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Minimum Wage Increase, Earned Sick Days Proposal Set for Full City Council Hearing July 14th

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By Doug Porter

The full San Diego City Council is set to hear arguments over proposals increasing the minimum wage and allowing for up to five earned sick days. The measure being considered is Council President Todd Gloria’s attempt at comprise from an earlier proposal.

The specifics of the current plan are:

  • $9.75 Jan 2015
  • $10.50 Jan 2016
  • $11.50 Jan 2017
  • Indexed to inflation after Jan 2019
  • 5 Earned Sick days

Advocates say earned sick days will impact 285,000 people, with wage increases affecting more than 170,000 people.  They estimate an additional $265 million will be pumped into the local economy.

Yet to be decided is whether the council will simply enact an ordinance or put it before the voters in November.   [Read more…]

San Diego Chamber & Taxpayer Group Call for Ending Child Labor Laws

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By Doug Porter

A downtown press conference staged by the Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association called for the elimination of child labor laws today, based on a new study which details the impacts of raising the minimum wage.

“If child labor laws are enacted, I’ll have to close my hardware store,” said Harold Black, owner of Duece Hardware. “Besides, the little guys really like running the paint mixer.”

Okay. The part about child labor isn’t true. But it’s no more outrageous than some of the other claims promised at the today’s media event, carefully staged outside a hardware store. A transcript of the event replacing the words “minimum wage” with “child labor” would effectively demonstrate just how crass and craven these so-called representatives for the business community really are.   [Read more…]

Balboa Park Conservancy Avoids Confrontation Over Transparency

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By Doug Porter

Activist David Lundin and others were in attendance last night at the Balboa Park Committee Board meeting ready to ask serious questions about the Balboa Park Conservancy, the group now charged by the City of San Diego with trying to salvage the 2015 Centennial Celebration.

Responding to charges made earlier that the Conservancy was violating its own charter by failing to have two annual public meetings, the group claimed their reports made in meetings of the Balboa Park Committee fulfilled the requirement.

Alas, hopes for a window into the Conservancy’s inner working were dashed last night as, for the first time in more than seven years, the meeting was cancelled in its entirety because quorum of the Balboa Park Committee Board failed to appear.

After a 30 minute wait the Board chair announced the cancellation, saying it was “illegal to open the meeting, even for informational or no-action items.”     [Read more…]

Fear and Gambling at Pauma Casino

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By Doug Porter

Anna Daniels and myself took a road trip yesterday to beautiful downtown Temecula to meet and talk with employees of Casino Pauma who have been struggling for union representation. Native American casinos like Pauma are located in sovereign territories whose coverage  by labor laws are limited to the terms described in compacts negotiated with the Governor’s office and ratified by the legislature.

Following an initial investigation by its General Counsel, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against Pauma Casino alleging that management’s response to the wearing of union buttons was an unfair labor practice. The unions says that workers who wore buttons have been threatened with disciplinary action if they failed to remove the buttons.

Organizers with UNITE HERE Local 30 staged a press conference in the parking lot outside of a Ramada Inn in Temecula prior to the start of a week long series of hearings by an administrative judge from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Separate from the hearing, workers have been asking the tribe to agree to a fair process, free from intimidation and retribution, while they decide whether to unionize.

   [Read more…]

(A Poem) for Pu’eska

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By Will Falk

Dakwish
that old cannibal is back
I heard he was dead
but ever since
the Granite Construction Company
came around Temecula
wanting to drill holes in Pu’eska
I’ve had my doubts

the way I heard the old stories
Dakwish wanted to eat everyone
he liked fat old ladies and little boys best
but he’d eat anyone
kill them
then pound them up with a pestle
crunching up bones
so they’d be easy to swallow…   [Read more…]

Walmart CEO: Food Stamp Cuts Could Be Good for Business

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By Doug Porter

Today’s the day.

Twenty three million Americans, including four million in California and more than a quarter million in San Diego will see a 5% reduction in their food stamp benefits starting November 1st.

As many as one in nine California families receive food benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — known as CalFresh in this state.  The cuts mean a family of four will receive $632, or $36 less per month in federal food assistance, even as California food costs rise. That is the equivalent of losing roughly 21 individual meals per month based on calculations used by the Department of Agriculture.

Walmart’s CEO Bill Simon says they’re “cautious but modestly optimistic” about those cuts, despite the fact that $14 billion of the $80 billion appropriated for food stamps was spent in their stores last year.  Simon told a meeting of financial analysts earlier this year when the benefits are cut, price becomes more important to the consumers, which he said will play to Walmart’s advantage.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Special Ed Student Used as “Bait” in School Drug Bust After Parents Refused Permission

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By Doug Porter

We’ve seen an up tick in stories recently about drug busts in schools in the region.  While no parent wants to see their kid on the wrong side of the law, it turns out that at least one of these ‘stings’ wasn’t quite the law enforcement coup touted to the news media.

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department’s ‘Operation A Team’ spent a year posing as students at four county high schools, scoring drugs at Poway, Mission Hills, and Ramona High Schools. The busts were announced with much fanfare recently, and the UT-San Diego even garnered an undercover interview with one of the agents.

Last fall undercover officers enrolled at Temecula high schools rounded up 22 ruffians in a similar investigation.

Yesterday the Press-Enterprise ran a story regarding a special education student recruited by a Temecula school official over the objections of his parents to pose as ‘bait’ in an on-campus sting. And it turns out this isn’t the only case involving a special education student and drug stings in the Temecula Valley Unified School District.   [Read more…]

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