Labor Unions

Students to Protest Tomorrow at UC Irvine Over Proposed Health Care Fee Increases Across UC System

Back in my grad school days at UCLA, I made frequent use of my health care there--not because I suffered from anything more than the occasional stomach ulcer, but because I was a hypochondriac. Besides, it was cheap, accessible, and it was the first time in my life I ever had health care. That was i ... More >>

Jeff LeTourneau's Grassroots Revival

The legendary LGBT activist hopes to become chairman of the Democratic Party of Orange County

California Liberals Are Killing Food Truck Businesses, Says Steven Greenhut

Steven Greenhut, the onetime editorial writer at The Orange County Register and a man loathed by public employee union bosses, and state Senator Lou Correa recently met with 12 food truck owners who claim Santa Ana police and California tax officials are harassing their businesses.According to Green ... 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 >>

Occupy Orange County Thursday

​Despite law enforcement sweeps at Occupy camps from San Diego to Oakland to New York City, Occupy Orange County remains determined to keep the movement alive. With Thursday being billed as an International Day of Direct Action, local Occupiers plan on marching and protesting at multiple locations ... More >>

[UPDATED with Pact Ratified:] Strike Count at Angel Stadium is 1-1 as One Union Approves Contract

​UPDATED, SEPT. 14, 10:41 A.M.: Members of the union that represents 400 stadium ushers, janitors, ticket takers and ticket sellers voted to ratify a new contract with the Angels, averting a strike as the Major League Baseball season nears the end. The Angels had sought a wage freeze for those wor ... More >>

Noose Found Hanging Outside Orange County Labor Federation Office This Morning

​If someone was trying to send a message to the Orange County Labor Federation, they certainly caught everyone's attention. A noose was found dangling from the roof of the federations' offices in Orange this morning, according to numerous reports.As of this afternoon, there were no leads on who or ... More >>

Chuck DeVore Slams Todd Spitzer on Vegas Trip & Union Support

Spitzer: "I've done nothing wrong."​Talking to Chuck DeVore and Todd Spitzer, two men who were once pals, you get the sense that these two Republican candidates seeking the same office, the county's 3rd District supervisor's seat, don't like each other.DeVore recently produced a bombshell 30-secon ... More >>

Grocery Workers Picket Albertsons HQ in Fullerton

​If you swing by the Albertsons corporate headquarters in Fullerton about seven minutes from now, you might spot your local checker.He or she will not be there to collect his or her paycheck, however. Members of the grocers' union are picketing outside 1421 Manhattan Ave. to coincide with demonstr ... More >>

Jim Righeimer: Costa Mesa Government Cuts Backed By Residents

Righeimer defends cuts​During a live, three-minute interview on NBC's Today in L.A. Weekend, Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer asserted that he is getting public support to continue slashing his city's budget.Righeimer told Ted Chen during the interview that residents are telling him, "Keep o ... More >>

OC Deputy Accuses His Union of Colluding with Management to Rig Promotions

More OCSD cheating?​A veteran Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) deputy--the brother of a California state assemblyman from Costa Mesa--is suing his department and employees' union for deceitful conduct and working in "collusion" to sabotage fair promotion practices.In his March 16 complain ... More >>

Five Union Songs for Wiscosin Workers

​In Wisconsin, a bill stripping public unions of most collective bargaining rights awaits the signature of Republican Governor Scott Walker. It's the latest phase in an ongoing legislative saga that intensified a month ago when all 14 Democratic state Senators fled to Illinois to prevent quorum on ... More >>

Roseanne Barr Defends Disneyland Hotel Workers in Video That Compares Disney to Osama bin Laden

​In their bitter fight to bring down the Mouse, Disneyland Resort hotel workers have gotten a new loud-mouthed champion: Roseanne Barr. The comedian/national-anthem-destroyer stars in a video produced by labor union UNITE HERE Local 11 that accuses Disney of "stealing from widows and orphans," and ... More >>

[UPDATED, With Mouse Response] Lawsuit: Disney Encodes Its Workers' Social Security Numbers on ID Cards, Exposes Them to Identity Theft

​UPDATED, 1:59 p.m.: About 20 Disneyland workers stood outside the driveway that leads into the Grand Californian for a press conference announcing a class-action lawsuit against Disneyland. Although the suit portends to represent more than 20,000 Mouse minions, it was strictly a Unite HERE/progre ... More >>

Toy Story 3 Gets Best Picture Nomination, Anti-Oscar Campaigners Not Backing Down

UNITE HERE ​Leigh Shelton was hoping Toy Story 3's Oscar dreams would be blasted to infinity and beyond. Instead, the Disney/Pixar megahit was nominated today for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Animated Feature, Original Song, Achievement in Sound Editing and Adapted Screenplay. "The race is ... More >>

U.S. Senate Candidate Accused of Closing Santa Ana Plant and Sending Its Jobs to Mexico

Binnie​A former Santa Ana plastics company is being dragged into the U.S. Senate Republican primary race in New Hampshire.William Harrison "Bill" Binnie is self-funding his campaign for the seat held by Republican incumbent Judd Gregg, who is retiring from the upper house. Binnie currently serves ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Imane Boudlal, Battling Disney Over Head Scarf, Suspended Without Pay?

