Comment Archives: Stories
Re: “West Contra Costa School Official on Leave for Sending Racist Emails”
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Re: “Uptown's New Loring Cafe Falls Short”
Totally inaccurate review. The food here is DELISH. Love the artichoke dip. Only downside is there is not a full bar yet just wine and beer!
Re: “Oakland's Miliki Offers Nigerian Food for Beginners”
Wow, this article was extremely insulting from beginning to end. It was "challenging" this and "adventurous" that. You need better adjectives. Yea Nigerian food isn't made for the "american" pallet, meaning its not covered in salt fat and sugar. But just because it isn't, doesn't mean it has to be seen as an "adventure" to eat it, geez. Do better next time, its not hard.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
NUHW supporters are in denial and it's time to stop. Two election; two defeats::::::please accept it; Kaiser members spoke and Democracy must prevail.
The labor movement is dying and the world is changing. If it really is about working families, then focus your energy on that. Regardless on how evil NUHW supporters think SEIU is, the facts are that the Kaiser SEIU contract protects working families well; with respectable wages, benefits, and a 52 weeks of income security that no one outside of that contract has, including NUHW or CNA....
Start focusing on the economy, unemployment, National Debt, the rising cost of Healthcare, the competition, and the fact that only 9% of American families have a retirement plan. That's the fight that labor needs to fight.... Not each other....
If Kaiser workers don't wake up soon, the world around them will change their lives just like the American Autoworkers' lives changed while their union was focusing on being militant and fighting "the boss", and in the end, their lack of vision for the future, and understanding of the world around them, was the root cause that failed to protect the contracts that brought Blue Collar workers to the middle class of American society........ Wake up!!
Re: “Drakes Bay Oyster Company Tied to Oil Drilling”
This whole thing smells fishy, excuse the pun!
Thank you Robert Gammon, for keeping our eyes open. Very interesting.....
Re: “Sean Whent Appears to be the Right Choice to Lead OPD”
We need a chief with years of successful experience managing a high crime city police department AND the willingness to cross the thin blue line.
Sean Whent only satisfies the second criteria with his mere 17 years experience, mostly at OPD, 4 of which consisted of working in Internal Affairs investigating cops.
Make Whent the head of IA but don't put him in charge of the entire department.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
So, Doug, I guess being a political organizer for SEIU, you kinda have to say the things you do in your post. There are many facts that contradict your statements, but I will not bother to challenge you with facts enumerate them, they are available on the NUHW web site and stopseiucuts.com. It would be futile to discuss the facts with someone so obviously wedded to SEIU, because SEIU's modus operandi seems to be to distort facts. There are takeaways built into the recently "ratified" Service & Tech group's contract. None of the S&T members I know was even notified of an opportunity to "ratify" the contract. In fact, to get a copy of the contract (actually a summary - the members don't even get a copy of the actual full contract) people were required to sign a card stating that they would vote for SEIU in the election. Does that sound like democracy? One of the clauses in the contract actually allows the employer to change any aspect of the contract unilaterally and at will. Does that sound like protection? As for SEIU's motivation to create a weak contract? They want to be the boss's friend, so that they are assured lots and lots of members (and lots and lots of dues money). That is why we decertified and went with NUHW.
Re: “Sean Whent Appears to be the Right Choice to Lead OPD”
There is absolutely no hope for OPD and the City of Oakland. The OPD's hands are tied. The whole system is so screwed up. Officers are unable to respond to serious calls in a timely manner. The only hope for Oakland is Judge Henderson's retirement and the falsely appointed mayor Quan's resignation. Sean Whent is no good as well. He's merely a political charlatan looking out for his own good (aka: an ass kisser), and willing to do / say whatever it takes to get into a high ranking position. Good luck, Oakland. You're in for a long and arduous ride.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
Adam,
"SEIU did what amounts to a hostile takeover when it put the local in trusteeship, and the leaders who were erroneously charged with malfeasance and thrown out formed NUHW."
Erroneously charged with malfeasance? Then why was there a civil judgement of $1.5 million for SEIU against NUHW and more than a dozen NUHW leaders which has been sustained on appeal?
"NUHW is the Kaiser workers old union, reconstituted after a hostile takeover,...".
I thought NUHW claimed that members are the Union, not the staff representatives. Were SEIU-UHW members, Kaiser and non-Kaiser, responsible for building the best contract for health care workers, or was it all Sal and Pals? If it was all Sal and his team, then how does that meet with the claim that it's all about the members?
"...the trustees, who are now the leadership under SEIU,...".
The leadership elected by the members, you mean? The leadership elected with a much higher voter turnout than was ever managed for a leadership election in the Rosselli Era? The leadership with an Executive Board made up of 300 members and NO staff, unlike the E-Board under Rosselli which was a fraction of the size and was dominated by powerful staff members? That leadership?
"SEIU, who will make contract concessions to Kaiser at the expense of its own members....".
