Subject: Jobs and Labor

• Putting the Right in Civil Rights

  Charlie Savage, the excellent Boston Globe reporter who broke the story of President Bush's governing-by-presidential-signing-statement trick, brings us more disturbing news. The Bush administration is quietly remaking the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, filling the permanent ranks with lawyers who have strong conservative credentials but little experience in civil rights, according to job application materials obtained by the Globe. The documents show that only 42 percent of the la

  July 23, 2006

• Register One Step From Layoffs

  To prevent layoffs on the heels of a sharp decline in advertising revenue, Freedom Communications--the parent company of The Orange County Register--today offered voluntary severance packages to employees, according to sources. "If not enough people opt out, then there will be layoffs," a veteran of the paper told the Weekly. The package under consideration includes two weeks of pay for every year of service, plus $50 for every $1,000 of base pay and 26 additional weeks of paid health insuranc

  September 29, 2006

• New Lessons for CSU students

  Earlier this month when the governor's budget plan was unveiled, three groups-- poor families with children, teachers, and college students at UC's and CSU's-- were particularly singled out for sacrifice, so the gov. could cling to his no new taxes pledge. CSU students are expect to part with an additional 10% above and beyond than they are paying now. There are many reasons for this proposed increase, and one of the less widely advertised uses for the students' money can be found in this mor

  January 23, 2007

• Beach Break: Port strike on the horizon?

  June 22, 2007

• Beach Break: Striking distance

  Well, they're still at it. Negotiations between the Port of Long Beach and Los Angeles' unionized office clerical (OCU) workers and shippers and marine terminal operators that were supposed to end in a strike at midnight if an agreement was not reached. But they are still going! You gotta love it when those deadlines get extended. Twice. OCU workers authorized a strike after an agreement wasn't reached by their contract-renewal deadline of June 30. But instead of striking, the employees have no

  July 16, 2007

• The future of journalism is now! And the future is sexy, illiterate and cost-cutting.

  Today came the announcement of two major developments in the world of Southland journalism. One announcement is superbad and the other superfresh awesome. So which do you want first? Well, the good's so good, you'll probably forget the bad so long as you hear the good last, so here's the bad. Deep breath: "Tribune Co., struggling with declining revenue, today said it would cut staff by 400 to 500 people companywide, or around 2% of the Chicago-based media company's workforce. At the Los Angeles

  February 13, 2008

• OC Register Laying off Five Percent of Workforce

  It's never fun being right about this kind of thing, but apparently the OC Register is laying off 80 to 90 employees, according to a post today on the newspaper's website. Here's about half of the post (it's really short): "... [Publisher Terry] Horne cited Orange County’s sluggish economy, especially in real estate, as affecting the company’s revenues from local retail, automotive and classified advertising for jobs. The company provided no financial details about the decline in adverti

  April 28, 2008

• OC Reg Will Outsource to New Delhi

  Late yesterday the AP confirmed news that Nick Schou broke last week right here on our blog: the paper has taken the layoff model to another level and will now outsource some of its editing and layout duties to a "global media" company near New Delhi. With the last round of layoffs knocking 90 people out of their jobs, this information isn't so much surprising as it is kind of weird and a little shocking. When you compare the move to much of corporate America, then the paper is following suit

  June 25, 2008

• Times About to Lay Off 250 Employees

  Apparently trying to compete with the Orange County Register for worst place to work on the planet, the Los Angeles Times is about to lay off 250 people, including 150 newsroom employees, according to a source who, for the time being at least, still actually works at the paper. There's been rumors of imminent layoffs at the Times circulating for weeks, but this is the first time an actual number has surfaced. No word yet on how many of those soon-to-be-ex-employees work in Orange County, but

  July 2, 2008

• Yo Quiero Contract

  April 13, 2000

• More Freebies for the Rich

  July 5, 2001

• Exodus

  September 6, 2001

• "Confusion" at Register over buyouts

  "Breaking" news in its "Newspaper Deathwatch" category: Media Bistro reports Orange County Register employees are unsure whether to take the buyout currently being offered or risk having future buyout offers lowered: Nervous staffers at the Orange County Register had been considered asking for voluntary layoffs this week, after news spread that future layoffs would include less generous severance packages. (Currently, staffers are offered to two weeks' pay per each year worked.) But when sta

  October 17, 2008

• Massacre at Agua Caliente

  April 15, 2004

• Daily Grill Execs to Take 10% Pay Cut

  Here's somewhat encouraging news in discouraging times. Although "at least eight people were laid off this year from the company's office in Woodland Hills", according to an article in the LA Times, about a dozen Daily Grill executives -- whose annual salaries range from $100,000 to $350,000 -- are going to take a 10% pay cut, effective immediately, instead of resorting to more lay-offs.

