Posts tagged budget crisis
‘We’re gonna fight for our members’: Unions respond to Oakland layoffs
February 3, 2025 // This week’s layoffs are the latest in several steps Oakland has already taken in an attempt to emerge from its financial crisis. The city has also slashed OPD overtime spending, temporarily closed fire stations, and cut the arts budget, while credit ratings agencies have put the city on notice that it faces a potential ratings downgrade. Layoffs were discussed last year and not unexpected, said Blue, but she assumed the city would give advance notice so unions could negotiate with management. City officials have previously said they’d do whatever they could to avoid axing front-line staff.
Opinion: California’s minimum wage woes are a cautionary tale for the nation
January 10, 2024 // California politicians seem to have a penchant for doing whatever they can to reduce housing affordability and otherwise increase the cost of living in the state — high taxes, burdensome labor and environmental mandates, waste for boondoggles like the high-speed rail project and countless other laws and regulations. Then they attempt to be saviors by passing still more laws to benefit one group or another and alleviate the situation they have largely created.