Labor
The sky starts to lighten as Joyce Masih heads out to her bus. It’s just after 6 a.m. at the AC Transit bus yard in Hayward, and Masih is all smiles.
Some 250 workers rallied on City Hall steps ahead of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to protest the mayor’s proposed budget, which focuses on investments in public safety, job creation, economic development, and job training. But union members felt some of the most hard hitting cuts were proposed to service programs–many of the jobs they do in the city of Oakland.
As the days get longer and the temperature begins to rise, school will end in just a few short months. In the Oakland Unified School District, the last day of school is June 13 and classes will resume August 26, giving students almost two months without classes. Because of the enormous amount of free time students will inherit during their summer vacations, local programs and businesses are looking to hire students. In order to prepare students at Oakland Technical High…
It’s 4 a.m. and Franklin Street is buzzing with the sound of forklifts, shouting and trucks in reverse.
Employees at the East Bay chain restaurant Lanesplitter Pizza have taken conflicts with ownership to the public and the Internet, leading to a public debate about their pay, health care and management.
As the city gets ready to tackle a new two-year budget, councilmembers heard a presentation on Oakland’s fiscal future at Tuesday’s city council meeting. Whoops, jeers and the sound of a cowbell punctuated the meeting, and before the council could hear the presentation, they heard from dozens of angry union members and chants of “Enough is enough!” from the audience stalled proceedings more than once.
Just as its landfill and clerical workers were about to go on strike last December, Waste Management Alameda County set up meetings with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6 to negotiate wage increases and working conditions. The strike was called off.
A gymnasium full of teachers, teenagers and community members are sitting around small tables and jotting down the names of their favorite teachers on blue Post-It notes at Edna Brewer Middle School. Stephanie Benjamin, a 17-year-old peer educator with Youth Uprising, met her favorite teacher during elementary school in Oakland. She reads from her Post-It: “Ms. Wallis knew what was going on with us. She wouldn’t just get on you for not doing your work, she’d try to figure out…
The women sat in a circle, pressing their folding chairs closely together as they laughed, clapped and listened to each other’s stories.