Browsing Category : Community

San Jose School Trustee Zarghami’s Controversial Behavior Towards District Parent


SJUSD Trustee Paymon Zarghami has recently become embroiled in a controversy regarding his treatment of a district parent who questioned his apparent lack of transparency and possible conflict of interest on the Perseverance Charter School petition vote. The Trustee’s conduct resulted in a complaint filed by the district parent. The parent alleged that on both May 4 during the Board meeting…

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Creates Office of Labor Standards Enforcement


By a unanimous vote, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to create an new Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, aimed at helping educate workers on their rights and helping tackle wage theft, discrimination and sexual harassment across the County. Dozens of supporters from a wide range of organizations came out to support the creation of the office including…

Policy Watch: Week of 11/6


County of Santa Clara Developing Business License program for unincorporated areas of SCC; may be used to help enforce against wage theft Board will consider directing staff to develop a proposed business license program for the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. The county is working to adopt a business license program because it would offer numerous benefits to the…

Policy Watch: Week of 10/30


City of San Jose Memo from Liccardo & letter from Sharks re: MOU with Adobe for Downtown HQ Expansion Mayor Liccardo memo recommends to accept the staff rec to authorize an MOU with Adobe. Letter from Sharks Sports & Entertainment expresses concern over the impact of the Adobe project on the Arena, and asks the City to do better in…

Council Vote Undercuts Workers’ Rights, Denies Opportunities to Disadvantaged Workers


Tuesday evening, after more than five hours of public testimony and debate, six members of the San Jose City Council voted to undercut workers’ rights and deny career opportunity to local foster youth, veterans, low-wage workers and other hard-working community members. The 6-5 vote eliminated the possibility of implementing a Community Workforce Agreement policy for public, City-funded construction projects. While…

Policy Watch: Week of 10/23


County of Santa Clara ALUC to consider San Jose’s proposed amendment to  Diridon Station Area Plan  Pursuant to State Law, anytime a Specific Plan is proposed within the Airport Influence Area (AIA) of an adopted CLUP, a referral must be made to the County ALUC for a consistency determination. The City must refer the application to the ALUC to provide…

Policy Watch: Week of 10/9


Santa Clara County Direction on applying County Living Wage Policy to CBOs – including definition of trainees and limited term waiver process for CBOs Staff are recommending that the Committee consider recommendations relating to proposed provisions for community-based nonprofit contractors, including: Receive report from the Office of the County Executive relating to a living wage policy for community-based nonprofit contractors.…

Policy Watch: Week of 10/2


County of Santa Clara Developing Business License Program, including framework to enforce wage & hour laws  Direct Administration to develop a Business License Program for businesses in unincorporated Santa Clara County. The Program is intended to be a business registration and enforcement tool, not a business tax. In addition to enabling the County to accurately track data on business activity…

Sept. 22 Letters: Construction laborers deserve protections


At a time when working people across San Jose are struggling to meet the high cost of living, Scott Herhold’s attack on basic worker protections for construction laborers – on taxpayer-funded projects, no less! — is disappointing. Wage theft is rampant in construction, where certain unscrupulous employers routinely violate wage and hour laws. Government data shows that, since 2003, over…