DOCUMENTARY LENS
‘Who Killed Alex Odeh?’ Asks Good Questions About a Terrible Death
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/30/movies/who-killed-alex-odeh-review.html
The film by Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans examines the 1985 pipe-bombing of a Palestinian activist in California, …tracing the case to suspects in Israel.
An archival photo set in a home shows a man in a white shirt and black tie surrounded by little girls in white dresses.
Alex Odeh with his children, from left, Helena, Samya and Susan.Credit…Watermelon Pictures
Alissa Wilkinson.webp
By Alissa Wilkinson
Oct. 30, 2026
Who Killed Alex Odeh?Directed by Jason Osder, William Lafi YoumansDocumentary, Crime, MysteryNot Rated1h 23m
Find Tickets
When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.
From its title, you might reasonably expect that “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” (in theaters) would be a typical true-crime documentary, bent on investigating a death and revealing the perpetrator. It’s anything but that.
Directed by Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans, the film has no easy answers. It’s largely interested in the context around the death of Odeh, a Palestinian activist and the West Coast regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. On the morning of Oct. 11, 1985, he opened the door of his office in Santa Ana, Calif., and was killed when a pipe bomb went off. Odeh was mourned by many, including his family and community leaders, who praised his work on interfaith unity among Muslims, Jews and Christians.
But others voiced different sentiments. In the documentary, which makes extensive use of archival footage, we see Irv Rubin, then the chairman of the Jewish Defense League, tell a reporter: “I have no tears for Mr. Odeh. He got exactly, apparently, what he deserves.” The league, an extremist right-wing vigilante group, denied involvement in the bombing. But in the days after Odeh’s death, the F.B.I. identified the league as “the possible responsible group,” and several members fled to Israel.
Yet, despite the F.B.I.’s promises to continue the investigation, decades passed without a suspect being identified, and Odeh’s family mostly stopped expecting to ever learned who killed him. (Last year, on the 40th anniversary of Odeh’s death, the F.B.I. released a statement seeking information from the public on the case.)
That story is told early in “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” But the film soon pivots to the Israeli investigative journalist David Sheen as he takes up the story. He quickly finds information online that leads him to the whereabouts of the men who fled to Israel, information that investigators had said was unavailable, which makes him question why the case has not been solved before now.
And by making use of news footage, older video shot at fund-raising events and fresh interviews, the filmmakers trace both Sheen’s investigation and the broader strokes of right-wing activism and conflict in the West Bank since the 1980s. Some scenes are shocking, like hard-right leaders talking with Sheen and the filmmakers about supporting violence.
There’s a lot crammed into this movie, which makes it feel a bit haphazard at times. Perhaps more important, the focus on Odeh’s death somewhat eclipses his life: We hear briefly about his work, but it seems as if there’s a lot more that could have been explored, creating an added layer of emotional stakes for the viewer.
But there’s a lot to admire here, too. “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” is revealing, and by centering the story on Odeh’s death, it keeps human emotion at the core of the mystery. The film’s refusal to fall into easy true-crime tropes or seek a definitive answer shows just how difficult it has been for his family to feel peace. And the questions it raises — about why the case has been left unsolved for so long and about what it all means — are troubling and profoundly urgent.
The film by Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans examines the 1985 pipe-bombing of a Palestinian activist in California, tracing the case to suspects…
www.nytimes.comState report warns Oakland Unified is at high risk of being unable to pay its bills
Review flags deficit spending, inadequate reserves and labor agreements without identified funding. District leaders say recent cuts have improved their finances.
…https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2026/11/02/state-report-warns-oakland-unified-is-at-high-risk-of-being-unable-to-pay-its-bills/
Oakland Unified School District Board of Education during the public comments portion of a meeting in Oakland. (Anda Chu_Bay Area News Group)
.jpeg
Anda Chu — Bay Area News GroupOakland Unified School District Board of Education during the public comments portion of a meeting in Oakland. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Molly Gibbs is a Bay Area News Group reporter.webp
By MOLLY GIBBS | mgibbs@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: November 2, 2026 at 4:28 PM PST | UPDATED: November 2, 2026 at 4:55 PM PST
Oakland Unified School District is at a high risk of fiscal insolvency, according to a state report, despite recent budget cuts and Oakland Unified officials’ assurances of financial progress.
