When the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation Commission convenes Thursday at Eureka’s Wharfinger Building, it will face two large and related agenda items. First, it will consider authorizing staff to submit a U.S. Department of Transportation mega grant application hoped to total in the hundreds of millions of dollars to go toward construction of the […]
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Labor Unions Have a Week to Agree on Housing Bills. Can They Do It?
Days from the end of the legislative session, political observers are once again asking themselves whether a bitter, unresolved battle over labor standards will spell the end of California’s most ambitious proposal to solve its housing affordability crisis. Assembly Bill 2011, which would unlock commercial real estate for residential use, potentially leading to more than […]
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California’s Fast Food Bill Could Link Chains to Wage Theft and Other Workplace Violations
California lawmakers this month are considering a fast food bill that would significantly shift the relationship between restaurant workers and the corporate chains whose products they sell. If Assembly Bill 257 passes, California would be the first state to assign labor liability to fast food corporations and not just their individual franchise owners. The bill’s […]
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Teacher Vaccinations in California Determined by Luck, Location
How soon teachers can expect to get vaccinated depends largely on where they live and could determine whether the bulk of California’s students return to campuses this spring — or next fall. Teacher vaccinations have emerged as a central point of contention in California’s charged debate over reopening schools as unions representing teachers and school […]
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Cash Blitz: A Look at Who’s Spending to Influence Your Vote for California’s Legislature
State law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights. So far more than $31 million […]
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A Merry Co-op Solstice Story
After half a year of dickering and angst, North Coast Co-op management and its United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 employees have ratified the new contract they tentatively agreed upon in November — 81 percent of the union members voted for it. According to the Co-op, the contract includes 5 percent annual raises […]
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Plumbers Union Calling for Lost Coast Brewery Boycott
Rumors of this boycott had been brewing for some time, but apparently it’s official. In a poster that appeared in Old Town overnight, the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local No. 290 accuses Lost Coast Brewery of hiring out-of-town contractors to build its new brewery on south Broadway, undercutting local wages and eliminating training opportunities. The subcontractor, […]
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Co-op Employees to Picket Board Meeting
The clash between North Coast Co-op management and unionized employees continues. Here’s a press release from the union: United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 will hold a rally and picket at the North Coast Co-operatives Board of Directors meeting on Thursday November 14th. The rally will highlight the Co-op’s use of union busting […]
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Nurses Set Stage For Possible Strike
St. Joseph Hospital nurses voted last week to authorize a strike — but that doesn’t mean they’re about to strike. It means they’ve handed their nurse representatives a big cudgel to raise high in threat above the bargaining table where they’ve sat for weeks haggling with hospital administration over their new contract. “It’s used as […]