Jun 5, 2014
No matter how small the haul is, a thief is a thief, right? If a poverty-wage fast-food worker sneaks out a couple of burgers to take home to the kids, the bosses yell: “Thief!” But what do you call it when the bosses steal from those same workers? How about outrageous, disgusting – or simply unbelievable? Well, believe it or…
Jun 4, 2014
San Jose Wastewater Technical Training Facility faces training challenges to new and promoted staff; San Jose Issue summary: The San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility has experienced a high turnover rate in operations and maintenance staffing during the last several years. A December facility staffing status memo reported a 25% vacancy rate in the combined five critical classifications: Wastewater Operators,…
Jun 2, 2014
A criminal conviction was never meant to be a life sentence to poverty. The time has come to “ban the box,” thus prohibiting the practice of discriminating against those with criminal convictions when applying for employment. Job applicants should be evaluated based on their credentials, not old or unrelated convictions. Those effected should be provided the opportunity to explain their…
May 30, 2014
For a growing number of California women, the pain and fear arising from a private abusive relationship is increasingly being extended on-line for all the public to see through cyber retaliation, also known as “revenge porn.” Domestic violence prevention advocates see the posting of intimate images of women by their former partners as a growing tactic in abusive relationships. To…
May 28, 2014
John Vasconcellos died Saturday surrounded by his close family and friends. His Hanai, a Hawaiian word for extended family included his chosen son, Mitch Saunders, his daughter-in-law Cindy and his precious two grandchildren Megan and Briana. The record will show he served 38 years in the legislature, was Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee for many years, he…
May 27, 2014
Santa Clara County – 5/29/14 Senior Meal Funding Supervisor Dave Cortese is leading the effort to restore funding for meals cooked on site for the Senior Nutrition Program. During the April CSFC (Children Seniors Families Committee) meeting, the Department of Aging and Adult Services was asked to provide the Board with information regarding the feasibility of restoring cook-on-site meals to…
May 23, 2014
This week we discover a Whopper in the American Mid-west, specifically in a May 20th column in The Cleveland Plain Dealer written by Kevin O’Brien and titled, “Where the VA has taken veterans, Obamacare is leading all Americans.” O’Brien doesn’t like the Affordable Care Act and his hostility to that legislation has led him into Whopper land. To begin with,…
May 21, 2014
Sunnyvale City Council members forged ahead with a bold policy to raise the minimum wage in their city to more than $10 an hour, a 2-dollar jump in the current minimum. Council members voted 6 to 1 last night to create a city ordinance which raises the minimum wage and ties it to the consumer price index, so it could…
May 20, 2014
In today’s busy Silicon Valley society a wage earner needs to earn approximately $16 to pay the rent, put food on the table and pay for the very bare necessities of life. We know that for every high tech job that we produce in the valley that four (4) service jobs are created. Service jobs include fast food workers, people…
May 20, 2014
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors took the first step toward establishing the nation’s most comprehensive living wage ordinance. On a unanimous vote, the Board directed County Administration to develop a framework for an ordinance that would set a new standard of higher wages, healthcare security and a better standard of living for tens of thousands of low wage…