There is a massive campaign underway to “turn on the pumps” and deliver additional water to corporate agribusiness in the western Central Valley. Agribusiness interests and their allies claim environmental and water activists care more about fish than people and are demanding more water, now!

Corporate agriculture’s campaign is being run by Burson-Marsteller (B-M), the astroturfing Public Relations firm that has been hired by the California Latino Water Coalition. MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow, in a March telecast, called B-M “the PR firm from hell” and said it had been hired to improve the “image” of AIG, the company that has received $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money. B-M has also represented the private security firm Blackwater, Union Carbide in the Bhopal India incident, and Babcock & Wilcox, manufacturers of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

Central Valley Congress members are calling for an exclusion from the Endangered Species Act of the delta smelt (a small fish that gets killed in the pumps), more dams, a peripheral canal (which critics say will be as large as the Panama Canal), and a bond initiative in 2010 that will result in taxpayers subsidizing water for large corporate farming operations.

Read more | Peripheral Canal: Panama Canal North? | People Before Water Barons: Stop the Peripheral Canal Water Bond! | Myths, Lies and Damn Lies about Impact of Drought on San Joaquin Valley Agribusiness | Salazar Announces Aid to Valley Agribusiness, Doesn’t Endorse Canal | Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar Holds Town Hall in Fresno

Fresno County homecare providers reported scores of incidents of voter intimidation, illegal threats, and ballot manipulation by SEIU staff in an election for workers to quit the scandal-plagued union and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

SEIU spent an estimated $10 million on attack mailings, robo-calls, TV and radio ads, and 1,000 paid staff flown in from across the country, but failed to win enough support from workers to win the election without breaking the law. Despite SEIU's illegal tactics, just 117 votes could swing the outcome of the election. Based on SEIU’s illegal conduct and flawed decisions by the County election officer, healthcare workers in NUHW will file a legal challenge to the election and not be party to certification of the results.

"SEIU has resorted to behavior worse than we’ve seen from the worst anti-union bosses," said Sal Rosselli, Interim President of NUHW. "They will say or do anything to deny workers a free choice. But healthcare workers have proven today that their movement to take back their union is thriving and has the strength to win."

Read More, Photos, Interview with Homecare Worker | Is Fresno SEIU’s Vietnam? | Fresno County homecare providers expose SEIU’s illegal tactics in illegitimate election | SEIU ran a campaign of threats and intimidation | Top Scab Hang-outs in Fresno | SEIU’s “Shock and Awe” Campaign

The Fresno police department has finally identified the officers who were captured on videotape in the February beating of a homeless man. But the department has been slow in proceeding with its promised investigation of the police beating. Glen Beaty, meanwhile, remains in jail on charges of violating parole.

On February 9th, Beaty, who witnesses say was sleeping under a tree, was awakened by two Fresno Police officers. A video recording of the incident shows one officer holding him on the ground while the other officer repeatedly punches him in the face. The two officers finally have been identified as Jeff Gross, a seven year veteran and Scott Payn, who has 10 years with the police department. Their names were released in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU attorney Michael Richer said, "we're glad that the city finally, after three months of illegal delay, released the names of the officers involved in the Beaty incident. But it is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get the government to follow the law. It's also unfortunate that the city is still refusing to abandon its illegal policy of refusing to obey the clear deadlines of the Public Records Act. As a result, this lawsuit, which should not have been necessary in the first place, is still far from over."

Meanwhile, Beaty was recently in Fresno Superior Court for a placement hearing to determine what happens to him next. He's been in jail for over three months on charges of allegedly violating parole. Beaty's attorney Peter Kapetan said, "the jail assessment team has determined that Mr. Beaty be held in a secure facility until he is restored to competency. What the court asked is that he is voluntarily willing to take medication and Mr. Beaty will not commit to that until he knows what the medication is. So, the court has appointed a psychiatrist to advise the court as to what psychiatric medications they think Mr. Beaty should be taking."

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Previous Related Indybay Feature: Community Groups Respond to Fresno Police Beating of Homeless Man (Video)

On Saturday, June 6th, a candlelight vigil and march for Luis Gutierrez Navarro, a farm worker killed by undercover police officers, was held at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Woodland, CA. On April 30th, twenty-six-year old Luis Gutierrez was walking home from the Woodland DMV after taking a Driver's License test when he was approached by three undercover Yolo County Sheriff's deputies who shot six bullets, killing him in broad daylight.