The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), a state agency that helps California schools resolve financial and operational issues began reviewing the district’s financial health risk in August, after Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro expressed concerns over multiple areas of uncertainty related to the district’s finances, leadership and planning.
Castro warned Oakland Unified leaders in the spring that a tentative labor contract — estimated to cost the district nearly $40 million over the next three years — could threaten the district’s ability to balance its budget by the summer and expressed concerns that Oakland Unified was continuing “a pattern of adding new expenses before making the cuts and tradeoffs to afford them.”
The FCMAT released its fiscal health analysis of Oakland Unified last week, which through a series of interviews, data analysis and budget document reviews, determined Oakland Unified is at a high risk of fiscal insolvency — or being unable to meet financial obligations.
Fans And Colleagues Celebrate Patrick Stewart's Lasting Impact As Jean-Luc Picard After His Passing At 86
The report noted the district’s highest-risk areas were leadership turnover, deficit spending, insufficient reserves in case of economic instability, inconsistent budget monitoring and district-approved labor agreements that the agency noted failed to identify a way to pay for.
And, the report said, Oakland Unified leaders continue to promise vague cuts to address a $38 million budget shortfall for the 2026-27 school year, including $78 million in 2026-27 and $72 million in 2027-28, without specifics on what those cuts include.
In a statement Friday, Oakland Unified leaders argued the report failed to capture “the significant actions” the district’s board has taken since filing the budget documents the FCMAT analysis relied on. The agency analysis used the district’s budget report, completed in January, to conduct its fiscal health risk analysis, as well as the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools’ April response.
FCMAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment from this news organization about the district’s claims it used outdated data.
But FCMAT said in the report that the agency used the district’s January financial data because it was the most current financial report at the time. The agency said when feasible, it supplemented responses with subsequent financial information from district budget documents in April, May and June.
Oakland Unified officials said since that January budget report, the board has approved nearly $76 million in budget reductions, including cuts to central office operations, outside contractors and school sites, and plans to identify an additional $41 million in potential reductions in the coming months.
“These decisions have not been easy, but they are necessary. We are committed to making responsible financial decisions, strengthening accountability and ensuring that our public schools remain under local control,” board president Jennifer Brouhard said in a statement to the Oakland Unified community Friday.
The report comes as this week’s election marks Oakland’s first school board election under full local control since the district accepted a $100 million emergency state loan in 2003, which placed it under state oversight for more than two decades.
Three seats on the seven-member school board are up for grabs, with incumbents Brouhard, Mike Hutchinson and Valerie Bachelor running for re-election.
The district also said Friday Oakland Unified is “not alone” in its high risk for insolvency, pointing out that FCMAT named 11 other districts, including San Francisco, Pleasanton and Santa Rosa, as having high risks for fiscal insolvency.
“Across these districts, FCMAT found many of the same pressures: compensation growing faster than revenues, rising special education costs, declining enrollment, and budgets that count on reductions not yet named,” Oakland Unified said in a statement to the community Friday. “That pattern points to the challenge facing public schools across California. Oakland Unified intends to help lead the response.”
The district said it is “in a stronger position” than it was in January and “that progress reflects difficult choices by the Board of Education and staff.” Oakland Unified said the district is “rebuilding the reserves it needs to remain stable,” and still has challenging work ahead.
The report’s findings come as district leaders credited cost-saving measures, including a three-week spending freeze, layoffs and retirement incentives, in January to successfully halving the district’s once-projected $100 million budget deficit.
Six months later, district officials claimed a $30 million spending reduction earlier this year not only resolved the district’s operating deficit, but also produced nearly $8 million in breathing room — dependent on an additional $30 million in budget cuts this fall, however.
That marked an abrupt change in the district’s financial outlook. A year-and-a-half ago, Oakland Unified School District exited more than two decades of state oversight, amid a ballooning $100 million budget shortfall and alarming projections that the district could run out of cash as early as fall 2025.