​UPDATED: As promised, the Disney statement (see end of post) . . . Sorry to disappoint the commenters demanding the Weekly to drop this story, but the Muslim restaurant hostess who has clashed with her Anaheim Disney Resort employers over the right to wear a religious headscarf on the job has bee ... More >>

Reg: Pension Bosses Spent Big Bucks For Secrecy

​Disturbing data continues to pour in about potential government pension abuses including today's OC Watchdog story revealing that the county's employee pension system spent more than $31,000 in hopes of keeping pension records secret from the public. That's according to investigative reporte ... More >>

Federal Panel Accuses Disneyland Resort of "Unfair Labor Practices"

Photo by Megan BresciniHotel workers and supporters picket Disney in February.​Disneyland Resort is engaged in "unfair labor practices" with its hotel workers, charges the National Labor Relations Board, which has scheduled an August hearing on the matter.Disney, which has three hotels in Anaheim, ... More >>

Ex-Weekly Reporter Lands Sacramento Investigative Gig

Pignataro​Ex-OC Weekly investigative reporter Anthony Pignataro has joined the staff of the new Sacramento-based CalWatchdog.com which launched its website yesterday.Controlled by ex-Orange County Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut on behalf of a libertarian-leaning California think tank, C ... More >>

Healthcare Workers to Protest Job Cuts at Kaiser Orange County

Coming to Anaheim Thursday.​Kaiser Permanente employees will picket outside the Kaiser Orange County facility Thursday to protest the health behemoth's plans to slash 1,350 jobs in coming months.Kaiser workers in purple shirts are scheduled to chant, carry signs and speak with patients about the e ... More >>

Foes of Proposed Orange County Fair Sale Launch Website

Photo by Jennie WarrenAre certain fair board elements taking Orange Countians and state taxpayers for a ride?Some anonymous Orange County Fair employees have created a website that channels their displeasure with the proposed sale of the state-owned fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.OCUnfair.com takes parti ... More >>

Tim Carpenter Returns Home to Push Single-Payer Healthcare

Progressive Democrats of AmericaTim Carpenter makes his single-payer pitch.Tim Carpenter had been the longtime face of progressive politics in Orange County before leaving in 2002 to become a top organizer for Dennis Kucinich's presidential bid followed by his current post: national director of the ... More >>

Democrats Proudly Wear the Union Label

Above the “Teamsters Local 952 Orange County and Vicinity” logo on the wall behind the speaker’s podium at the Orange union hall on Marks Way is the image of two horse heads. Instead of suggesting that represents the calling card of some syndicates that have been known to associate with labor ... More >>

Irvine Company Janitors Prepare to Strike--Good Luck With That

A couple of days ago, members of the Service Employees International Union (SEUI) Local 1877 who clean offices at Fashion Island and the Irvine Spectrum Center voted overwhelmingly to strike against the two facilities' owner, the mighty Irvine Company. The Orange County Labor Federation is on board ... More >>

Ex-Sheriff's Dept. Officials Create Bold, New Firm!

Over at the Orange County Register, ace reporter Peggy Lowe writes tonight on Orange County Sheriff's Department blog news that two of indicted ex-Sheriff Mike Carona's Yes Folks (YF) quit today: assistant sheriffs Jo Ann Galisky and Steve Bishop. Somehow the third and final major YFer embarrassme ... More >>

Beach Break: Port strike on the horizon?

Dornan in '08

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but judging by this report from Drew Cline, editorial page editor of New Hampshire's Manchester Union Leader, the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination could prove to be very, very entertaining. Cline writes on the Union Leader blog: I just got off the ... More >>

Nuts Come Out for Nguyen, Take Daucher Along for Ride

Rebecca Schoenkopf reporting from . . . ORANGE, Teamsters Local Something or Other--We've been told state senate staffers are here, giving up vacation time to walk for Lou Correa, Democrat for OC's 34th state Senate District. People here are sitting in chairs, too (union thing?), looking at the Tee ... More >>

Commie Girl

Raise Less Corn, More Hell: We got your class warfare swingin

Critical Mass

Catholic hospital tries to counter campaign by nurses union

Goofy Oversight

Health inspectors say Disneyland eatery is clean, but complaints continue

Is There Something Wrong With These People?

Chapman University janitors stage one-day strike

Diary of a Mad County

Cox Stocks Take Big Knocks

Newport Republican still backpedaling on Chinese spies

Union Maid

Apathy is sooo 1990s

Dennis the Menace to Society