City Government
TRASH TALK: New Jobs, No Layoffs in New CWS Trash Contract
Workers at Waste Management have a lot of reasons to support the agreement between the City of Oakland and California Waste Solutions (CWS), ending the city’s decades old contract with Waste Management.
Under the new deal, Waste Management’s employees are guaranteed jobs and union protections. They all will be able to move over to CWS and continue as members of their union – requirements that the City Council placed on both bidders for the contract.
Th
ere have been many reports that Waste Management has told its worker that they will be fired or lose their pensions when CWS begins collecting trash on July 1, 2015. This is absolutely not true, according to CWS and City Councilmembers.
Waste Management has a history of anti-labor practices, including many complaints of mistreating its workers and a lockout of workers in 2007 that left garbage piling up on the streets of Oakland for one month.
Waste Management also shut down its customer service center in Oakland, which is now moving to Arizona, perhaps to be replaced by automated answering machines.
In its “best and final offer,” the company defines answering customer phone calls as “any method of picking up customer calls, including recorded greetings.”
In addition, workers continue to report that they have been told they will lose their jobs when the Waste Management contract expires on June 30, 2015, even though that is not the truth.
Yet Marty Frates, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 70, which represents many Waste Management employees, remains in favor of the company and has reportedly encouraged workers
to serve as petition gatherers for the referendum organized by political consultant Larry Tramutola to force the city into a special election to overturn the garbage contract.
In a Sept. 8 letter to the city, Frates denies union involvement in the Waste Management campaign but left an opening for his members’ participation in signature gathering.
“We understand why Waste Management is doing what they are doing, and I am sure many of our members support their issues,” he said.
“I want to go on record about the rumors being circulated that Local 70 is behind and supports Waste Management’s lawsuit and referendums to challenge the City Council’s decision,” he said. “Local 70 is not behind any of this,” he said, though the union “did not like the decision of the City Council.”
“Local 70 will keep its commitment to make this transition work and that our members do the right thing,” he added.
Councilmember and mayoral candidate Rebecca Kaplan criticized Waste Management for its past record of harming Oakland and its own employees.
“Not only is Waste Management the company that right now is trying to deceive Oakland voters into higher rates for worse service, this is the same company that locked out it its workers and refused to pick up the trash for a month in 2007,” she said.
As a result of a city lawsuit, Waste Management was required to pay a $7.9 million settlement with the city, she said.
In this year’s Waste Management proposal, which the council rejected, the company added a provision that a lockout would be considered “a force of nature” for which the company would not be legally responsible.
“You would think that city staff would want to put stricter penalties on the company,” said Kaplan. “It was horrible for Oakland. They left trash on our streets for weeks.”
Signing a contract with CWS means “more stable jobs, long-term good paying jobs for Oakland residents, which will stabilize neighborhoods” and counter some of the forces of gentrification, said Kaplan.
Though Waste management pledged to a 50 percent local hiring agreement, only 21 percent of its employees lives in Oakland. At CWS, which since its inception has hired locally, 69 percent of its workers are Oakland residents.
“CWS is going to hire local people to answer customer service calls,” Kaplan continued. “There will be local people answering the phone calls.” Customer concerns “will not being go to machines in Arizona.”
“CWS listened and responded to what the council asked for,” said Kaplan. Waste Management ignored the council’s requests,” made in public meetings and written documents, and then “they acted surprised, trying to say they didn’t know we wanted those things,” she said.
City Government
Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties
Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.
Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.
Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.
A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.
Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.
However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.
Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.
“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.
“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.
Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.
Alameda County
Board of Supervisors Accepts Certification of Signatures, Will Schedule Recall Election May 14
The Alameda Board of Supervisors unanimously accepted the certification of the results of the valid signatures submitted for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price on Tuesday evening. The Board will set the election date at a special meeting on May 14. Before the meeting, recall proponents and opponents held separate press conferences to plead their cases to the Board and residents of Alameda County.
By Magaly Muñoz
The Alameda Board of Supervisors unanimously accepted the certification of the results of the valid signatures submitted for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price on Tuesday evening. The Board will set the election date at a special meeting on May 14.
Before the meeting, recall proponents and opponents held separate press conferences to plead their cases to the Board and residents of Alameda County.
Price, who up until this point has made little public comment about the recall, held her press conference in Jack London to announce that the California Fair Political Practices Commission has opened an investigation into the finances of the Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE) recall campaign.
