Jobs and Labor

Notes From the Underground Economy

Are companies at the Port of Long Beach cheating truckers out of their rightful wages?

Diatribe With Dave: How to Find Your Dream Food-and-Beverage Job

Every second and fourth Wednesday night of the month, legendary bartender/chef/restaurant insider Dave Mau hosts Dinner with Dave at Memphis at the Santora, where he treats drinkers to a free meal and live music as the evening progresses. To remind ustedes of this great night, Dave treats us ev ... More >>

David Paul Holden Gets 76 Months for $500k Bribes-for-Unemployment-Checks Scam

An ex-employee at California's employment agency in Anaheim was slapped today with a federal prison sentence of 76 months--or more than six years--for taking more than $40,000 in kickbacks in exchange for issuing more than a half-million dollars in unemployment insurance checks to people who were ... More >>

UC Irvine Janitors Savor Victory

Rising tuition, reduced class offerings and ethnic tensions fueled many of the great campus conflicts of 2010-2011 at UC Irvine, but a side issue involved the treatment of campus janitors.At least that one seems to have been resolved.

Hostess Employees Threaten Strike; Twinkies Could Disappear From Shelves

If your idea of weekend fun is a spliff and some Twinkies for the post-smoke munchies, get to the store right now and stock up. Hostess is in trouble, and a strike that could shut the company down for good is looming.

Dick Baney and the Other Lost Boys of Summer

Even after the Tustin resident helped embarrass Major League Baseball into helping retired ballplayers such as himself, he's still not happy, and he has plenty of company

[UPDATE: Casting Requirements Changed] Disneyland Wants Musicians For Mad T Party [Audition Details and More!]

​UPDATE, Jan 12, 2012, 3:13 p.m.: Stan Freese got in touch with us today and said that the casting requirements have been amended; the characters don't have to play specific instruments, as the original audition stated. Original post, Jan. 11, 2012, 10:58 a.m.: Can you play a mean guitar riff whil ... More >>

[UPDATED With Agreement Ratified:] Disneyland and UNITE HERE Local 11 Near Bargaining Agreement, Higher Wages, Better Healthcare For Hotel Workers

​UPDATE, DEC. 8, 10:41 A.M.: The ballots have been counted and the results announced. The fierce feud is over.An "overwhelming majority" of UNITE HERE Local 11 members who cast ballots yesterday voted in support of the new collective bargaining agreement with Disneyland Resort. The newly ratified ... More >>

Gov. Jerry Brown Funded By OC Unions For 2014; Loretta Sanchez Nabs Dentist Support

Pay to play​Gov. Jerry Brown's trip to Orange County last month for a speech to Democrats nabbed $30,000 mostly from local organized labor unions, according to a report this week in the Sacramento Bee.Among those contributing were the Orange County Employees Association, which organized "a small, ... More >>

Jose Luis Guerrero Accused of Workers Comp Fraud; Case Began With Employee Dying in Wood Chipper

​When Gabriel Gonzalez was killed in 2007 by his body accidently going through a wood chipper, the owner of the tree trimming business he worked at filed a workers compensation insurance claim with the state to collect benefits for Gonzalez's family. Police, coroner's investigators and safety reg ... More >>

[UPDATED with Judge Issues Written Order, City Gets It Now:] Judge Blocks Costa Mesa Layoffs Until Civil Trial

​UPDATE, JULY 18, 4:49 P.M.: Though she made her ruling two weeks ago, Orange County Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann issued the written order blocking the city of Costa Mesa from laying off employees and privatizing their jobs late Friday night.The written order just added fuel to the nev ... More >>

City Manager Compensation in 3 OC Cities Comes Under Scrutiny by Grand Jury

Bruce Channing, Laguna Hills City Manager​​When the city of Laguna Hills pays you $233,000 in base salary to fill the role of City Manager, of course it should also dish out another $60,000 to ensure that you're riding around in style--everyone knows $233k doesn't go as far as it used to. That's ... More >>