Though Gutierrez had no police record and was not known to belong to any gang, he was stopped by the Yolo County Gang Task Force -- a unit known widely among Latinos and civil rights activists for harassing, and often violently repressing, Latino youth. The county-wide Gang Task Force includes police departments in Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland, as well as the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department.

Police involved in the shooting initially claimed that they fired four gunshots after Gutierrez charged them, brandishing a knife. A coroner's report, however, revealed that the officers fired six shots, including one through his back which killed him.

Read More | Hundreds Attend Vigil and March for Luis Gutierrez

Community Meeting Demands Justice for Luis Gutierrez | The Shooting of Luis Gutierrez and the Struggle for Justice in Yolo County | Sacramento Labor Council for Latin American Advancement - AFL-CIO

June 1st is the first day of a highly contested union election for 10,000 homecare workers in Fresno County who are trying to leave the Washington, D.C.-based SEIU, a union that has been condemned by the AFL-CIO for using violence in inter-union conflicts. The stakes have never been higher for SEIU officials, who are desperately trying to stop a movement of nearly 100,000 healthcare workers in California who are organizing to quit SEIU and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

Current and former SEIU organizers have reported SEIU's use of so-called "shock and awe" teams to incite violence, including stalking, threatening and intimidating supporters of opposing unions. With 900 paid SEIU staff from across the country in Fresno County today, workers are worried about a repeat of recent violent attacks.

At an SEIU meeting held on Sunday May 31, SEIU-UHW Trustee Dave Regan encouraged hundreds of SEIU staff to "administer an old-school ass-whipping" to NUHW supporters. "In other words, what we gotta do here, my old-school friends, is we have to administer an old-school ass-whipping over the next two weeks," he said. "I know everybody knows what means. We gotta give a butt-whipping they will never forget," he added. "We gotta put them in the ground and bury them."

Video of the Regan Speech

On May 30th, thousands of marriage equality activists came to Fresno from throughout the state to protest the Supreme Court decision on proposition 8. A 15 mile march for civil rights by about 100 marriage equality activists who walked in the scorching valley heat from Selma to Fresno started the day. 3,000 people were waiting for them when they arrived at Fresno City Hall. Organizers of today’s Meet in the Middle rally chose Fresno because of the need to shift public opinion in the Central Valley on the marriage equality issue. Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, won by a wide margin in Fresno and other valley towns.

Photos and Audio

Previous coverage: Statewide Forces to Rally In the Middle Of California for LGBT Equality

Local healthcare union activists charge that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is run by unelected, out-of-town bureaucrats who negotiate sweetheart deals behind closed doors with corporate CEOs. Organizers and members of the National Union for Healthcare Workers (NUHW) believe labor unions should be militant, member-driven organizations that fight for better pay and benefits for their members. They are in a David-and-Goliath-like struggle with SEIU (aka Goliath), which has everything money can buy, but NUHW (aka David) has a secret weapon - the support of the workers.

Fresno is ground zero in this struggle over the future of the union movement because more than 10,000 home care workers will vote in June to decide which union will represent them. This is the first major election in the country where workers will get to chose between NUHW and SEIU. The outcome of this election will determine whether home care workers will have a grassroots democratically elected union or one that imposes leadership from the top down.

SEIU, which is based in Washington D.C., took over the local home care workers union in a trusteeship that took place on Jan. 27, 2009. As a result of the trusteeship, the elected leadership of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West (SEIU-UHW) was removed, members and their supporters were forced out of their own union hall and SEIU appointed new "leaders" for SEIU-UHW. When the takeover happened, most of the staff of SEIU-UHW left and, along with thousands of healthcare workers, formed NUHW.

