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Albertsons Worker Sues Chain for Work Conditions Causing Premature Birth and Death of Her Baby

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by Laura Clawson / Daily Kos

Reyna Garcia, a worker at an Albertsons grocery store in California, brought her bosses three doctors’ notes saying she needed her job duties altered because of a high risk pregnancy. They ignored her, and here’s the result that’s led her to file a lawsuit:

According to the complaint, García, a general merchandise manager at the Atascadero store, asked to leave work while in pain one day last November. But her request was turned down, and she continued heavy lifting at the store. She went into labor that night, rushed to the hospital and found out that her baby was losing fluid and sustaining brain damage, she says.

García gave birth two days later to a girl named Jade, but the baby only lived for a few minutes. According to the suit, “Baby Jade’s death over those several minutes was the most painful thing Ms. García had ever experienced.”

  [Read more…]

Republican Descent Into Irrelevancy Provides Political Openings for Progressives

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By Lucas O’Connor / Special to the San Diego Free Press

The week’s news cycle has been a non-stop roller coaster ride, with major stories piling on top of each other for coverage. It got so far out of hand that there was an actual election for the United States Senate l and hardly anyone noticed.

Why? Well partly (unfortunately) because of Paula Deen. But we had a major speech on climate change from President Obama, the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act and declaring racism over (Thanks guys!), the epic #StandWithWendy filibuster stretching late into the night followed by the stunning #SitDownWendy conservative backlash that should have been obvious, but had jaws bouncing off the floor around the world, and two more Supreme Court decisions striking down the Defense of Marriage Act and bringing the end of Proposition 8 . Most months don’t have that much excitement, must less the first half of the week.   [Read more…]

Olive Garden, Red Lobster Restaurants’ CEO Fights for Healthcare Law Loophole in California

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By Doug Porter

The Orlando Sentinel reported this week on lobbying efforts by Clarence Otis, CEO for Darden Restaurants (Oliver Garden, Red Lobster) in opposition to proposed California legislation that would penalize companies with more than 500 employees for cutting workers’ hours to avoid paying for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Assembly Bill 880 has national implications, as many states are expanding Medicaid eligibility in preparation for provisions of the Affordable Care Act that go into effect in 2014.  Large companies doing business in California would have to pay fines for each employee working more than eight hours a week who is enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal.

In 2012, Darden was one of a number of companies that began experimenting with using more part-timers to keep potential health-care costs low. Following a public backlash, Darden later said it would not cut full-timers to part-time.

Organized labor has rallied supporters in California to urge legislators to pass AB 880, which seeking to close the so-called WalMart loophole, a provision of the ACA which does not impose a penalty on employers whose part-time workers enroll in Medi-Cal.
  [Read more…]

Should the Koch Brothers Own The Tribune Newspapers?

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By Jackie Tortora/AFL-CIO Blog

Some say the press is the fourth branch of government. It serves as a “check and a balance” to our elected and non-elected leaders and informs the public of news for the greater good. But what if that was compromised by a corporate power grab?

That’s exactly what the panel “Should the Koch Brothers Own The Tribune Newspapers?” will examine next Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. As we’ve covered on the blog before, David and Charles Koch have expressed interest in buying the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and other leading newspapers owned by the Tribune Co.   [Read more…]

2013: Year of the Protest?

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“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” ― Historian Howard Zinn

By Doug Porter

It’s hard to keep all the players straight at this point.

Last month protesters rallied in 52 countries and 436 cities world-wide as part of ongoing global protests against seed giant Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces.

This month there are massive protests in Turkey. Nationwide demonstrations in Brazil. A huge construction workers strike in Quebec, with 175,000 strikers angry about being asked to work 14 hours a day, six days a week with no overtime pay.

And there are lots of smaller, less likely to be covered by the mass media, protests slated for San Diego, including an unusual coalition planning a July 4th rally protest prompted by the recent disclosures regarding government surveillance.

Today we’ll take a look around at what’s happening in this year of protest.   [Read more…]

Tony Baloney Says Meatless Mondays in San Diego Schools are Government Coercion

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By Doug Porter

Today’s round up of the news starts with public education. And one of the ways the English language gets mauled by those who have an aversion to the ‘public’ part of it.

The San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a proposal yesterday to incorporate meatless Mondays into its cafeteria menus for elementary and K-8 schools for the coming school year.

This isn’t some radical notion. The concept started a decade ago, as an initiative backed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  A report by the American Meat Institute in February 2011 found that 18% of American households now participate in Meatless Mondays. Oprah’s endorsed it. School districts in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Oakland and Arlington, Virginia all participate.

Note that the SDUSD policy doesn’t prohibit bringing a baloney and ketchup sandwich (a high school favorite of mine) from home, so if a student wants animal protein they can have it.

INSIDE: Peters to Come Out Swinging for Obamacare, VOSD Jumps the Shark, GOP Defunds (Non-existant) Acorn (Again)   [Read more…]

Downtown Doublecross Foiled– Mayor Filner Calls Out Hoteliers Attempt to Sabotage Tourism Deal -UPDATED

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‘The City of San Diego will not be held hostage”

By Doug Porter

Once again we’re seeing headlines proclaiming Mayor Filner to be responsible for causing the San Diego Tourism Authority to close down. 

