Category: Labor
Posted inLabor, Media, Media Meltdown, Technology

One million missing stories

by Jeremy Adam Smith

POST PINK SLIPS: Displaced journalists see opportunities to cover community on their own

This article appeared as part of the Public Press’ Spring print edition media package of stories. 

Since 2000, metro newspapers across the country have laid off an estimated 14,000 (out of 56,400) editors and reporters — a number that does not include journalists working for wire services, weekly newspapers or other media, all of which have suffered their own losses — according to blogger Ken Doctor, who writes the influential Newsonomics blog for the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard. There are simply fewer trained eyes on city halls, police departments, schools and corporate boardrooms. As Doctor writes on his blog, “That news-gathering … is what’s key to community information and understanding, fairly prerequisite in our struggling little democracy.”

Posted inEconomy & Business, Food Systems, Government & Politics, Labor, Media, Social Justice

New ‘Distress Index’ shows San Francisco’s economic pain is getting worse

by Nina Martin

New tool finds that recession started earlier in Bay Area

Some economists and business groups say the Great Recession is over, but how do communities really know whether they’re moving out of the recession or falling behind?

A ground-breaking new tool that measures the real-world impact of the recession is providing answers. It shows that in San Francisco, at least, the worst downturn in 70 years isn’t just continuing — it may be getting worse.

The new San Francisco Distress Index, which assembles 11 types of monthly economic indicators such as foreclosure rates and food pantry visits, has risen 11 percent since June 2009 — the month when, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. recession supposedly bottomed out.

Posted inEnvironment, Labor, Land use, Transportation

Treasure Island building plans draw fire

by Victoria Schlesinger

Foes say development would choke bridge traffic and worsen air

Proposed redevelopment on Treasure Island would increase traffic jams on the Bay Bridge, lengthening commute times and exacerbating Bay Area air pollution, critics say.

Residents, environmental organizations and local agencies voiced those concerns this fall in almost 700 written comments on proposed new residential and commercial development that planners have said would make the island a world-class green neighborhood.

Comments about the project’s draft environmental impact report submitted by the September deadline expressed deep misgivings with the plan by the city and the developer to limit driving on and off the island.

Posted inEducation, Government & Politics, Labor, Law & Justice, Social Justice

State audit: local agencies not providing efficient bilingual services

by Jerold Chinn

A state audit released Thursday revealed that many local agencies are not providing proper bilingual service called for in the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, passed 37 years ago. The audit says agencies need to improve services by providing more staff who are bilingual and translated written materials.

Posted inElections, Labor, Transportation

Muni update: Debating Prop. G, looking beyond driver pay to fix transit

by Monica Jensen

As the Nov. 2 election draws near, Proposition G has come to the forefront as one of the city’s most hotly debated measures.

The measure would force the city’s transportation operators’ union into collective bargaining and backers say it would “Fix Muni.” But opponents say that Muni’s problems don’t start and end with drivers.

Posted inBay Area, Labor, Land use, Open Government

Judge orders release of documents in failed CalPERS real estate investment

by Maureen Nandini Mitra

A judge has ordered the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to release key documents related to a failed $100 million real estate investment in East Palo Alto. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charlotte Wollard wrote in her ruling in the lawsuit by the First Amendment Coalition that public interest in the documents “far outweighs any asserted interest in non-disclosure” given the amount of public money lost.

Posted inLabor, Social Justice

Utopianism behind them, co-ops seek new strength helping low-wage workers

by Mineko Brand

Worker-owned cooperatives are growing as an alternative business model that puts the people who do the work in control. And they are getting a lot more organized than in the recent past, turning local networks into regional and national organizations. With the Bay Area still grappling with high unemployment rates and a weak economy, co-op advocates say they have a solution that is gaining momentum. Membership in the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives has grown 25 percent a year for the past two years, said Melissa Hoover, executive director of the San Francisco-based group.

Posted inEducation, Elections, Labor, News

In second week of school, nearly 50 district staff still without jobs

by Rosemary Macaulay

Even as classes began last week for San Francisco’s 55,000 public school students, nearly 50 teachers and other staff remained out of a job as the school district struggled to find openings to rehire them after a summer of budget cutting. Previously laid-off staff continued to get recall notices, with the most recent rehires announced Thursday. The majority of recalls were made in the last month. Still, eight teachers and 40 paraprofessionals remained laid off.

Posted inCommunity, Labor, Social Justice

Report says city’s mandate on local hiring for construction projects isn’t working

by Jerold Chinn

A new report from the Chinese for Affirmative Action and the Brightline Defense Project said the city is not meeting its local hiring mandate for construction projects in the city. Vincent Pan, executive director of the Chinese for Affirmative Action, a non-profit organization that advocates hiring local residents, said San Francisco is well below its mandate. The report titled “The Failure of Good Faith,” shows only 24 percent of city work hours are filled by city residents in 29 projects surveyed by the organizations.“We have to change this mandate to make it more solid so that San Francisco residents are getting the jobs,” said Pan.

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