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On Wednesday, May 6, several Women in Black members were holding signs of peace in the breeze way of the Fresno County Courthouse when they were confronted by armed Sheriff Deputies and threatened with arrest. One of the shotgun toting guards was quoted as saying "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

The group, Women in Black, have been holding their silent protest at the County Courthouse for seven years, without any incidents. Jean Hays, one of the participants with WIB, said “a woman deputy came out of the Courthouse and told us we had to leave until we obtained a permit because the Courthouse was now under the jurisdiction of the state.” Read more |

Women in Black

A Fresno homeless advocate has been sent a letter from Homeland Security, informing him that his attempts to help the homeless have been "brought to the attention of the Police Department's Terrorism Liaison Officers." The unwanted attention of the Homeland Security anti-terrorism group followed a City of Fresno "clean up" of a homeless encampment on the Mariposa Mall in downtown Fresno.

Several homeless advocates monitored the "clean up" and removal of homeless people's property on the morning of April 22, 2009 by City Sanitation Workers. "Clean ups" at the Mariposa Mall site, just west of Fresno City Hall, are conducted about once a month. City Sanitation puts up signs announcing the date of the clean up, most of the homeless people move out shortly before they arrive, and move back later in the day.

Phil Connelly, one of the homeless advocates, left the Mariposa Mall “clean up” and went to the City of Fresno Corporate Yard (2101 G street) in an attempt to see where the confiscated property was taken. It has been city policy to store property at that location for 90 days, or until it is reclaimed. A few days after his visit to the City of Fresno Corporate Yard, Connelly was contacted by Sgt. Ronald Grimm, Homeland Security Coordinator for the Fresno Police Department.

Read more and view Photos

Fresno Deputy Sheriff’s Disrupt Free Speech of Women in Black, Threatened Them with Arrest

A lawsuit filed May 1st in federal court by the security and private intelligence firm OSO Group against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has revealed details of the militarized takeover of Oakland-based affiliate United Healthcare Workers West (UHW).

The lawsuit revealed that SEIU ran up a $2.2 million bill with the OSO Group, which is just one of several security companies hired by SEIU to carry out the trusteeship of UHW. OSO Group deployed off-duty and retired police officers - at $110 per hour - to conduct surveillance of UHW's offices and intimidate, photograph, and videotape members and staff. SEIU directed OSO Group to spy on meetings where UHW members discussed SEIU plans to move 65,000 workers to a new union without a democratic vote on the matter. OSO Group has also been providing "protection services" for out-of-state SEIU brass visiting California.

The OSO Group provides surveillance, intelligence, counter-terrorism and other services to multinational corporations. Its leaders and staff are mainly former agents of the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and CIA, as well as national law enforcement officials.

SEIU and its controversial leader Andy Stern moved to trustee UHW in January. The action was criticized by UHW's leaders as undemocratic. Since then, former UHW leaders and rank-and-file activists have formed a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), and a majority of UHW members have petitioned to leave SEIU and join NUHW.

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Related Coverage: Workers Petition to Join NUHW | Workers Rebuild Their Union | United Healthcare Workers West Put Into Trusteeship

On May 1, International Workers Day, rallies and marches are planned for cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz County, and the Central Valley. Demonstrators will call for action in defense of jobs, families, immigrant rights, and unions.

In the Central Valley towns of Fresno and Reedley the day will be marked with songs of the labor movement. Speaking events will focus on worker-related topics from farms to the threat of fundamentalism to justice and sustainability. A "March for Legalization" will start at Eaton Plaza in downtown Fresno at 5pm.

Students and educators from public colleges all over the state converged on Sacramento on March 16, 2009 to demand that California fully fund higher education and not raise tuition. Many had meetings with legislators. While protests were entirely peaceful, one student was arrested by police for no apparent reason.

Amid the deepening budget crisis in California’s public colleges and schools, over 6,000 students, teachers, administrators, and education workers converged on the State Capitol in Sacramento on March 16, 2009. They came to demand, “Keep the doors open,” “No budget cuts,” “Bail out colleges, not banks,” “Fund education, not war,” and “Money for schools, not prisons.”

They came from all over the state. Students from Los Angeles Mission College had boarded buses before 3 AM to arrive in Sacramento in time to march from Raley Field to the steps of the Capitol for an 11 AM rally. De Anza College in Cupertino sent four buses with some 200 students. Altogether, over 70 buses converged at Raley Field from which participants marched across the drawbridge over the Sacramento River, down the Capitol Mall to the State Capitol, a distance of approximately one mile. They were joined on the steps of the Capitol by students from local area public colleges.

Read More with Photos