Ballots have begun hitting mailboxes and for us San Jose employees, it may be the biggest local election in a generation. For the last ~20 years, “business friendly” politicians have ran the City and made a mess of what it means to be a City of San Jose employee who provides public services. We’ve all seen it. We’ve all lived it. We're all sick of it.

The choice and the differences of the candidates before us could not be clearer. On the Labor side, we have Cindy Chavez, who is the most worker friendly candidate this City has ever seen. Along with her, are candidates for City Council like Omar Torres, Peter Ortiz and Maya Esparza, who - if all elected - would be game changers for City workers and public services in San Jose. Check out our AFSCME Local 101 Endorsements here. On the other side of the aisle are candidates who are happy with the status quo and won't do anything to fix wages, vacancies, and the other issues that face City employees and residents alike.

The City violated the law when they proceeded to open library branches on Sundays without first negotiating the effects with the Union. As a result, the Union has filed an Unfair Practice Charge or Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) against the City with the California Public Employees Relations Board which oversees public employers in our state. Our demands our simple - get back to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith the effects of opening on Sundays has on hundreds of library workers and our families.

The White House’s recent announcement that it will hold the first conference on hunger, nutrition and health in more than half a century on Sept. 28 shines a light on another glaring issue – Congress has failed to update federal child nutrition programs in a decade.