***Media Advisory for June 29, 2017***
Public Forum:
Good Jobs and Zero Waste:
Building a Movement in the North Bay
Thursday, June 29th, 7 pm
(doors open at 6:30 pm)
Santa Rosa, CA - North Bay Jobs with Justice, Teamsters 665, and the North Bay Labor Council will co-sponsor a public forum: “Good Jobs and Zero Waste” on Thursday, June 29th from 7 pm to 8:30 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm) at Christ Church United Methodist, 1717 Yulupa Santa Rosa.
Many cities and counties across California and the nation have adopted ‘zero waste” policies to address the climate crisis and the growth of low wage employment in the waste management sector. Zero waste planning can promote recycling and increased diversion rates from landfills and incinerators and ensure that firms contracting with local government pay livable wages and comprehensive benefits.
At the forum, Teamster 665 President Mike Yates will discuss the recent organizing campaign at the North Bay Corporation (Ratto Group) and the vote by 400 drivers, recycling and clerical workers to affiliate with the Teamsters. Yates and waste management workers will explain how unionization will increase compensation for workers and improve health and safety conditions.
Loren Ahkiam, senior researcher at the Los Angeles Alliance for A New Economy, a labor based nonprofit, will provide an overview of zero waste campaigns and policies at the local level in California and discuss what local government in the North Bay can learn from zero waste legislation enacted by Los Angeles and other cities.
The event is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible. Childcare and translation will be provided and coffee, tea, and dessert will be provided.
Fore more information please contact:
Mara Ventura • (707) 293-2863
northbayjwj@gmail.com
northbayjobswithjustice.org
facebook.com/pages/North-Bay-Jobs-With-Justice
Click HERE to download a flyer (pdf) about this event.
North Bay Jobs with Justice participates in May Day--International Workers' Day--event to support Immigrant Rights:
Sonoma County Sheriff restricts cooperation between jail and ICE 
By Martin Espinoza
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
May 1, 2017
In a compromise with a watchdog official who had criticized his policies, Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas imposed new restrictions Monday on cooperation between local jail officials and federal immigration agents.
The jail will no longer cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in cases where undocumented immigrants are suspected of committing minor offenses, such as driving without a license.
However, the jail will continue to provide ICE with information about undocumented immigrants who are convicted of serious or violent felonies, as well as a number of other crimes listed in the 2013 Trust Act. That law, supported by immigrant rights groups, blocks county jails from holding inmates for immigration officials when they would otherwise be allowed to go free.
“We are trying to come to some type of mutual understanding and we are agreeing to go by the Trust Act,” said Sgt. Spencer Crum, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
Close to Home: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Should Add Paid Sick Days
By Martin J. Bennett
The Press Democrat, March 31, 2017
Last year, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved a $15-an-hour living wage ordinance covering more than 1200 low-wage workers employed by the county, county contractors and firms receiving public subsidies. Affected employees include park aides, landscape, janitorial, recycling, security, mental health and other workers.
A broad coalition of labor, faith, environmental and community organizations proposed a living wage law in 2014 and is now requesting that the board amend and revise the legislation to make it more robust and comparable to ordinances implemented by Santa Clara, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz counties.
Worker’s Rights: Superior Court Workers Report Serious Erosion in Public Access to Legal System
By Bonnie Petty
Sonoma County Gazette, February 1, 2017
Let’s say you have been involved in a court case that has finally come before the Sonoma County Superior Court. But 30 minutes past the time court was to begin, the entire courtroom is still waiting (your attorney’s fees are multiplying) because the court reporter is still in another courtroom. When that trial is over, she will have to pack up her gear and race to your courtroom and set up her gear again.
“Oftentimes I am scheduled in multiple courtrooms in a day and packing up my gear and driving over to another courthouse is considered my break,” says Court Reporter Becki Peterson.
It was only one example of the serious deterioration in working conditions and the subsequent erosion of public access to the legal system at the Sonoma County Superior Court, as related by the workers themselves. On Saturday, January 14th, the North Bay Workers’ Rights Board convened a hearing on the working conditions of those court workers, which they requested as a result of the administrators’ failure to respond to their multiple requests for redress.