In the last year, the district has also faced increasing turnover among key leadership positions, which the FCMAT report warned has further contributed to the district’s fiscal instability.
Oakland Unified’s school board is expected to renew a search for a new superintendent this year, after longtime leader Kyla Johnson-Trammell was ousted in the spring of 2025.
The board appointed Denise Saddler, who formerly served as the president of the teachers union, as the interim superintendent last summer and extended her contract in the spring to June 2027.
But since Johnson-Trammell’s departure, other top school officials have stepped down, including Oakland Unified’s top business official, Lisa Grant-Dawson, who resigned at the end of 2025 along with the district’s chief of staff, Dan Bellino. Grant-Dawson cited concerns over the board’s financial decisions as the reason for her departure, while Bellino alluded to “harm done” in a social media post.
The district’s subsequent chief of staff, Lynette McElhaney, resigned in June after six months on the job.
And Oakland Unified’s school board has been rife with political conflict since Johnson-Trammell’s ousting, with tense disagreements over the district’s finances, budget cuts and union contracts.
In a statement Friday, board members Brouhard and Bachelor also expressed concern that releasing the FCMAT report “just days before Election Day could present outdated financial information without the context of the Board’s more recent actions” to voters.
“Our work is not finished,” Brouhard and Bachelor said in a joint statement. “We will continue pursuing a long-term fiscal sustainability plan that reflects Oakland’s values, protects educational opportunities, and ensures that our public schools can serve future generations. Oakland families deserve both excellent public schools and responsible stewardship of public resources. We are committed to delivering both.”
A state fiscal review found Oakland Unified at high risk of insolvency, while district leaders contend the analysis does not fully reflect recent…
www.eastbaytimes.comCertification Of IBT 2026 Election? Corruption, Fascism & Workers Democracy With Marianna Bapttiste
https://youtu.be/1DA3-C4kunI
Teamsters who ran with the national Fearless slate have been threatened and even had their homes
shot at. Marianna Bapttiste who is a union activist and… former leader of UC IBT 2010 at Davis UC talks about why she broke with her local union leader Jason Rabinowitz who was with the union's law firm Beeson, Tayer and Bodine and her and other Teamsters struggle for a democratic election in the Teamsters.
She reports on the flagrant violations of union bylaws and how Sean O'Brien even took funds from the employer Ketches law group that does business with the union to fund his podcast "Better Bad Ideas".
She also discusses how the Teamsters For A Democratic Union helped push for a white ballot to prevent the rank and file members having a national election.
This interview was done on 10/25/26.
Additional Media:
Bullying, Union Democracy & The Fight For Membership Control: Lessons Of Vegas IBT631 Steward Resolution
https://youtu.be/0j20R6eyjg8
CA Teamsters, AI, Union Democracy & Workers Power
https://youtu.be/ShXk-cRxVGg
Cameras At UPS, AI & Infrared Torture With IBT 190 UPS Driver Eric Johnson
https://youtu.be/xkQuUrN4g2E
Teamsters Demand Stop The Torture! Infrared Cameras Out Of Our Cabs NOW!
