richmond Police Chief Joins Protest Over Police Bias

Richmond Police Chief Joins Protest Over Police Bias

The police chief of Richmond, CA, Chris Magnus, joined a protest against alleged police brutality in Ferguson, MO and Staten Island, NY on Tuesday while holding a sign reading “#blacklivesmatter.” Roughly 100 fellow protesters held signs while they listened to

Democrats Prep Media for 2016 Anti-GOP Onslaught

Democrats Prep Media for 2016 Anti-GOP Onslaught

Although ballots are still being counted in a handful of 2014 midterm elections, at least one Democrat super PAC is getting a jump on the 2016 presidential contest. On Monday, the left-wing American Bridge released what it calls a “media