No one wants an adult who abuses children in the classroom, and existing laws and policies work when adults actually enforce them. In fact, in the wake of several high profile cases in Los Angeles Unified School District, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing admonished District officials for failing to do just that—follow existing reporting guidelines.
When workers express a desire to stand together to improve wages and job conditions, far too often the employer responds with a vicious retaliation campaign. That’s the case at Taylor Farms in Tracy, where the immigrant workforce is being subject to threats, harassment and even firings simply for standing up for their rights. Today, the workers are fighting back.
Teamster members and fired Taylor Farms workers were joined today by community allies, faith leaders and elected officials to launch a one-day Unfair Labor Practice strike to demand respect for workers and the reinstatement of those who were fired unjustly.
“Unfathomable”: Why Is One Commission Trying to Close California’s Largest Public College?
To appreciate the value of a community college education, consider the transformation of Shanell Williams. By the time she was a teenager, Williams was constantly getting into trouble on the streets of San Francisco’s Fillmore District. Her abuse of drugs and alcohol, along with a difficult family life, would lead her into the juvenile justice system, drug treatment centers and foster homes.
“I was a juvenile delinquent,” she admits.
Today Williams, now 29, hardly resembles that troubled youth. She is a hard-working student at City College of San Francisco, taking urban studies courses and hoping to transfer to Stanford University or the University of California at Berkeley. She has served as president of the student council at CCSF’s Ocean campus and was elected to be the student representative on CCSF’s Board of Trustees.
Some background: Of the approximately 12,000 port truck drivers in Southern California – about 110,000 nationwide – the overwhelming majority are improperly classified as “independent contractors.” This has dramatic repercussions, as these low-income, mostly immigrant drivers are thereby denied basic workplace rights and protections: no minimum wage or overtime or OSHA protections, no disability or workers comp or unemployment insurance, no legal right to organize a union.
On International Human Rights Day, business and labor came together to make a statement: Economic opportunity is a human right.
Nearly seventy union members travelled from Los Angeles to join small business and community leaders in Bakersfield to tell Rep. Kevin McCarthy that without comprehensive immigration reform, too many immigrant workers are taken advantage of and are denied the opportunity to truly make a better life for themselves and their families.
As negotiators for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) missed yet another deadline for completing the pact in Singapore early on December 10th, labor, environmental, consumer and Congressional leaders held a media briefing that called the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) agenda for the pact into question. Pointing to the TPP’s significant threats to jobs, the environment and consumer safety, they called for release of TPP texts and voiced strong opposition to “Fast Track” authority for the pact.
Over the last week, a broad coalition of California business, labor, community, and faith groups have been ramping up the pressure on House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), to allow a vote on immigration reform (HR 15) by camping out at his office all day, every day, from sun up to sun-down. Check out highlights from the first half of the “11 Days for 11 Million” campaign, which is still going strong in Bakersfield through December 13th.