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Santa Clara Valley Transit Workers Begin Strike

March 12, 2025 Philip Nguyen, Fight Back! News. , , , , , ,
San Jose, CA – On Monday, March 10, around 1500 bus and light rail operators and mechanics for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), walked off the job. The workers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265. This is the first strike at the VTA since its founding in 1973. Around 9 a.m. upwards of 70 ATU rank-and-file members could be seen picketing in front of the VTA headquarters as the strike began. Pickets were held at four other light rail and bus yards beginning at 4 a.m. VTA and ATU have been in contract negotiations since August.

California Teachers Fight Palestine Censorship

March 5, 2025 Marcy Winograd, Counter Punch. , , , , ,
As the Trump administration engages in a frontal assault on the teaching of race and ethnicity at the K-12 level, a quieter but no less important battle is shaping up in deep blue California. Communities of color are mobilizing statewide to defeat AB 1468, the latest bill to emerge from the CA Legislative Jewish Caucus (LJC) in its campaign to censor Palestinian voices in ethnic studies classes, and police all ethnic studies content along with it. Although the words “Gaza,” “Palestine” and “Israel” are nowhere to be found in the proposed legislation, the language of AB 1468 restricts the discipline to the “domestic experience” of “marginalized people” to discourage teachers from developing lessons on the impact of Israeli settler colonialism on Palestinian American and Muslim communities.

Lawsuit Against Congress Members Over Gaza Genocide Goes International

March 3, 2025 Lois Pearlman, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , ,
What began as one northern California activist’s idea to up the ante on pressure against local congressmen who support Israel’s assault on Gaza has turned into a plan to air the issue in the international arena. Retired high school history teacher Seth Donnelly, a resident of Boyes Hot Springs in Sonoma County, California, said he was fed up with his Congress member Mike Thompson, who refused to respond to phone calls, emails, and protests demanding that he stop funding Israel’s genocide in Gaza. “I even invited him to speak before a student human rights group at Rancho Cotate High School,” Donnelly said, referring to the school where he taught until recently.

Two Unions Strike The University Of California

February 28, 2025 Staff, Labor Notes. , , , ,
Picket lines formed across California Wednesday as 20,000 health care, research, and technical workers in UPTE (Communications Workers Local 9119) and 37,000 patient care workers in AFSCME Local 3299 walked out on short strikes across the University of California system. AFSCME will stay out for two days, UPTE for three. Both unions are charging that the university system is engaged in unfair labor practices. They have been working under an expired contract since October. The workers struck in November, too. Then, Labor Notes’ Barbara Madeloni wrote how the UPTE workers have been remaking their union to prepare for this contract fight

New Report Details Police Repression Of Palestine Activism At UCLA

February 27, 2025 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
Last October, the ACLU launched a lawsuit against the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), challenging the school’s administrators’ suppression of student and faculty speech. That suppression ultimately resulted in the police’s violent destruction of the school’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment amid clashes with Zionist provocateurs. “I can still hear the relentless sound of the stun grenades,” described one student protester at the time. “Trepidation still courses through my body when I think about police in riot gear shooting rubber bullets at and beating students and friends.

Over 1000 Chicanos Hit The Streets Of Los Angeles To Protest Deportations

February 24, 2025 Gabriel Quiroz Jr., Fight Back! News. , , , , , ,
Los Angeles, CA – On February 17, over 1000 Chicanos gathered at Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles to protest against ICE deportations and to fight back against Trump's racist, right-wing agenda. The rally and march were called for by Chicana activists who used social media to get the word out. Recent protests in Los Angeles have brought out large crowds of Chicanos ready to stand up and fight, with the last one, on February 2, drawing tens of thousands who took to the streets. That afternoon protesters even took over the 101 Freeway, shutting it down for hours and completely overwhelming LAPD, LASD and CHP, which were completely unprepared and caught off guard by Raza fighting back.

Action On Climate Change May Look Different Than You Expect

February 23, 2025 Vijay Kolinjivadi and Aaron Vansintjan, Counter Punch. , , ,
Talk a walk through the Los Angeles’ Arts District, and you’ll learn that there’s nothing contradictory about trying to save the world and living a luxury lifestyle. Start your tour with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), which proudly displays a banner stating: “the future begins here.” LACI is “a non- profit organization creating an inclusive green economy” and run “by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.” They are also supported by a “community” that includes not only the City of Los Angeles but also BMW, Wells Fargo, United Airlines, and JPMorgan Chase.

Strike At Kaiser: They Take Care Of Us, Who Will Take Care Of Them?

