Newsroom
Domestic Worker Bill of Rights corrects historic wrongs
Seven-year journey to bring overtime protections to personal attendants
They work in the shadows of society and have been excluded from the most basic of labor protections. Yet those domestic workers who care for seniors, children and the disabled, have risen above their historic isolation, built an effective coalition and performed the seven years of heavy lifting that saw their struggle succeed.
Early educators fight reckless closure of community Head Start
Congresswoman Maxine Waters questions motives of L.A. County Office of Education
Watts was still smoldering from the riots in 1965 when Kedren Head Start began serving local families. Today, about 350 Kedren employees care for more than 2,100 children at 32 sites from South Los Angeles and Koreatown to the Eastside.
“All of us work in low-income, dangerous areas,” said Margaret Garcia, a family service advocate at one of Kedren’s multiple Watts facilities. An undercurrent of violence runs through the neighborhoods.
The Vergara lawsuit: Anti-public education ideology cloaked in civil rights rhetoric
Public school educators face a new threat in the form of the Vergara v. California lawsuit, which aims to declare unconstitutional five provisions of the Education Code that ensure seniority, due process and other rights for K-12 teachers. (See page 7)
Judge rules trial required to determine legality of ACCJC actions
CFT lawsuit advances significant step toward fair accreditation in community colleges
City College of San Francisco started 2014 with some much-needed good news. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow ruled that the school’s accreditation cannot be revoked until a trial determines whether the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, or ACCJC, acted unlawfully in sanctioning the college. Karnow said in his ruling that closing the college would be “catastrophic.”
CalSTRS Board Member: Perspective on the shortfall
CalSTRS reports that its unfunded liability grows by $22 million every day that nothing is done. While most California public pension funds can raise annual employer rates when they need more money, CalSTRS requires legislation to raise rates.
New legislation proposes universal transitional kindergarten
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has introduced a bill to expand California’s Transitional Kindergarten program to give every four-year-old the opportunity to attend a year of school before kindergarten.
UC-AFT: Putting union passion to work…
UC-AFT
Putting union passion to work. . . New
UC-AFT Executive Director Amy Hines brings a passion for labor to
the University Council. For the past several years she worked as
an organizer for the California School Employees Association and
coordinated the work of 10 labor relations professionals
representing 14,000 classified employees in more than 125
districts.
Hines has worked in unions since 2003, including UAW Local 2322,
SEIU Local 1000, and AFSCME Local 3299. Proudly, she said, “I am
honored to have been welcomed in all nine UC-AFT locals within my
first three months working here.”
CFT advisory committee analyzing impact of CalSTRS funding gap
The Legislature has begun public hearings to address a $71 billion funding gap in the pension system for K-14 teachers. Without an increase in contributions, CalSTRS predicts its assets will be depleted in about 30 years.
Union establishes Retiree Organizing Committee to build new chapters
The CFT has established the Retiree Organizing Committee to help local unions take advantage of the experience, skills and commitment of retired union members.
The goal of this new standing committee is to organize AFT retiree chapters around the state so that retirees may continue to contribute to their unions — and have opportunities to connect with former colleagues.
Photographer brings the art of class struggle to wide audience
Previously censored works of San Diego professor Fred Lonidier in Whitney Biennial
Fred Lonidier’s artwork depicting the lives and struggles of maquiladora workers was banished from the Autonomous University of Baja California in 2005. This month artwork telling the story of that censorship will go up on the walls of New York’s prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art as part of its renowned Biennial exhibition.
CFT campaigns to bring back nurses, libraries
Union-sponsored legislation inspired by labor-community vision
The CFT has launched an ambitious legislative initiative for K-12 schools called Healthy Kids, Healthy Minds, which is embodied in the new union-sponsored bill, AB 1955, carried by Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, a pediatrician with a track record of improving health in local neighborhoods.
CFT releases statewide study of part-time faculty pay
Collaborative union effort leads to promising new tool for bargaining
A new CFT study has, for the first time, ranked compensation for part-time faculty throughout California and found that salaries vary dramatically across the state.