Unions

The University of California's Board of Regents voted overwhelmingly Thursday to push most professors and staff members into furlough days that would reduce their salaries 4% to 10% for the year starting Sept. 1. The controversial furlough plan would affect about 140,000 part- and full-time employees at UC's 10 campuses and many satellite facilities. Meeting in San Francisco, the regents voted 20 to 1 for the furloughs, which they said were needed as a way to avoid layoffs during the current state budget crisis.

Re "Labor's lackey," Opinion, Oct. 7 Is Matthew Continetti joking? I am more than willing to pay a few cents or dollars more for products and services if it means Americans are working and producing products and therefore able to afford to buy a house and send their children to college -- thus stimulating the economy in a real way. The key? Paying people a union wage. Employers are not going to offer a livable wage unless they have to. Business has become all about profit at the expense of the worker (hence all the factories moving overseas and the sweatshops operating under the table)

Teacher evaluations: An article in some editions of Sunday's Section A about evaluating teacher performance reported that the San Diego teachers unions spent nearly $400,000 in this fall's school board elections. The elections were held in 2008.

Teacher evaluations: An article in some editions of the Oct. 18 Section A about evaluating teacher performance reported that the San Diego teachers unions spent nearly $400,000 in this fall's school board elections. The elections were held in 2008.

A judge has ruled that the Santa Barbara News-Press committed flagrant violations of federal labor laws when it fired eight journalists for engaging in union activities, and he ordered that the newspaper rehire the former employees. Evidence presented during a 17-day hearing last summer shows "the News-Press' widespread, general disregard for the fundamental rights of the employees," Administrative Law Judge William G. Kocol wrote in a 75-page decision issued last week.

The tight race between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has opened surprisingly deep and bitter divisions in the ranks of organized labor, as rival union leaders fly planeloads of last-minute volunteers into key states, accuse each other of trying to disenfranchise members, and even launch open attacks on rival Democratic candidates.

When Sen. Barack Obama campaigned in Nevada two weeks ago, he scored what his campaign described as a political coup: the backing of Maria Elena Durazo, the head of the powerful 800,000-member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. But while the endorsement gave a psychological boost to Obama, it created some blowback for Durazo, considered Southern California's leading voice on labor issues.

Recorded phone calls to voters that falsely imply the Santa Ana teachers union supports a ballot measure extending City Council term limits are "dirty tricks," the union president said Friday. In addition, the recording does not identify who is paying for the call, a violation of state law. Measure D, heavily funded by developers and businesses, would extend City Council members' terms from eight to 12 years.

Re "Tribal pacts no quick fix," Feb. 1 The Agua Caliente, Morongo, Pechanga and Sycuan tribes are spending loads of money to convince us that it is in our interests to vote for Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97. The tribal leaders are playing on our emotions about how these gambling agreements will help ease the state budget deficit and benefit the tribal communities. I could sincerely support these agreements if the tribal leaders showed compassion for the many workers who have tried to organize unions in the casinos.

Contract negotiations are seldom easy, but this could be a new low. Talks between Disney and one of the resort's biggest unions are stalled for an unlikely reason: The parties have spent two months trying to agree on a meeting place. Union leaders believe that rancor over a dispute about housing for workers in the Anaheim Resort District has spilled into talks between Walt Disney Co. and employees at three Disney hotels.