February 17, 2025 Cal Winslow, Counter Punch. , , , , ,
2400 striking behavioral health care workers in Southern California have taken to the streets – literally. On February 8, workers sat down in the middle of Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, blocking traffic in front of Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center. The strikers, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), blocked traffic until a dozen of them, as well as California Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez and other supporters, were arrested. The sit-in marked day 110 of the strike. The strikers want parity with Kaiser’s workers in Northern California, workers who won significant gains in a 2022 10-week strike.

University Of California Healthcare, Research Employees Vote To Strike

February 16, 2025 Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times. , , , , ,
Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technical employees voted to authorize a strike, citing what they described as systemic and ongoing staffing shortages that erode patient care and hurt research operations. The strike authorization comes amid strained negotiations between the university and University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119, the union representing nearly 20,000 employees in various research labs and medical facilities across the 10-campus UC system. The unionized workers include nurse case managers, mental health counselors, optometrists, pharmacists, physical therapists, clinical researchers, IT analysts and animal health technicians.

Federal Workers Are Staying At Their Posts

February 8, 2025 Suzanne Gordon, VA Champion. , , , ,
The Trump administration is trying to push federal workers out of government, which will cripple the government’s ability to serve the public in many ways. But unions have been resisting and federal workers have been saying no thank you. A federal judge has extended the February 6 deadline for accepting these offers till Monday. Two of the largest unions representing this workforce — the American Federation of Government Employees and NFFE — advised members not to take the bait. California Attorney General Rob Bonta urged federal employees to take the unions’ advice and “to be very cautious” of the offer.

Thousands Take To The Streets In Defense Of Immigrants Rights

February 4, 2025 Jimena Vergara and Madeleine Freeman, Left Voice. , , , , , , , , ,
Immigrants and their communities are leading the fight against the Trump administration’s attacks on democratic rights. Since Trump unleashed a series of ICE raids in his first days in office — ordering ICE and the police to arrest over 1000 people per day — thousands of people in the cities most targeted by the anti-immigrant offensive are taking to the streets, walking out of their schools, and shuttering businesses to show that immigrants won’t be criminalized and made to live in constant fear of deportation. The raids come on top of a barrage of anti-immigrant attacks launched by Trump on his very first day in office.

Los Angeles: Thousands March Against Trump’s Attacks On Immigrants

February 3, 2025 Sol Marquez, Fight Back! News. , , , ,
Los Angeles, CA – Thousands of Chicanos and immigrants marched into downtown Los Angeles, today, February 2. Waving Mexican, Colombian, Venezuelan and Central American flags, the sea of people made it clear: Immigrants are here to stay. The event was to demonstrate public outcry and unity against Trump, his racist supporters, and his many anti-immigrant executive orders. Jordan Peña and Gabriel Quiroz Jr. with Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) led a CSO contingent at the massive event. Quiroz Jr. is also a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

Hundreds Of Students Walk Out To Protest ICE Operations

February 1, 2025 Drusie Kazanova, Fight Back! News. , , , ,
San Jose, CA – Several hundred people protested in East San Jose on Monday, January 28, against recent arrests made by ICE in the predominantly Chicano neighborhood. The protest began when hundreds of students organized a walkout from Overfelt High School and marched to the King and Story Road intersection. King and Story is an historic location in the Chicano and immigrant rights movement, and was the starting place for past mega-marches. Protesters waved Mexican flags and held signs with slogans such as, “Legalization for all,” “No somos criminales” and “Immigrant rights are civil rights.”

Fast Fashion Is Haunting L.A.’s Wildfire Relief Efforts

February 1, 2025 Maylin Tu, Next City. , , , , ,
The Sunday after the wildfires hit L.A. County, I found myself sorting through piles of clothing with other volunteers outside of L.A. Climate Week’s host, the nonprofit Collidescope Foundation. Even as we packed dozens of 13-gallon trash bags with items sorted by gender, age and type, mountains of more donations were stacked floor to ceiling inside. In a crisis, Los Angeles residents like Halle Berry packed up their dresses, sweaters, jeans, jackets and more for wildfire victims. It’s a heartwarming gesture, but donation hubs ended up with more used clothing than they could realistically pass on to wildfire survivors.

Dispatch: Through The Fire

January 26, 2025 Carlos Sirah, Black Agenda Report. , , , , ,
Unprecedented January wildfires devastate Los Angeles, as communities face both natural disaster and militarized state response. The Eaton Fire displaces numerous families in the Pasadena-Altadena area, including multigenerational Black households who have built lives in these neighborhoods for decades. Among them, the Edwards family stands displaced from their home of 32 years. For those seeking to support impacted community members, the Edwards family’s GoFundMe, provides direct aid to one of many displaced households fighting to survive. A broader directory of displaced Black families seeking support can be found here.
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