Nov 19, 2015
The race for Assembly District 30 is heating up. Today, Anna Caballero, the Secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency officially announced her candidacy for the seat. Prior to serving in the Brown Administration, Caballero served in the California State Assembly from 2006-2010 and held the seat of Mayor and Council Member of Salinas for 15 years. She ran…
Nov 16, 2015
Santa Clara County Proposed changes to County policy regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers / notification requests The board will consider adopting a Policy Resolution as proposed by Board President Cortese relating to civil immigration detainer and notification requests. It will also consider directing Administration to develop a Memorandum of Understanding with DHS & ICE contingent upon adoption…
Nov 12, 2015
Apple, Cisco and eBay contractors have been banned from the H1-B Visa program for wage theft. The contractors, Scopus Consulting Group Inc. and Orian Engineers Inc., both from Sunnyvale, were cited for short-changing workers approximately $84,000, according to a recent Silicon Valley Business Journal article. Scopus Consulting Group Inc. and Orian Engineers Inc. will have to pay back wages to…
Nov 10, 2015
Sexism was on full display Monday night as the male members of the West Valley-Mission Community College (WVMCC) Board appointed another man, Steve Landau, instead of a more qualified woman, Randi Kinman. Kinman was the only applicant for the open seat on the Board who had experience in the Community College arena, having served for twenty years as a Community…
Nov 5, 2015
The California Faculty Association (CFA) announced that 94.4% of its membership voted to authorize CFA’s Board of Directors to call a strike if the contract negotiations with California State University (CSU) management fail to produce a fair deal for the faculty and staff on the 23 CSU campuses. The talks, which began in May of 2014 and are in the…
Oct 29, 2015
With its decision to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2018 and tie future wage increases to the regional San Francisco Bay Area Consumer Price Index (CPI), Mountain View has set a new regional standard. To keep pace, Silicon Valley cities will need to allow their minimum wage increases to be driven by either the national or…
Oct 28, 2015
The latest victory in the fight to raise the wage occurred last night when Mountain View became the first city in Santa Clara County to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018. The vote was 5-2 with Mayor John McAlister and Councilmember John Inks opposing the ordinance. The City Council agreed to raise the City’s minimum wage…
Oct 27, 2015
The City of Palo Alto is considering a minimum wage tip credit, despite the fact that it is illegal. The proposed credit would authorize employers to pay tipped workers less than the local minimum wage, with the assumption that the employees’ tips would make up the difference. Specifically, Section 351 of the California Labor Code, which makes tips “the sole…
Oct 26, 2015
City of San Jose San Jose is considering recommendations related to the agreement with Taxi San José for the On-Demand Ground Transportation Program It is recommended that Council accept the report regarding citywide taxicab regulations and operations of taxicabs and Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) at the Airport, as recommended by the Transportation and Environment Committee on Oct. 5, 2015. Where: …
Oct 23, 2015
The process for filling the vacant seat on the West Valley-Mission Community College District is underway. Nick Heimlich resigned his seat, creating the vacancy on the board that oversees the maintenance and operation of West Valley College in Saratoga and Mission College in Santa Clara. Here are the candidates, as of today, who are looking to fill the position. Randi…