Yes, the prediction of "contract concessions" that NUHW leaders have made since 2009, two contract negotiations ago, negotiations led by the largest Kaiser SEIU-UHW member bargaining team ever (much, much larger than the Rosselli-era bargaining teams), which maintained contracts with industry-leading wage, benefit and job security standards and were ratified by supreme majorities with higher voter turnout than ever before.
First, Kaiser SEIU-UHW members disagree that they have suffered great concessions in their last two contracts; their enthusiastic ratification votes prove it.
Second, and I mean this seriously, what would be the motivation of the current SEIU-UHW leaders to create "secret concessions" now and in the future? Explain to us why you think they would do that, and, if they were planning on doing so, why they participated in the creation of new SEIU-UHW bylaws which established a much larger membership presence among top leaders? If they wanted to give away the store, why would they set themselves up to be watched so closely?
Re: “Thursday Must Read: Oakland Police Consultant Calls for 911 Overhaul; William Bratton Keeps Low Profile”
@Krista: I live in Oakland. My house was robbed twice. I was told by OPD to fill out a police report online, despite my wifi-enabled devices being lost in the heist, and was informed no one would be coming out to take the fingerprints or footprints I could see on my windows. While I understand your point, clearly from my experience, Oakland does not promise an officer for every call, unless you are bleeding.
Re: “Critics Blast U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for Berkeley Patients Group Harassment”
We need a resolution from CA democrat party to remove haag, no doubt this is a coordinate effort of many us attny but removing haag a good start point.
Re: “CEQA Reform Bill Is Too Modest”
We used CEQA the way it was designed to be used. Any project that even might have an impact on the environment must undergo some kind of environmental review. Is that even controversial? With the Bicycle Plan, obviously if you take away traffic lanes and street parking on busy city streets, you might make traffic worse, right? Of course the city should have done that review before they began implementing the ambitious Bicycle Plan, and they knew it. They just thought they could get away with it. Now that they've done an EIR on the Bicycle Plan, it tells us that yes the Bicycle Plan is going to make traffic worse for everyone but cyclists, including delaying a number of Muni lines.
Re: “CEQA Reform Bill Is Too Modest”
Just curious, are you the same Rob Anderson who used CEQA to stymie bicycle improvements in SF for years on the grounds that they would hurt the environment?
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Last Friday at lunch, 20th St btwn San Pablo and Telegraph: 8 placards out of 24 cars parked, or 3 times what you would expect.
Today at lunch on Harrison btwn 19th and 18th: 11 of the 18 cars, or 6 times the norm.
Enforcement on these two blocks could have potentially earned the city up to $28,000!!! Why isn't enforcement a top priority??? It's a win-win: a cash cow for the city, and it makes the city more accessible to the truly disabled.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
Soooooo Mr. Jay Youngdahl, I understand your cousin is Jon Youngdahl, the Executive Director of SEIU California State Council - their chief lobbyist! There goes whatever credibility you had as a journalist... And to think, I used to enjoy East Bay Express...
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
This comment was removed because it violates our policy against anonymous comments. It will be reposted if the commenter chooses to use his or her real name.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
NUHW suporters: Please take note of the astute conclusions of author Jay Youngdahl: "The argument that the workers were too scared to vote for NUHW-CNA was condescending and paternalistic when made by NUHW supporters to explain their 2010 defeat. And one cannot credibly claim that, with the backing and money of the militant and committed this time around, Kaiser workers were again mousy and scared." Because that is exactly what you are continuing to do. Please stop insulting the workers that you claim to care so much about--if you don't respect the folks you want to represent, you probably shouldn't be the ones representing them...
Re: “Updated: Retiring Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan Said to Have 'Serious Medical Condition'”
National Institute of Justice: ~ Five Things Law Enforcement Executives Can Do To Make A Difference. http://nij.gov/five-things
DoD study on random polygraphs for personnel. http://t.co/Tr7uafTd
"the polygraph is the single most effective tool for finding information people were trying to hide." - DoD, NSA
Make policy that polygraphs for all new hires expire every 2-5yrs. http://shar.es/epfm2
Top Baltimore jail executives to be polygraphed following gang indictment. http://shar.es/lmevh
California laws strengthened wall of silence around officers. http://shar.es/lITUZ
The California Peace Officers Bill of Rights needs to be reviewed and revised. Especially section 3007.
The honest, brave police officers with integrity deserve more.
Let's get this done.
Never give up folks. Never give in. For the good of the collective whole.
RANDOM. ROUTINE.
Break the code. Break the culture.
And Walk the Talk.
Re: “Updated: Retiring Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan Said to Have 'Serious Medical Condition'”
He has a right to his medical privacy. We should respect that right even if we are dying to know what it is.
Re: “West Contra Costa School Official on Leave for Sending Racist Emails”
This comment was removed because it violates our policy against anonymous comments. It will be reposted if the commenter chooses to use his or her real name.