We’re hearing about how people’s jobs will be affected by a “squabble”.

We’re being told via the Daily Fishwrap editorial about a “crippling blow to a major pillar of the San Diego economy.”

Hogwash.

Mayor Filner has demanded that the tourism agency live up to its end of a bargain struck back in April that, among other things, directed 5 percent of Tourism Marketing District (TMD) revenue to the upcoming celebration of Balboa Park’s centennial. That deal came after several months of very public and ugly struggle.

UPDATE: TMD agreed to fund Balboa Park celebration; Mayor agreed to release funds. I’m not sure whether Balboa Park got the funding they expected. TMD officials claimed revenue shortfall. (I predict a One Exclamation Point! press release from Filner shortly)   [Read more…]

DeMaio Runs for Congress

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Carl DeMaio announces bid to challenge Democratic freshman Congressman Scott Peters.

By Andy Cohen

It’s official. Carl DeMaio has announced his bid to challenge freshman incumbent Scott Peters for the 52nd Congressional District seat in central San Diego. The right wing/Tea Party conservative who lost his mayoral bid to one of the most liberal candidates ever to seek the top job at City Hall now has set his sights on the left-of-center consensus builder who took down a long time Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray, who was only slightly less conservative than DeMaio.

Congress is broken, he tells us, and he’s just the guy to go and fix it.

“If we want better results from Washington, we have to change the people we send there and impose new rules to govern the way we operate,” said DeMaio in a press release announcing his candidacy.   [Read more…]

Enterprise Zone Reform, Ban on Plastic Bags Getting a Chance in Sacramento

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By Doug Porter

The political will to reform California’s state enterprise zone (EZ) program has finally reached critical mass in the wake of the disclosures via a Public Records Act request documenting tens of thousands of dollars in tax credits going to Sacramento-area strip club owners.

A televised report by KCRA news, complete with footage shot inside an area strip club, has provided reform supporters with a boost. The State of California is losing out on $750 million in revenues annually due to EZ program….

Get ready for another PR assault on sanity, brought to Californians by a group calling itself the American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA).

It seems as though the APBA and their allies haven’t been able to spread enough money around Sacramento to stop a Senate vote this week on Senate Bill 405, which would phase out plastic shopping bags. Two other bills with much the same purpose died in committee.

INSIDE: The Race to Replace Everybody’s Favorite Congressional Wacko   [Read more…]

Peace Breaks Out at City Hall as Filner, Employees Announce Contract Proposal

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By Doug Porter

More than a decade of demonizing public employees in San Diego appeared to be coming to close yesterday, with the announcement of a tentative deal between the City and six labor unions.

Previous administrations have exploited concerns over pension indebtedness and budgetary shortfalls caused by the great recession, using city employees as a public whipping boy for political gain.

One need look no further that former Mayor Jerry Sanders’ refusal to negotiate with the Police Officer’s Association during the Proposition B campaign to understand just how egregious these political games have been for everybody except a small group of politicians.

The proposed labor pacts will save taxpayers $60 million in pension plan payments in the first three years, according to Mayor Filner. You know it was a big deal because the press release coming from the Mayor’s office had three, count ‘em, three, exclamation points in the headline.

INSIDE: UT-San Diego Circles the Drain, WalMart’s Up to the Usual Crap   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – It’s a Bright Blue Day for San Diego; Labor Wins Big in Special Elections

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School Board Member Richard Barrera to Head Labor Council

By Doug Porter

The results are in for the last of a series of elections triggered by Bob Filner’s decision to run for Mayor of San Diego. Labor leader Lorena Gonzalez displayed her mastery of the political process, pulling together a massive canvassing campaign that gave her an overwhelming 72% of the vote and a seat in the State Assembly.

For those of you keeping track, Filner moved from the US House of Representatives to Mayor of San Diego, Juan Vargas moved from State Senate to fill Filner’s seat, Ben Hueso moved from State Assembly to State Senate.

In the slime-filled race for San Diego’s 4th District City Council seat, Myrtle Cole triumphed over Dwayne Crenshaw with 53% of the vote. Although both Cole & Crenshaw were both Democrats and similar in outlook, the contest turned into a shadow boxing match, with the organized labor and downtown business interests funding increasingly nasty direct mail campaigns.

The really big news coming out of last night’s contests was the disclosure that San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Richard Barrera will be taking over the helm at the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The Labor Council is a coalition of 135 local unions representing more than 200,000 working families in the area that has played an ever increasing role in local politics.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – University of California Hospital Strike Looks Like a Reality

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By Doug Porter

More than 2,000 hospital workers at UC San Diego are planning on staying home from work for a couple of days (May 21 & 22) this week. Vocational nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians, bus drivers and custodians will go on strike Tuesday following nearly a year of failed negotiations. Their last contract expired in September.

Depending on who’s talking, the 30,000 workers at five University of California health centers are about to walk off the job (or honor the picket lines of those who do strike) are motivated by demands that the UC Medical System stop prioritizing profit over quality patient care OR a refusal by the union to agree to UC’s pension reforms.

The pending strike is NOT just about higher pay, as is being reported in the mass media. Demands by management that workers increase their contribution to pensions funds have been countered by the union’s complaints about soaring executive compensation in the UC system.   [Read more…]

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