Jul 31, 2014
The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Tuesday that McDonald’s could be held jointly liable for labor and wage violations by its franchise operators — a decision that, if upheld, would disrupt longtime practices in the fast-food industry and ease the way for unionizing nationwide. Business groups called the decision outrageous. Some legal experts described it…
Jul 29, 2014
Right about now, dozens of children and their families who made a risky and frightening journey across the Southern U.S. border are getting a small bit of comfort from people like you. Your donations of clothes, blankets, diapers, women’s feminine care products and other necessities collected by San Jose’s Working Partnerships USA were sent to the Interfaith Center for Worker Justice…
Jul 28, 2014
San Jose Potential measures for November Ballot San Jose City Council has a lot on its plate when Council Members come back from their July break. Polling results show support for a City sales tax increase and for a 20% Marijuana Business Tax. The Council may decide whether or not to put either or both items on the November ballot.…
Jul 24, 2014
I’m remembering the morning after Brazil´s devastating loss to Germany in the World Cup. It´s 7 a.m. and I’m taking my usual walk through the center of Caucaia. The city of 200,000 is already bustling with people catching buses to work or opening their small shops. Tears were shed last night but today it´s back to work. It´s also back…
Jul 23, 2014
Apple, Google and other tech giants in the Silicon Valley are booming. Those companies are filled with brilliant people, many getting rich from the fruits of their labor. And they deserve it. Engineers and designers and other professionals who bring us the devices that make so many lives easier and more productive, work hard at what they do. But there…
Jul 22, 2014
When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country,” he expressed a view shared by many business leaders. In today’s business climate it seems incredible, but through much of the 20th century business leaders supported workers’ rights. Why did leading…
Readers: It’s another light agenda week. Please enjoy some summer reading inequality and the minimum wage. Paul Mason writes in the Guardian that the best of capitalism is over for rich counties by painting a bleak picture of what a continuation of “more of the same” means by 2060. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/07/capitalism-rich-poor-2060-populations-technology-human-rights-inequality Tweet
Jul 18, 2014
My daughter, Eliza, has forever changed my view of what it means to feel vulnerable. As Elizabeth Stone says, “Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” Since Jeremy and I welcomed her into our world three years ago this month, we…
Neighborhood safety in San Jose has deteriorated. Potholes riddle our streets. Businesses struggle to have their applications and permits processed. Libraries are shuttered more hours than they’re open. In the video above, San Jose engineers, architects, supervisors and mid-managers detail the challenges that they and their coworkers face as residents question why city services have been cut. Check out the…
Jul 15, 2014
When most politicos say “2016”, they are talking about the Presidential race to succeed Barack Obama. But in the neighborhoods of San Jose Council District 6, the jockeying for position to replace Pierluigi Oliverio after his 10-year reign of error has begun in earnest. District 6 is one of the most, if not the most politically active areas in San…