Category: Labor

In a potentially explosive development, the largest private section union in San Diego has called upon the state-wide teachers’ union to withdraw their recommendation of Richard Barrera for California State Superintendent. Barrera is a trustee with San Diego Unified School District.

On February 9, the head of Local 135 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Todd Walters, sent a letter via email to David Goldberg, president of the influential state-wide California Teachers Association (CTA) requesting that they withdraw their recommendation of Barrera because of his role and lack of leadership during a scandal involving his former union, UFCW Local 135. It revolves around a former UFCW Local 135 president, Mickey Kasparian, who eventually resigned in disgrace.

In a statement from the Local, the main claim is explained:

“At the center of UFCW Local 135’s concerns are Barrera’s record of leadership, specifically his refusal to speak out or take meaningful action during” the scandal.

“Barrera served as Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Local 135 and was widely regarded as Kasparian’s right-hand man. During a period marked by public allegations and lawsuits involving sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation, Barrera remained silent. He did not publicly challenge Kasparian, nor did he stand with the women who came forward.”

By  Kate Callen / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 2026

Any government facing a financial implosion has three options: increase revenue with new or expanded taxes or fees, cut spending by reducing services and cut spending by shrinking the workforce.

The city of San Diego is aggressively pursuing Option 1 (trash fees, Balboa Park parking) and gingerly exploring Option 2 (eliminating services to neighborhoods). But Option 3 seems to be off the table. Why? Are elected officials too squeamish to take a painful but essential step? Too attached to faithful staff?

I know more than most San Diegans do about government reductions-in-force (RIFs). I lived through one in the 1980s while working as a science writer in the U.S. Public Health Service.

The experience was hellish. But because the agency handled it professionally, the payroll shrank appreciably, and few of us landed on the street. There is no reason, besides intransigence, that City Hall can’t do the same.

The humane way to reduce staff, to borrow a favorite expression of my Navy veteran husband, is to plan your work and work your plan. My agency’s RIF proceeded gradually and methodically, and employees were kept informed at every step.

by David Smollar / Times of San Diego / Jan. 26, 2026

The wielding of excessive force bringing chaos, injury and death across American cities by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes for painful viewing when captured by social media.

American history is checkered with federal, state and local police actions carried out against advocates of labor unions, marchers for civil rights, and anti-war protesters, among many others — and it can’t be sanitized or erased by those who prefer their history viewed through rose-colored lenses.

San Diego’s past also includes major government-sanctioned violence.

In the heart of downtown, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and E Street, the city’s worst street violence — the Free Speech Riots — emanated in 1912 from February through May when police and vigilantes violently assaulted members of the militant/anarchist labor union International Workers of the World, known as the IWW or “Wobblies.”

In January, the City Council had acted to curb public assemblies in the city of 45,000 residents at the behest of business and real estate owners. They feared an increase in the number of union members coming to San Diego to organize streetcar and construction workers — many of whom were  immigrants — and to back radical factions in the ongoing Mexican Revolution. An armed group of Wobblies supporting a radical Mexican faction had assisted in a brief capture of Tijuana, then a border town with less than 1,000 people, in spring 1911 during an initial phase of the revolution.

by Michael Zucchet / Voice of San Diego / January 21, 2026

In his Jan. 13 op-ed published in Voice of San Diego, former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey argues that increased spending and poor management are the real culprits of the city of San Diego’s budget woes.

But in many of the issue areas that Bailey cites (personnel and pension costs, lack of public safety spending and trash collection fees) San Diego is in line with or even outperforming other cities – including the city of Coronado under Bailey’s leadership as councilmember and mayor for 12 years:

• According to the Census Bureau, the city of San Diego’s population steadily grew more than 7 percent between 2010 and 2024 to 1,404,000. During the same period, the population of Coronado decreased 5 percent to 18,000. Despite this decline in residents, Coronado’s general fund personnel budget rose 89 percent from FY 2014 (Mr. Bailey’s first full fiscal year in office) to FY 2026.  During the same period – with a rising population – San Diego’s general fund personnel expenditures rose 76 percent. Coronado has one city employee for every 70 residents; San Diego has one employee for every 107 residents.

By Brad Reed / Common Dreams / Jan. 14, 2026

A broad coalition of Minneapolis labor unions and community organizations is calling for a general strike to take place next week with the goal of forcing federal immigration agents to leave their city.

According to a report by Workday Magazine, the groups announced their plans on Tuesday to create a day of “no work, no school, no shopping” on Friday, January 23.

JaNaé Bates Imari, representative of the church Camphor Memorial UMC, said that next Friday would be “a day when every single Minnesotan who loves this state—who loves the idea of truth and freedom—will refuse to work, shop, and go to school.”

“We are asking every single person, every family member, every teacher, every bus driver, every childcare worker, to come together, to be in community, to stand with one another,” Bates Imari added.

by Associated Press – Times of San Diego /  Nov. 13, 2025

More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers went on strike at 65 U.S. stores Thursday to protest a lack of progress in labor negotiations with the company.

Starbucks Workers United said stores in 45 cities would be affected, including San Diego, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Starbucks’ home city of Seattle. There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn’t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.

The strike was intended to disrupt Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing baristas, said Thursday morning that the strike had already closed some stores and was expected to force more to close later in the day.

by Cayla Mihalovich / Cal-Matters / October 13, 2025

Gov. Gavin Newsom on October 13 signed a set of bills meant to recognize incarcerated firefighters, including a historic measure to raise their pay to meet the federal minimum wage during active fires.