Region is 4th Worst in U.S. for Finding Jobs

​A list based on data from the government and a job-search website reveals the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area is the fourth worst metropolitan area for finding a job.U.S. News & World Report analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and job search website indeed.com to com ... More >>

Need a Job? Orange County Career Fair's Got 'Em

​Aflac, Wells Fargo, Farmers Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, National University, The Art Institutes, the University of Phoenix, Forest Lawn Memorial Parks, the Automobile Club of Southern California and United States Customs and Border Protection are among the companies and agencies participating ... More >>

Michael Vincent Petronella, Laguna Hills Roofer Who Lived Like a King, to Do a Dime for Massive Workers' Comp Insurance Fraud

​When Laguna Hills roofing contractor Michael Vincent Petronella and his wife Devon Lynn Kile were arrested in one of the largest known Workers' Compensation Insurance fraud cases in state history, they owned five properties in California and Texas and multiple luxury vehicles including a Bentley ... More >>

OC's Proposed Tallest Building Gets Energetic Union, City Backing

Build it and they will come?​Thanks in part to enthusiastic labor union support the Santa Ana City Council tonight unanimously approved five development agreement concessions to a wealthy Newport Beach real estate developer who is proposing to build Orange County's tallest building.The smiling, re ... More >>

Veterans Affairs Officials Should Get an Earful

​The California Department of Veterans Affairs holds a town hall in the Joint Forces Training Base's Liberty Theater in Los Alamitos at 6 this evening. (Anyone interested can also tour the base's Veteran Services Center from 5-5:30 p.m.) After an hour overview of programs offered and questions fro ... More >>

Loretta Sanchez Cancels UC Riverside Commencement Speech at Behest of Union Masters

Sanchez: Laughing all the way to the bank...​Yesterday's announcement by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Won't Co-Sponsor DREAM Act) took about as much political courage as affixing a flag pin to her outfit. She is honoring a request by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Empl ... More >>

Fastpass to Hunger: The Final Days

The Disney magic is dead for these young activists.​The Disney workers from UNITE HERE Local 11 union haven't taken a rest. They haven't eaten either so it's hard to tell exactly how eight of the original 10 fasters are still standing, let alone marching in picket lines. You read right; we lost an ... More >>

Michael Vincent Petronella and Wife to Be Trading "Their Pradas for Prison Garb"

​A Laguna Hills roofing contractor was convicted today of lavishly spending illegal profits on luxury goods by cheating the Workers' Compensation Insurance system in what the Orange County District Attorney's office called one of the largest known fraud cases of its kind in California history.At t ... More >>

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 Ra ... More >>

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

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 ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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

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 ... More >>

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, es ... More >>

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

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?

A Union-Busting Habit

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

Beach Break: Port strike on the horizon?

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 a ... More >>

Massacre at Agua Caliente

Indian tribes kick a little worker ass in the desert

Grocery Sacked

Union officials declare major victory in wake of major defeat

This Little Piggy Whores for Markets

Times ignores striking grocery workers, then blasts them in op-ed, business pages

Moving On Up

OC janitors hope new contract will solve housing woes

No Justice, No Teach

UC Irvine lecturers strike, students sleep in late

William Millionaire Plaschke

While pounding millionaire baseball players, the Times columnist cashed checks from MLB owners

Eating Responsibly

A guide to union dining in OC

Involuntary Separation

41 Reg pressmen lose jobs before union vote

Exodus

Orange teachers union destroying education to save it

No News Is News

A Temendous Day in History

Janitors win countys first-ever union contract

Freebies for the Rich

Garden Grove hoteliers got millions in free land

Cleaning House

Justice for Janitors close to victory

Yo Quiero Contract

Campaign to organize janitors kicks off in Irvine

Labors New Face

Linda Sanchez becomes first Latina to head OC labor movement

Labors Big Day

El Toro Airport Watch No. 131

Shopping Mauled

Workers claim Macy's engineered anti-union vote

How to Kill a Factory

Was an Irvine plant's closing payback for its union's budding internationalism?