Search: Latest News, 06/13/2022

On Thursday, June 9, 2022, Fast-food workers across California served up an order or worker rights. From San Diego to Los Angeles and Oakland to Sacramento, fast-food workers walked off the job and into the streets. Their demand? Have California state senators pass Assembly Bill 257 – the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or FAST Recovery Act, and have Governor Gavin Newsom sign it into law.

Contra Costa County workers have dealt with an epidemic of understaffing for far too long. That’s why a huge union coalition of nine unions—representing more than 6,200 County workers—has rallied across the county’s worksites for weeks to call attention to the staffing crisis and force the Board of Supervisors to take action.

The work of best representing our members takes place on a number of levels. There are contract negotiations, grievances, and sometimes even strikes. We have legal battles and fights to protect our rights in the courts. We organize new members into the union to protect the standards we set in bargaining and raise the bar for everyone. And then there is politics and the work we do at election time.

Overworked child protective service workers are unable to follow up on reports of abuse and neglect in a timely manner. Public works employees are unable to keep up with important infrastructural work like filling potholes. Eligibility workers are too short-staffed to keep pace with the volume of applications for food stamps and other safety-net services desperately needed in a county with a poverty rate of over 14%. These are the costs to the residents of Mendocino County of the County’s staffing crisis.