Feature Archives

In an interview by Christina Aanestad, Dr. Ann Lopez discusses the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and it's impacts on farmers from West Central Mexico. In the interview, Dr. Lopez discusses the story of a 60 year old grandmother who risks asphyxiation to travel across the border to visit her "illegal immigrant" farmworker son. Dr. Lopez also talks about the struggles women migrant farmworkers face in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties and how neoliberal trade policies often force Mexican farmworkers to migrate into California's corporate agricultural fields.

The largest private sector union organizing drive in the history of Fresno is now underway at Community Regional Medical Center. A press conference announcing the effort was held on August 27th. Community Hospital workers and their allies hope to improve working conditions and salaries.

Metro lighting in Berkeley claims to be a "socially and environmentally correct 'green business'," but on Thursday, August 9, 2007, workers feared caustic alkaline may have been released into the air as a result of unsafe disposal. IWW members and pro-union workers were locked out that morning after complaining about this potentially serious chemical exposure in their workplace. Daily pickets are being held from 12-5:00pm in front of Metro Lighting at 2121 San Pablo in Berkeley.

On June 12th, teaching assistants and other members of UAW Local 2865 held a grade-in at the Baytree Plaza at UC Santa Cruz as part of a statewide action to highlight the UAW's demand for better protections against excessive workload. The action turned out over a thousand TAs, readers, and tutors across seven UC campuses. In the bargaining session that took place June 18th and 19th, progress was made towards adding protections against discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or gender identity.

The SF Day Labor Program is working with the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition and other community allies in organizing a "week of action" to acquire the Kelly-Moore site (Cesar Chavez and Mission) and turn it into low-income housing and a new day laborer center. There will be community rallies from July 9th through the 16th. On July 17th, the Board of Supervisors will hear an appeal for the site.

Garbage workers returned to work July 30th at Waste Management of Alameda County.

On July 2nd, Waste Management Inc. locked out union drivers and hired scab workers to cover garbage collection routes. Garbage has continued to pile up in some of the poorer communities of the East Bay. As the lockout continued, rotting trash piled up in some of the East Bay communities that were served by the unionized sanitation workers

Faced with imminent layoffs and management’s attempts to eliminate unions, workers from the Northern California Media Workers Union held a picket and press conference in front of the offices of the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday, June 26th.