Jun 16, 2014
Given the increasing disparity among wage earners here, passing higher minimum wage laws in all cities in Santa Clara County is long overdue. The City of San Jose set a great example that should be emulated. If we are committed to creating and supporting a healthier, more vigorous and equitable community, this is one way to begin to address the…
Jun 12, 2014
You may have heard about a campaign by 900 immigrant workers at a place called Taylor Farms in Tracy who are organizing with the Teamsters union. Maybe you thought that it’s interesting, but it’s over the hill in Tracy. Or maybe you’ve never heard of Taylor Farms, so you think it doesn’t affect you. Time to think again. Have you…
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…
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 8, 2014
Hector is a married father of three who has worked for SJSU for the past 15 years as a groundskeeper. Originally an immigrant from Mexico, he became a citizen in 1989. Margarita’s first job was sewing clothes in Mexico at the age of 7. Now a grandmother of six, she has worked as a custodian at San Jose State University…
May 1, 2014
The movement to raise the minimum wage is spreading, and as a city council member in Mountain View, I’m proud to say our city is caught up in the wave. When a group called Coalition to Raise the Minimum Wage in Mountain View held a rally and the press covered it, the responses I received were overwhelmingly supportive. Close to…
Apr 15, 2014
As millions of Americans pay income taxes today, Bay Area security officers and community supporters called on Apple Inc. to pay taxes on some of an estimated $102 billion the company is holding overseas. Activists gathered outside a San Francisco Apple store and encouraged customers to participate in a mock $15 billion “mail-in rebate” to highlight how the company’s unpaid…
Mar 26, 2014
I have 17 million reasons for wanting to increase the minimum wage. Yes, 17 million—the number of children whose lives would be a little more secure if their moms and dads earned at least $10.10 an hour. When I was in junior high, my daddy had a heart attack. He was home for a while, the medical bills piled up,…
Mar 19, 2014
It’s been a year since San Jose voters overwhelmingly decided to raise the City’s minimum wage to $10 an hour, and guess what? Not only has the sky NOT fallen, as critics warned, but the economy and low wage workers are better off than they were a year ago. Some of the major supporters of Measure D, as it was…