National DREAM Youth Activist Shackled, Targeted for Deportation
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Jennifer Angarita in AFL-CIO Field Mobilization sends us this report.
From marches to teach-ins, activists across the country have mobilized around the DREAM Act, a common-sense immigration bill for students who were brought to the United States at a young age and who serve in the military or attend college for at least two years. Many have even risked deportation and detention to raise awareness of their cause. Matias Ramos is a prominent DREAM leader and UCLA graduate who was detained last year by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) while traveling.
After his regular check-in with ICE, Matias was shackled with an electronic monitoring device and given 14 days to leave the country, his only home. Matias was brought to the United States as a child, was raised here and considers himself American. Despite having his electronic shackles removed, Matias still faces deportation.
He says:
Today, I am confronted not only with the uncertainty of my situation, but also with knowing that I am not the only one caught in Obama’s deportation dragnet.
UC Nurses Reach Tentative Agreement
More than 11,000 registered nurses at five University of California (UC) hospitals are voting this week on a tentative 26-month contract that, if approved, would provide for significant improvements for patients and nurses. The nurses, members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), began voting yesterday on the pact at UC hospitals at Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Davis (Sacramento) and Irvine, as well as student health centers at other UC campuses. The voting continues through Thursday.
Key highlights of the pact include steps to ensure that nurses have time for meal and rest breaks during shifts so they remain alert and stronger contract provisions for RNs elected by their peers to address patient safety issues with managers. Additionally, the RNs were successful in limiting future increases in costs for their health coverage and gained pay increases that will average at least 11 percent over the term of the contract.
“UC RNs will be able to provide better care for our patients with this agreement,” said Janice Webb, a UC San Diego RN, nurse negotiator and CNA/NNU board member.
It will also help us retain our most experienced, senior RNs who provide such critical support and education for the younger staff.
UC Postdoctoral Researchers Reach Tentative Deal
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They are some of the smartest people in the nation. Proving just how smart they are, the 6,500 postdoctoral researchers in the University of California (UC) system became union members and negotiated a first-ever union contract even though Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed cutting $2.5 billion from education in his budget proposal.
When they’re not devising strategies to successfully negotiate contracts in tough economic times, these postdocs conduct research on cancer, stem cells, climate change, alternative fuels and many other cutting-edge fields in science and engineering. In fact, UC’s researchers represent some 10 percent of all postdoctoral researchers in the United States.
California Students Rise Up Against Massive Education Cuts
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Californians by the tens of thousands spoke as one yesterday demanding the primacy of public education in the state’s budget. Up and down the state, students held scores of demonstrations, rallies, marches and teach-ins at governmental centers, universities, community colleges, high schools and elementary schools.
The actions come as the 2010-2011 budget process looms and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after promising in January to increase education funding, instead cut $2.5 billion from education in his budget proposal.
In Sacramento, several thousand students, teachers and workers rallied on the steps of the Capitol building, spilling out over the grassy mall. They demanded state legislators and the governor fully fund public education and make it affordable and accessible to all.
State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D) and Assembly Speaker Manuel Perez (D), as well as several other legislators, pledged support for funding education. Assembly member Alberto Torrico (D) made a pitch for support of his bill that would create a 12.5 percent tax on oil extracted in the state to raise $2 billion a year for public education. He noted that California is the only state in the nation that doesn’t charge such a fee and that oil companies shouldn’t be getting off the hook while education suffers.
Court Halts Mandatory Furloughs for Hawaii State Workers, and More Bargaining News
Hawaii state workers won their battle against the governor’s proposals to mandate furloughs, and more updates here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,100 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
Multiple Unions, Hawaii: Hawaii state workers won their battle against the governor’s proposals to mandate furloughs when a Circuit Court judge ruled the governor does not have the authority to unilaterally order furloughs. Gov. Linda Lingle (R) had ordered state workers to take three furlough days a month for two years starting this month. The governor did not indicate whether she would continue to defend her furlough plans in court. The workers are represented by multiple unions that include Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA-AFSCME), United Public Workers (UPW-Ind.) and Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA-NEA).
UC Postdocs Without Contract Year After Choosing UAW
In August 2008, some 5,800 University of California (UC) postdoctoral researchers—”postdocs”—chose to join the UAW. But nearly a year later, they are still without a contract. A recent bargaining update on the Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (PRO/UAW) website said UC was “stalling and delaying” talks.
Union negotiators told the San Diego Union-Tribune that major issues, including wages, benefits, workload and workers’ rights are still on the table after months of negotiations. A UC spokesman told the paper talks were expected to go on for several more months.
Take a Virtual Tour and See What It’s Like to Work Hard—and Live in Poverty
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Service workers at the University of California’s (UC’s) 10 campuses and five medical centers have been trying for more than a year to negotiate a deal that would pay them a decent wage. The workers are paid so little that a recent study found as many as 96 percent of them can qualify for at least one form of public assistance.
Higher gas prices and stagnant wages are creating a crisis for many of these workers who must live paycheck to paycheck. Now, the workers are getting the message out about what it’s like to live in poverty. They invited elected officials and faith leaders into their homes to see for themselves the impact of poverty wages on their lives and their families. (Take a virtual tour of UC-created poverty through the video above or visit the Facing Poverty at UC website here.)