The political action committee (PAC), Reviving the Bay Area, has been the largest contributor to the SAFE organization and has allegedly donated over half a million dollars to the recall efforts.
“Between September 2023 and November 2023, [Revive the Bay Area] donated approximately $578,000 to SAFE without complying with the laws that govern all political committees in California,” Price said.
Price accused the recall campaigns of using irregular signature-gathering processes, such as paying gatherers per signature, and using misleading information to get people to sign their petitions.
SAFE held their own press conference outside of the Alameda County Administration Building at 1221 Oak St. in Oakland, once again calling for the Board to certify their signatures and set a date for the recall election.
Their press conference turned contentious quickly as Price’s “Protect the Win” supporters attempted to yell over the SAFE staff and volunteers. “Stop scapegoating Price” and “Recall Price” chants went on for several moments at a time during this event.
Families of victims urged the Board to think of their loved ones whose lives are worth much more than the millions of dollars that many opponents of the recall say is too much to spend on a special election.
The Registrar of Voters (ROV) estimates the special election could cost anywhere from $15 to $20 million, an amount that is not in their budget.
The Board was presented with several options on when and how to conduct the recall election. They have to set a date no less than 88 days or more than 125 days after May 14, meaning the date could fall anywhere from late July to September.
But the County charter also states that if a general election takes place within 180 days of their scheduling deadline, the Board could choose to use the November ballot as a way to consolidate the two events.
In the event that Price is recalled, the Supervisors would appoint someone to fill the vacancy, though neither the County nor the California charter specifies how long they would have to pick a replacement.
The appointee would serve as district attorney spot until the next election in 2026. Afterwards, either they, if they run and win, or a newly elected candidate would serve the rest of Price’s six-year term until 2029. Price is unique as the only district attorney wo serves a term of six years.
The Board acknowledged that they knew last fall that this recall would come with its own set of complications when Measure B, which changed the local recall charter to match California’s, was first brought to their consideration.
Supervisors Nate Miley and David Haubert opposed discussing the measure, stating that the public would think that the Board was attempting to influence the recall campaign that had already taken off months prior.
“I think ultimately this feels like it’s going to end up in court, one way or the other, depending on who files what,” Haubert said.
Price’s legal team told the Post that the district attorney intended to consider all legal options should the recall election take place.
Miley stated that while he was in support of the amendment to the charter, he did not think it was right to schedule it for the March ballot as it would ultimately cause confusion for everyone involved.
“It has produced some legal entanglements that I think, potentially, could’ve been avoided,” Miley said.
California Black Media
State Ed Chief Tony Thurmond Pushes Bill to Train Educators
State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tony Thurmond is advocating for comprehensive training for teachers in reading and math, emphasizing the urgent need to improve student academic outcomes across California. On April 24, during testimony in the Senate Education Committee, Thurmond backed Senate Bill (SB)1115, which aims to provide evidence-backed educator training. The committee passed the bill with a 7-0 vote.
By California Black Media
State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tony Thurmond is advocating for comprehensive training for teachers in reading and math, emphasizing the urgent need to improve student academic outcomes across California.
On April 24, during testimony in the Senate Education Committee, Thurmond backed Senate Bill (SB)1115, which aims to provide evidence-backed educator training. The committee passed the bill with a 7-0 vote.
Thurmond pointed out to the committee that existing funding for educator training in literacy and math only covers about one-third of California’s educator workforce. SB 1115, Thurmond said, would fund the remaining two-thirds.
“This is an issue of moral clarity,” according to Thurmond. “In the fifth-largest economy in the world, and in an age when we have access to substantial brain science about how students learn, it should be unacceptable to train only some educators in the best strategies to teach essential skills.”
SB 1115 incorporates multiple research-backed methods, including phonics, and it aligns with the California ELA/ELD Framework, which encourages biliteracy and multilingualism.
Thurmond emphasized the moral imperative behind the push for enhanced training by noting that 70% of incarcerated adults struggle with reading or are illiterate.
“Every child should feel supported as they learn to read and every teacher should feel confident in their ability to support students’ foundational literacy,” Thurmond said. “SB 1115 is about ensuring that all children have the opportunity to read by third grade, and that all children have a shot at the life-changing outcomes that come from early literacy.”
The next step for SB 1115 is a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 6.
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