Teamsters Speak Out On AI In Cal
https://youtu.be/vD3Igqb-Ru8
Teamsters In Southern California Speak Out On AI,The Class Struggle
https://youtu.be/Ld55pZVykKQ
IBT Pres Sean O'Brien Tells Members He Stopped AI & Robots At UPS
https://youtu.be/yBa_2gDRz0Q
UPS Installs On-Truck Surveillance Cameras
https://www.tdu.org/ups_installs_surveillance_cameras
IBT Pres SOB Using AI
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5638970-teamsters-substack-newsletter/
Teamsters, AI, Health & Safety & Union Democracy With IBT 396 Steward Hannibal Agular
https://youtu.be/WN3D4TB1mgM
"Out Of Control" Truckers, AI Robotics, IR Cameras, UPS, & Teamsters With Eric Johnson IBT 190
https://youtu.be/QcsHR2YjZKo
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
https://www.facebook.com/SaveMIPublicSchools/posts/pfbid033wLiHqb2c7GHCkiiDTYjSWEQi258pmdtjmJr2sh6NasgTfm59Dn1b18fkBFGNAN2l
www.labormedia.netCertification Of IBT 2026 Election? Corruption, Fascism & Workers Democracy With Marianna Bapttiste
Labor Rally with TDU EndorsesTeamsters President Sean O'Brien in Westchester County For NY Republican
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtO-BLHKOQ
…https://evanstonroundtable.com/2026/10/31/former-northwestern-chaplain-sues-university-alleging-discrimination-for-her-support-of-palestinians-muslim-students/?utm_content=buffer21630&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwY2xjawVVxOhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR821UINkTU-St8ot5q6bzovvT0_Mnxo0_XhH1jfe5EkkPpO0RiILbR7cMVkKw_aem_fK0KEL_jVj5rXCgW5Wg4TQ
A longtime Muslim chaplain at Northwestern University filed a federal lawsuit this week against the school, alleging it demoted her and singled her…
evanstonroundtable.comLocal Work Actions Disrupt Court Operations
https://mailchi.mp/caliunion.org/cali-update-12934045?e=90accd690f
Local Work Actions Disrupt Court Operations
Reply-To: daniel.navarro.sf@gmail.com
Oakland Interpreters
Disrupt Court Operations
Monday, …November 2, 2026
Across Region 2, staff interpreters are moving forward with selective strikes to protest unfair labor practices and bad faith bargaining. CALI is committed to securing a fair contract with as little disruption as possible for both staff and contract interpreters. Faced with the Region's rigid position on fair pay for staff positions and refusal to set bargaining dates, our labor actions need to continue to get us back to negotiations for an MOU that provides pay parity and professional standards.
On Wednesday, staff interpreters in Oakland held a half-day labor action at Rene C. Davidson and Wiley Manuel courthouses. Strong support from Alameda court staff, attorneys, and contractors from across the Region helped the small contingent of unit members succeed in disrupting court operations.
We'd rather be on the job serving the public. Our actions are necessary to overcome the Region's intransigence. Courts are institutionally committed to getting language access on the cheap but we're being tested by challenges bigger than wages alone. Recent Judicial Council policy changes capping contractor rates and undercutting standards reveal just how deep the lack of respect for our skills runs. For the sake of our livelihoods and the profession, staff and contract interpreters need to meet the moment strong and united.
A sustained, selective campaign of short-notice actions mitigates impacts on interpreters while maximizing disruption to court operations. The stronger these actions are, the sooner we can all get back to the business of interpreting. Without a shift in the Region's current position, broader work stoppages may become necessary, up to and including region-wide strikes. Sacrificing even a half-day's wage is no small thing for staff and contractors alike. We're taking a surgical approach aimed mainly at Spanish interpreters (84% of the bargaining unit), plus other languages with staff interpreters.
That said, support from contractors in languages with no Region 2 employees is also very welcome. If crossing picket lines goes against your principles and you're assigned to a location holding a work action, we'd love to have you join us for a few laps on the picket line! And if you haven't been receiving strike notices, let us know and confirm your contact info so we can add you to the list. Text notifications will come from (510) 906-2258 and (650) 451-0381. Save both numbers to make sure our strike notices don't go to spam.
Out of necessity, our work actions lean heavily on interpreters working in Spanish and other languages with employees. There's no question that crossing a picket line hurts our shared interests and strains relationships. It's equally true that honoring work actions nourishes collegiality with your peers and, in a workplace as heavily unionized as the courts, earns you added respect from scheduling coordinators and other represented staff.
Beyond physical and virtual picket lines, you can support our efforts in other ways too. During Wednesday's action, a judge attempted to recruit Mam interpreters to interpret in Spanish. Fortunately, the attorneys said that was unacceptable. If you are asked to “help out” by interpreting in a language you're not certified in, please REFUSE, even for a continuance! It's enough to say on the record that you're not certified and that doing so would violate your ethical duty.
Court interpreters are a small, highly dispersed workforce in high demand. Intermittent stoppages won't shut down courthouses but they are effective at showing employers that, when we act as one, we punch above our weight. In the days following our Oakland action, reports of chaotic courtrooms, cases continued, and the dismissal of 85 potential jurors represent real operational impacts that damage the court's public image and generate media scrutiny.