  October 30, 2008

• Oops, Nuns Caught Violating National Labor Law Again

  *Update: Illegal deposition excerpts after the jump...Sister Katherine Gray, head of the one of the most socially active and downright grassroots religious orders in the world, really wants the media, her workers and everyone she knows to believe that she and the managers at the multi-million dollar hospital ministry she runs aren't trying to stop their workers from unionizing. The only problem is that those same managers have a bad habit of hiring anti-union firms as consultants and getting cau

  January 28, 2009

• [Summer Guide] What Not to Do When You're Desperate and Hungry for Money

  June 4, 2009

• Pissed-Off Teachers Can Really Stop Traffic

  California law mandates that school districts notify teachers and administrators about possible layoffs for the following school year by a certain date. This year's deadline is Sunday and, facing uncertain financial futures, many districts are issuing pink slips. Once the numbers are crunched, many who get them will likely be rehired in June, but who wants to get a stupid pink slip in the first place?The California Teachers Association (CTA) certainly does not wish them on its membership. With t

  March 10, 2009

• Santa Ana School Employees Steaming at Sneaky District Turning Full-Time Jobs Into Part-Time Ones

  July 3, 2008

• The Content-Sharing Deal Between the OC Register and MediaNews Hasn't Led to Cuts at the Reg (Yet)

  March 20, 2008

• Sisterly Concern

  UFW legend Dolores Huerta wonders why her old friends who run the St. Joseph's hospitals have turned on their own workers

  December 20, 2007

• Sister Knows Best

  If the nuns in charge of the St. Joseph Health System are so pro-labor,why are some of their employees determined to unionize?

  November 29, 2007

• A Union-Busting Habit

  The sisters who run St. Joseph Health System are often pro-labor—but apparently not at their hospitals

  August 16, 2007

• William Millionaire Plaschke

  September 12, 2002

• Nursing A Grudge

  May 22, 2003

• Grocery Sacked

  March 11, 2004

• This Little Piggy Whores for Markets

  February 5, 2004

• Backing Up The Troops

  November 20, 2003

• Moving On Up

  February 6, 2003

• No Justice, No Teach

  October 31, 2002

• Eating Responsibly

  A guide to union dining in OC

  August 29, 2002

• Here & Now

  August 1, 2002

• Survey Says: Youre Screwed!

  March 21, 2002

• Involuntary Separation

  February 7, 2002

• No News Is News

  March 15, 2001

• A Temendous Day in History

  January 25, 2001

• Freebies for the Rich

  November 30, 2000

• A Big Disaster

  September 28, 2000

• Cleaning House

  September 21, 2000

• Labors New Face

  March 30, 2000

• Labors Big Day

  January 27, 2000

• Those Picket Signs?

  February 11, 1999

• Shopping Mauled

  January 28, 1999

• How to Kill a Factory

  September 3, 1998

• For Whom the Tolls Rose

  August 21, 1997

• Work-at-Home Scams Draw FBI Attention

  Hot on the heels of the Welcome to the Poorhouse post that included shady work-at-home offers in the email inbox, the FBI posted a story today warning of the same. (Note to self: when Clockwork and the G-Men are in sync, time to weatherproof against frogs falling from the sky.)The FBI expands its warning beyond emails to include "seductive work-at-home opportunities" hyped in newspaper classified ads and fliers tacked to telephone poles. These promise earnings of hundreds or thousands of dollars

  April 17, 2009

• Susan Kang Schroeder Fires Back At Angry OC Deputies

  Jack, Morgan, Susan & Mike"Ahhhh . . . Wayne is a friend who is just doing his job as a passionate union leader. I know at the end of the day, we have the same goal--to make Orange County law enforcement better. Cases such as the Chamberlain jail beating murder, OCSD Deputy Gerald Stenger child molestation case and this [excessive force] case give us an opportunity to dialogue and make necessary changes. We both want to be able to assure the public that when law enforcement testify under oat

  April 19, 2009

• Source: 5% Across the Board Pay Cut for All Register Employees [UPDATED]

  UPDATED WITH CONFIRMATION, DETAILS FROM REGISTER REPORT...It will be was announced today that all Orange County Register employees will be subjected to a 5 percent pay cut, an insider tells the Weekly. effective July 13.This comes on top of mandatory employee furloughs--or unpaid, one-week vacations--being required every quarter. Translated into wages, that action represented a 10 percent decrease in wages.At last check, "Orange County's news source" was mum about pay cuts."Orange County's news

  June 30, 2009

• Layoffs and Furloughs Soon To Hit OC Prosecutors & Investigators

  Tight times at the DA's office​Folks aren't buying products and services like they used to and the impact of dwindling government sales tax revenues is about to be felt hard inside the local agency charged with putting criminals in prison. In an interview this morning, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said that a $3.1 million budget gap in the current fiscal year is forcing him this month to begin furloughing his deputy prosecutors and laying off investigators. Under the plan, prosecu

  August 7, 2009

• Workers Rally to Save Jobs of Live Emergency Dispatchers

  ​Before this evening's Santa Ana City Council meeting, union workers will stage a rally in front of City Hall to draw attention to layoffs they claim will lead to 9-1-1 emergency calls being answered by an electronic menu rather than a live dispatcher.

  November 2, 2009