Dec 9, 2014
Santa Clara County Supervisors have taken the bold step toward establishing the most comprehensive living wage law in the nation. At the board meeting Tuesday morning, Supervisors voted 3 to 1 (yea: Chavez, Cortese, Yeager; nay: Wasserman; Supervisor Joe Simitian abstained) on the substance of a law that will require county contractors to pay their employees a living wage, in…
Dec 8, 2014
The second largest waste and recycling company in the world is playing chicken with the City of San Jose, in a wage theft game that’s worth 14 million dollars to the City, and nearly five million to workers. Republic Services was found to have been underpaying its sorters since 2011 to the tune of millions of dollars. When the City ordered Republic to pay…
Dec 8, 2014
City of San José Interim Appointment Mayor Reed and Mayor-elect Liccardo have jointly issued a memo to the Rules and Open Government Committee seeking an interim appointment for Council District 4 until a new council member can be elected in the upcoming special election. Tweet
Dec 5, 2014
For decades, a creek bed in East San Jose has become a homeless encampment for hundreds of San Jose residents who’ve lost homes, jobs, families and have no place else to go. But today, “The Jungle,” what it’s mostly known as, has been shutdown by the City of San Jose. Tweet
Dec 2, 2014
For six years, Republicans in Washington have blocked almost every effort to improve conditions and wages for working people. Around the country, cities and states are no longer waiting for Washington to act, and are taking things into their own hands. They have passed laws increasing the minimum wage and requiring sick pay for workers. Now San Francisco has passed,…
This Black Friday we need to send the Waltons a message. We can’t sit back while their workers go hungry any longer. And Walmart and the Waltons must stop taking illegal actions against Walmart workers who want to work hard and be able to provide for our families. Tweet
Nov 19, 2014
San Jose City Councilmembers made a bold and much needed move last night toward providing more affordable housing with the passage of a Housing Impact Fee. The $17 per square foot fee charged to market-rate housing projects will take the place of dried up redevelopment funds that used to go toward affordable housing projects. Tweet
Remember the unadulterated fury unleashed by the character Howard Beale in the 1976 movie “Network?”: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” That’s how I feel about a recent reminder of how out of control rental housing prices are getting in Silicon Valley. Well, I’m not ready to flip out on network TV, but angry…
Support Prop 47 Council hero Ash Kalra wants to try and change the misguided minds of his dais foes on Proposition 47, the state measure that would reduce the classification of most “non-serious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor. Tweet
Sunnyvale is the latest municipality to boost the earning potential of its lowest paid workers. The City Council passed a $10.30 an hour minimum wage last night. The ordinance had been in the works for several months, and the final vote came closely on the heels of Mountain View which raised its minimum to the same level last week. Both…