We're ready to keep up the pressure. The question is how much more it will take to get the Region back to the table. Show the courts how badly they need us by supporting our work actions!
In Unity!
Region 2 Bargaining Committee
9a72b886-6b9d-56a7-c5f0-44f47696b9a3.png
Print, Post and Distribute this Message
Sign up for CALI Membership!
Website
Instagram
Facebook
791e4915-cd65-d880-dc94-55a0f7fb2256.png
ILWU 10 Leaders Speak Out On Dockers International Day Of Action At Port of Oakland On Oct 30, 2026
Average Lyft driver to get less than $800 in wage-theft settlement
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/technology/average-lyft-driver-to-get-less-than-800-in-wage-theft-settlement/article_bfd0f1af-b100-4ab0-a29c-5c3935ee9544.html
By Troy Wolverton | Examiner staff writer Oct 30, 2026
…Facebook
Twitter
Email
Ride-hail driver John Mejia
Ride-hail driver John Mejia said after Thursday’s court hearing that the amount Lyft would pay to settle a wage-theft claim brought by drivers is inadequate.
By Troy Wolverton | The Examiner
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Print
Copy article link
Save
Lyft drivers will be paid less than $800 each, on average, as part of a planned settlement with the state of a long-running wage-theft case against the ride-hailing company.
That amount — calculated by The Examiner from figures released Thursday at a court hearing in San Francisco Superior Court — is about one-third less than drivers represented by Rideshare Drivers United were previously expecting.
Before the hearing, some 1,900 of those drivers had already objected that the amount Lyft would pay under the settlement agreement was inadequate. They had called on Judge Ethan Schulman, who is overseeing the case, to reject it.
Jeff Turpin, a Santa Cruz resident who said he drove for Lyft until about a year ago, attended the hearing. He criticized state officials for agreeing to the deal.
“The state has a fiduciary duty to uphold the law,” he said. “I don’t think they have.”
Members of Rideshare Drivers United.png
More than a dozen members of Rideshare Drivers United — many of whom had raised objections to the settlement — pose for photos outside the site of Thursday’s hearing.
By Troy Wolverton | The Examiner
In an emailed statement, the California Attorney General’s Office defended the settlement against such criticism from drivers.
“Our office remains confident in this settlement, which secures millions of dollars for drivers who were misclassified,” the statement said.
As part of a deal announced earlier this month, Lyft will pay a record $272.5 million to settle its part of the case, which involved claims filed by the state Attorney General’s Office, the Labor Commissioner’s Office, lawyers representing a pair of Lyft drivers, and the city attorneys of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles.
At the time the settlement was announced, none of the parties involved disclosed how many drivers would be sharing in the settlement.
Nicole Moore, the president of RDU, estimated at the time that it would be about 200,000 drivers.
At the hearing Thursday, San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Molly Alarcon disclosed that 690,000 people drove for Lyft in California between 2016 and 2020, the period covered by the suit.
To reduce administrative costs and to ensure that the settlement primarily benefits drivers who worked for the company on more than a casual basis, the settlement will only go to those who drove at least 80 hours during that four-year period, Alarcon said.
That amounts to 308,000 drivers, she said, who accounted for more than 95% of the hours driven for Lyft during that period and a comparable portion of the miles.
Of those 308,000 drivers, 1,650 had outstanding claims with the Labor Commissioner’s Office at the time the lawsuit was filed, Alarcon said.
Instead of paying the settlement all at once, Lyft is expected to pay it over a four-year period. Assuming it does, it will also incur a $12 million interest charge, upping the total settlement amount to nearly $285 million.
Of that amount, the company will pay $20.4 million to the state as a penalty, about $15 million in fees to the attorneys representing the two drivers in the suit, and about $20,000 each to those two drivers.
That would leave about $249.4 million for all the drivers in the settlement group. But the agreement sets aside $5.4 million — or $3,273 each — for the drivers that had the pending claims with the labor commissioner’s office.
All 308,000 drivers will split the remaining $244 million, giving them each about $792, on average.
