Friday, November 16, 2012

Election 2012 Could Mean a Brighter Future for Education | California Progress Report

Election 2012 Could Mean a Brighter Future for Education | California Progress Report:


Election 2012 Could Mean a Brighter Future for Education

By Lisa Schiff
California's public education community has been breathing sighs of relief following the results of last week's voting extravaganza. Not even considering the historic re-election of President Barak Obama and the related repudiation of the Republican Party's effort to further restrict our civic and social rights, the results for California were immense. For our public schools, the most critical result was the passage of Proposition 30, which through leveraging a sales tax increase and raising income taxes on the wealthy will raise revenues to the General Fund and stop the automatic budget cuts to all levels of public education that were set to be enacted come January if Proposition 30 had not passed.
read more


It's Official: California Submits Blueprint for New Health Benefit Exchange

By Linda Leu
With last week's election result ensuring the continued implementation of the historic Affordable Care Act, the board of the newly-named "Covered California" Health Benefit Exchange met Wednesday to finalize its start-up operations and roll-out over the next two years.
Covered California will be the new marketplace under the Affordable Care Act to help California families and small businesses shop for health insurance and get subsidies to make such coverage affordable. The expansion of coverage through Medi-Cal and Covered California to millions of Californians starts January 1, 2014, with an "open enrollment" period to sign people up in the third-quarter of 2013.
read more



Raley's-Nob Hill Workers Return to the Job After Waging Historic Strike

By Danielle Tipton
California Labor Federation
Raley's and Nob Hill workers returned to their jobs Tuesday after a nine-day historic strike. Thanks to the solidarity and strength of the workers, activists and boycotting shoppers, the UFCW Local 5 and Local 8 were able to reach a tentative agreement with Raley's-Nob Hill management preserving health care for all workers, including retirees. This settlement now goes on to the workers for ratification.
Ron Lind, President, UFCW 5 and Jacque Loveall, President, UFCW 8:
read more