Feature Archives
Mon Jun 1 2009
SEIU's "Shock and Awe" Campaign in Fresno
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).
Fri May 29 2009 (Updated 06/03/09)
UCSC Coalition Rallies Against Budget Cuts, Fee Hikes and Layoffs
On May 28th, students, staff, workers, and faculty rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the UC administration’s decision to cut Community Studies department staff, Latin American Latina/o Studies professors, and director positions at the American Indian Resource Center and the Women’s Center. The rally was organized by the New UC coalition to ensure universal access to education, and to promote freedom of thought in the university.
Fri May 29 2009
Justice For Laid Off Cisco Systems Janitors
On May 26th, a delegation of janitors who were laid off from their jobs at Cisco Systems' corporate headquarters met with San Jose City Council members. More than 75 were laid off despite the tech company's enormous profitability. Since then, the janitors and hundreds of Silicon Valley community supporters have launched a series of escalating mobilizations to urge the corporation to be responsible and put the janitors back to work.
Mon May 18 2009 (Updated 05/20/09)
Fresno Is Ground Zero in Labor Struggle
Fresno is ground zero in an epic battle for the heart and soul of the union movement. Will 10,000+ Fresno homecare workers be represented by a union run by unelected, out-of-town bureaucrats who negotiate sweetheart deals behind closed doors with corporate CEOs? Or, will workers support the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), a member-driven organization that fights for better pay and benefits for its members?
Wed May 13 2009 (Updated 05/20/09)
UCSC Budget Cuts to Affect Graduate Student Health Care Coverage
UCSC is seeking to meet budget deficits by cutting health care coverage and benefits to its graduate students, including those with families and dependents. These cuts could increase the cost of co-pays for doctor visits and emergency care, decrease life-time coverage limits and probably, and most significantly, increase co-pays for prescription drugs, even those taken on a regular basis for chronic conditions.
Fri May 8 2009 (Updated 06/07/09)
Campus Worker, Union Activist Arrested at UC Berkeley, Turned In to ICE
On Wednesday, April 29th, UC Berkeley Police, apparently acting on behalf of ICE and introducing themselves as ICE agents, arrested Jesús Gutiérrez, a worker at the Clark Kerr Campus Dining Commons and a union activist in AFSCME Local 3299. Gutierrez remains in Santa Rita Jail. On Wednesday, May 13th, a rally and a march was held at Sproul Plaza, UC-Berkeley, to demand the release of Jesús Gutiérrez from ICE custody.
Fri May 8 2009 (Updated 05/09/09)
Details of SEIU's Militarized Takeover of UHW Revealed
A lawsuit filed May 1st in federal court by a security and private intelligence firm against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has revealed details of the militarized takeover of Oakland-based local United Healthcare Workers West (UHW). SEIU spent millions to conduct surveillance of UHW's headquarters and membership meetings and to provide "protection services" to SEIU leaders visiting California.
Labor & Workers:
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