Some 1,934 drivers originally filed wage-theft claims against Lyft with the Labor Commissioner’s Office in 2020, according to RDU. Those drivers claimed the San Francisco company collectively owed them $434 million — about $224,400 each.
The amount Lyft would pay in the settlement “is a drop in the bucket” compared to what it owes drivers, said John Mejia, a longtime ride-hail driver and union organizer who attended the hearing.
Jason Munderloh_Lyft Driver_02Oct2026_169.JPG
6ae4e716a1c10.image.jpg
Lyft driver Jason Munderloh (seen earlier this month), who attended the court hearing Thursday, is among those who have objected to the settlement with the company.
Craig Lee/The Examiner
The actual payments to drivers could vary greatly. The payment amounts will be based on the number of miles and hours each person drove during the 2016-20 period.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys said they expect claimants in the bottom 60% in terms of payouts — as well as those who had outstanding claims with the state labor commissioner — will be paid off in the first distribution, about a year after the settlement is finalized, Alarcon said. Other drivers will also get partial payments then.
Drivers in the bottom 60% to 90% of payouts will be fully paid off in the second distribution, about 18 months after the first one, she said.
The top 10% will also receive payments in that distribution, but won’t be fully paid out until the third distribution, which will come at the end of Lyft’s four-year payment period, she said.
The case is an outgrowth of a yearslong battle over whether ride-hail drivers should be considered employees of Uber and Lyft, or independent contractors.
A court decision in 2018 effectively determined that drivers were employees, but Proposition 22 — passed by voters two years later — reclassified them as contractors.
…https://ed.stanford.edu/news/school-closures-intensify-gentrification-black-neighborhoods-nationwide-stanford-study-finds?utm_id=97757_v0_s00_e0_tv2_a1dennhbhx2t9l&fbclid=IwY2xjawVTYS5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR-vTgGmq_ZtC-ZcqCQuhoE2en-RuhznPH1jBc2qGfHKdS_5el4eqSxcx5qUeA_aem_PyLm5z2bd9k7BimO79UjJA
An analysis of census and school closure data finds that shuttering schools increases gentrification – but only in predominantly Black communities.
ed.stanford.eduHow Millions Rallied In Brazil For Lula & Lessons For US Working Class With Fabio Bosco
Global Day Of Dockers Action Against Genocide, War & Attacks On Working Class
Union behind California billionaire tax hit by strike from own campaign staff, days before vote
SEIU-UHW led the signature drive to get the California wealth tax on the ballot. Days before the election, its Prop. 40 campaign is affected by its own field organizers’ strike.
…https://missionlocal.org/2026/10/billionaire-tax-prop-40-wealth-seiu-uhw/
Head-and-shoulders portrait of a person with short curly hair against a blurred outdoor background.
by BRANDON PHO
October 29, 2026, 11:31 am
Share
A group of healthcare workers holding blue “Union Values” signs stand in a line on a sidewalk outside a United Healthcare Workers-West office.
A group of people picketing outside the SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West office just days before polls close on the California billionaire tax measure, Prop. 40.
In a flash of irony and just days before polls close on Proposition 40, the so-called “billionaire tax,” 230 organizers and political workers for SEIU-UHW — the California union that got the measure on the ballot — have gone on strike against their own union.
In doing so, they’ve stopped all Prop. 40 campaign work.
Demonstrations are happening now at SEIU-UHW’s offices in Oakland, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego. SEIU-UHW represents 130,000 healthcare workers — with one of the highest concentrations of them in San Francisco — at hospitals, clinics and dialysis centers across the state.
SEIU-UHW workers have their own union, SWU Local 2599, to negotiate pay and working conditions with their bosses at SEIU-UHW.
As a result of the strike, workers who were phone-banking and precinct-walking for Prop. 40 are now on the picket line, and are dealing a blow to Prop. 40’s momentum this last push before polls close on Tuesday.
SEIU-UHW management has no one to blame but themselves, said Wilson Saiki, a picketing union field organizer who represents technical healthcare staff at Kaiser San Francisco.