The wage increase, funded through the state budget, follows years of advocacy to improve pay and working conditions for incarcerated labor. That effort took on a new urgency after hundreds of incarcerated firefighters were deployed to battle deadly wildfires that hit Los Angeles in January.

State lawmakers this year introduced a seven-bill “Firefighting to Freedom” package to protect incarcerated firefighters and support job opportunities upon their reentry. Five of those bills were signed into law today, marking the most comprehensive changes to incarcerated firefighting in the state’s history.

Incarcerated firefighters previously earned between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. During active emergencies, Cal Fire pays them an additional $1 per hour. Now, they will earn $7.25 per hour when they’re on a fire.

In the midst of a 5-day strike against Kaiser Permanente that began Tuesday, Oct. 14, by thousands of nurses, pharmacists and other frontline staff who are demanding safe staffing, fair pay, and improved benefits, pharmacy workers just overwhelmingly voted to authorize their union to enact an Unfair Labor Practice strike.

Currently there’s an estimated 2,000 Kaiser workers on strike in San Diego County, part of a larger, 31,000-member walkout across California, Hawaii and Oregon. And the strike is scheduled to run through Sunday during which the unions and Kaiser are holding ongoing negotiations. UFCW members have joined them in solidarity on the picket lines.

But now the pharmacy workers are threatening to strike as well. Kaiser pharmacy members’ contracts expire on November 1, 2025, and while this vote does not mean a strike is immediately underway, it allows their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), to call a strike if deemed necessary by the bargaining committee. A ten-day notice must be provided before any strike begins.

Meanwhile, the thousands of health care workers on strike are represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals who walked off the job Tuesday morning at Kaiser Permanente facilities across San Diego County. Union leaders said the strike isn’t just about pay or staffing, but also about better retirement security and benefits. They said Kaiser’s perks do not fully make up for years of stagnant wages.

By Sue Garson / The San Diego Reader / March 31, 1988

Thousands of dollars’ worth of floral arrangements filled the sanctuary of St. Agnes Church in Point Loma. Below the statue of Our Lady of Fatima were anchors and nautical wheels made of blue and white carnations. Floral replicas of tuna vessels were laid beneath Our Lady of Good Voyages, whose plaster arms held the infant Jesus and a tuna clipper. A blanket of white orchids covered the casket containing the remains of a ninety-three-year-old fisherman, and when members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit filed past the cherrywood coffin, each placed a single red rose on top.

After hymns were sung in English, a Portuguese choir sang songs of the sea. The president of the American Tunaboat Association extolled the deceased as a pioneer in San Diego’s tuna industry – Manual Oliver Medina was responsible for starting the high-seas tuna fleet in the United States, and he was first to build and skipper ocean-ranging tuna clippers, the speaker noted. “M.O. was first to use radar and first to install refrigerated holds and radios,” he added in tribute. On this March Wednesday in 1986, Medina’s body made its final voyage to Holy Cross Cemetery, where it received the last blessing. Afterwards, hundreds of mourners paid their respects at Medina Castle, the hilltop mansion on Point Loma’s San Elijo Street, where they had often sought the padrinho’s counsel.

By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa San Diego / October 3, 2025

A local drywall installation company that systematically underpaid its workers on two local affordable housing projects has agreed to settle a civil lawsuit filed by the US Department of Labor by paying $790,000 in back wages and fines.

Escondido-based Innovative Wall Systems, Inc., doing business as Alta Drywall, was sued in San Diego federal court for underpaying 580 employees who worked more than 40 hours a week, including weekends, without receiving the required overtime rate or minimum wage as mandated by federal law.

The Department of Labor and Alta Drywall entered into a Consent Judgment and Order on September 12, 2025, over 580 employees who were not paid overtime on two affordable housing projects; the 200-unit Columba project in Chula Vista’s Millenia development, and the 309-unit Mt. Etna St. complex in San Diego.

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings October 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th.

Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine

Every Thursday  10 am ICE out of San Diego Event by San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council

The San Diego River Park Foundation has volunteer opportunities in Ocean Beach:

October 1st Wednesday to October 8th Wednesday  Climate Week

October 1st Wednesday 4 pm – 5pm Resist Trump Flash Banner Action –

October 1st Wednesday 6 pm AAPI Immigration Panel Event by The Asian American Pacific Islander

October 2nd. Thursday 6 pm – 8 pm Local Climate Action at a Crossroads:  Accountability, Activism, and People Power

October 3rd Friday 2 pm – 4:30 pm Rally and Press Conference Event by San Diego Veterans For Peace

October 3rd. Friday  2:30 pm – 5:30 pm  Exploring Ecosystems and Water Pollution at the Tijuana River Estuary

October 4th Saturday 9:30 am – 4 pm Walter Munk Day

October 5th Sunday 2 pm Rise up for Gaza International Day of Action

October 6th Monday 6 pm- 8:30 pm EARTH’S GREATEST ENEMY

By Kate Callen / September 26, 2025

As expected, the San Diego Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the Midway Rising proposal after in-person public comments were dominated by speakers who will directly benefit from the development.

But there were a few surprises. Five commissioners seemed dubious about transportation issues, especially plans to develop now and upgrade transit later. And an observation from one of the newest commissioners could be the most shockingly honest remark a San Diego public official has ever made.

Jeana Renger questioned future traffic projections for the notoriously congested Midway district and said this: “Transit-oriented development is only successful if there is a whole system of buses and trolleys and also ridership. Just because you build it doesn’t necessarily mean they will ride it.”

(If anyone wants to thank Ms. Renger, an executive vice president at Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects, for having the courage to speak a truth too long denied, her email address is jrenger@fpbarch.com.)