Bright Minds |300×250 | Oct. 2026 Refresh.jpeg
“We should all be focused on the Prop. 40 campaign and doing our best to pass it, and here we are striking, not doing our work, because management refuses to bargain in good faith,” Saiki added. “This is the most important week for our election and SEIU-UHW forced us to be out here on strike.”
SEIU-UHW leaders said they “respect and acknowledge” the rights of their workers to go on strike.
“A portion of SEIU-UHW staff are exercising those rights today in light of the current collective bargaining process not yet being fully resolved, and we look forward to resuming bargaining shortly to bring full resolution to the process,” said union spokesperson Renée Saldaña.
“The work to pass Prop 40 continues through the massive and growing Billionaire Tax Now coalition, which includes hundreds of groups across California.”
The striking union staff say they’ve gone two weeks without a labor agreement with SEIU. The sticking point: Staff are pushing for 5% raises every year for the duration of a new four-year contract, and SEIU management have only agreed to a 3% floor at this point.
Picketers said they’ve had nine official bargaining sessions with SEIU-UHW, but that there’s been little progress with the union staff’s demands.
“We feel we are being disrespected. You would expect unions to do better on labor negotiations with their own staff,” Saiki said. “But when they are the managers, just like any employer, it’s the same dismissiveness.”
SEIU-UHW workers are still committed to trying to pass Prop. 40, said Doug Jones, a political organizer with SEIU-UHW, over the phone from the picket line in Oakland.
“We voluntarily went out and collected signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot when billionaires made it very difficult for us,” he said.
Prop. 40 would levy a one-time, 5% tax on an estimated 200 billionaires who lived in California on Jan. 1, 2026. Most of the money would be spent on health care, filling a $30 billion shortfall in Medi-Cal due to federal cuts after H.R. 1, President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Discover a preschool where children feel supported, inspired, and excited to learn. Our nurturing teachers, engaging academics, and performing arts program help children build confidence, creativity, and a lifelong love of learning.
Aside from the union behind the measure, the wealth tax has been supported by the California Democratic Party, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
It’s also faced significant opposition. San Francisco’s local Democratic Party chapter notably altered its bylaws to break with the state party and oppose the measure, and a group of the state’s billionaires have raised upward of $293 million so far against it.
Global Day Of Action & Docks In Trieste As Action Against Genocide,Wars & Attacks On Working Class
At 10/30 Action At Port Of Oakland, ILWU10 Retired Sec of Treas. Clarence Thomas On Genocide & War
ILWU 10 & 34, Supporters Rally Against Genocide, Wars & Attacks On Working Class At Oakland Port
SFSU UAW 4123 & CSUUE Workers Speak Out About Their Demands At SF State Rally To Support A Strike
https://youtu.be/yxueXCi-lKk
SFSU UAW 4123 & CSUUE Workers Speak Out About Their Demands At SF State Rally To Support A Strike
Unionized Workers at CSU San Francisco rallied on …10/29/26 and members of UAW 4123 and CSUEU talked
about their strike demands. They said they are unable to survive on their wages and want the CSU Chancellor
and managers to provide living wages.
Additional Media:
"Get Ready To Strike"! SF State CFA, UAW, IBT, CSUE & APC Members Fed Up With President, Chancellor & Bosses
https://youtu.be/VhvYio_a6WM
Enough Is Enough! SFSU Students Staff & Faculty Protest Newsom's Cuts & Rally At SF City Hall
https://youtu.be/lcefQeZMzb0
California Faculty Association, Student Union protests from SFSU to City Hall
https://goldengatexpress.org/111396/campus/california-faculty-association-student-union-protests-from-sfsu-to-city-hall/#:~:text=On%20Thursday%2C%20a%20protest%20spanningPalestine%20and%20the%20LGBTQ%2B%20community.
It's Game Time! The Fight Against Destruction of SFSU & Public Education
https://youtu.be/sJbPOQTMPnI
SFSU Rally At Malcom X Plaza On The Fight To Defend Public Education & Fight Against Fascism
https://youtu.be/8TjRqSzp5y8
SF State Speak Out On National Day Of Action To Defend Higher Education
https://youtu.be/ypmfO4KQDns
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
