We examine worker safety, workplace regulation, employment trends and union organizing.
Caltrain Scrapped a $1.4M Consultant Contract. Then Came the Uproar
San José at a Stalemate With Its Largest City Employee Union
Oakland Airport Skycap Says Workplace Injury Left Her Homeless
A Lifeline for California’s Small Farms Just Expired. What Comes Next?
Newsom Promised to Help Californians Build New Careers. Now, the Money Is Running Out
CSU Workers Disrupt Bargaining at San Francisco State as Contract Deadline Looms
Court Orders National Parks Signage, Including at Muir Woods, to Be Restored
What Do California’s Recent College Grads Think About AI?
Trump Transit Secretary Rescinds Key Civil Rights Law Once Used to Challenge BART Project
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"content": "\u003cp>Earlier this week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/caltrain\">Caltrain \u003c/a>came under fire for a one-year contract worth up to $1.4 million that drew scrutiny over how much it paid a single interim leader. But the agency said it had already canceled the contract before the controversy, opting instead to bring the longtime consultant on as a full-time employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the episode landed at a particularly sensitive moment for Caltrain, which has faced months of questions over its consultant spending while staring into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070685/campaign-to-avert-bay-area-public-transit-death-spiral-gets-underway\">a budget gap of up to $75 million \u003c/a>and asking voters to approve a regional sales tax this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherry Bullock, who has led several of Caltrain’s biggest capital projects, moved into a newly consolidated executive role on June 1 at a base salary of $377,000, spokesperson Dan Lieberman said. The agency is closing out the consulting arrangement, under which about $245,000 had been paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The job — Deputy Executive Director, Project Delivery and Caltrain Modernization — merges two former chief-level positions, chief of design and construction and chief of modernization, into one post overseeing Caltrain’s more than $10 billion capital program. Bullock’s responsibilities are “largely consistent” with what she was already doing as an interim consultant, but the difference is that the agency now holds that expertise in-house, Lieberman said. The consolidation will save more than $400,000 a year, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lieberman rejected any link between the move and the recent attention from \u003ca href=\"https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/caltrain-pays-1-4m-for-deputy-leader-over-three-times-top-paid-executive-director-s/article_081a36cc-9f50-445b-8e39-71a1c07aa013.html\">local news outlets\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any suggestion that this decision was made in response to recent scrutiny reflects an inaccurate timeline,” he said, adding that Caltrain decided nearly a year ago to combine the two roles and posted the deputy job in October 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076190\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076190\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Caltrain’s electric trains, which may offer BART users a way to go around the Bay in the event of a Transbay Tube shutdown. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caltrain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He cast the shift as part of a broader effort to lean less on outside consultants and to “grow long-term in-house technical knowledge,” and said Caltrain’s professional-services budget will fall to $8 million in fiscal 2027 from $10.2 million in fiscal 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bullock’s pay first drew attention after public records showed she earned more than $800,000 in 2025 across a series of interim roles. In April, with the deputy job still open, Caltrain kept her on under a contract amendment worth up to $1.4 million. Less than two months later, she took the permanent job. In her first year, she is also eligible for, but not guaranteed, a $20,000 performance bonus at six, 12 and 18 months, Lieberman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consultants are common at transit agencies and can cost less than employees because the agency avoids pensions, healthcare benefits and other long-term costs.[aside postID=news_12084766 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00197_TV-KQED.jpg']Those savings tend to necessitate, for time-limited, competitive bids for project work. Critics say Bullock has effectively held senior leadership at the agency for close to two decades, largely as a consultant, and that several of her engagements were not competitively bid — a characterization that Caltrain disputes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Audrey Brook, Caltrain’s former director of capital program delivery, wrote in a November letter to the agency’s board that Caltrain had “paid consultant rates for nearly 18 years for the same leadership.” She wrote that the agency filled the role she reported to “through a closed, non-competitive process that bypassed HR policy,” and warned that such actions “waste public money and erode trust among both staff and taxpayers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brook has also sued Caltrain and its governing board, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. Her petition, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court in January, asked a judge to order a hearing over what she said was her forced departure, and levels separate allegations against Bullock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lieberman said Caltrain “conducted an open and competitive recruitment” for the deputy job that drew more than 50 applicants and included interviewers from outside agencies. He said the agency has denied Brook’s claims and “will vigorously defend itself,” but declined to say more, citing the pending case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081648\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transit riders walk through the Caltrain station on King Street and Fourth Street in San Francisco on April 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a written response to KQED, Bullock defended both her hiring and her consulting record. She said she agrees “wholeheartedly” that long-term leadership roles should be filled competitively — and that the deputy job, through what she called “a thorough and extensive public recruitment,” put her before three interview panels totaling 11 people, including senior leaders from partner agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Her earlier consulting work, she said, ran through Caltrain’s standard work-directive process, with annual renewals authorized only after review. “Delivering positive results and outcomes for Caltrain is a pre-requisite of any continuous consultant service,” Bullock wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrain, like other local public transit agencies, has struggled financially since the pandemic upended commuting, even as ridership rebounds — the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081663/the-ohtani-effect-and-more-whats-behind-bay-area-transits-comeback\"> agency reported a 33% jump in riders in March\u003c/a>, among its strongest months since 2020. In November, voters across five counties will decide on the sales tax Caltrain said it needs to avoid cutting weekend and evening service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Earlier this week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/caltrain\">Caltrain \u003c/a>came under fire for a one-year contract worth up to $1.4 million that drew scrutiny over how much it paid a single interim leader. But the agency said it had already canceled the contract before the controversy, opting instead to bring the longtime consultant on as a full-time employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the episode landed at a particularly sensitive moment for Caltrain, which has faced months of questions over its consultant spending while staring into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070685/campaign-to-avert-bay-area-public-transit-death-spiral-gets-underway\">a budget gap of up to $75 million \u003c/a>and asking voters to approve a regional sales tax this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherry Bullock, who has led several of Caltrain’s biggest capital projects, moved into a newly consolidated executive role on June 1 at a base salary of $377,000, spokesperson Dan Lieberman said. The agency is closing out the consulting arrangement, under which about $245,000 had been paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The job — Deputy Executive Director, Project Delivery and Caltrain Modernization — merges two former chief-level positions, chief of design and construction and chief of modernization, into one post overseeing Caltrain’s more than $10 billion capital program. Bullock’s responsibilities are “largely consistent” with what she was already doing as an interim consultant, but the difference is that the agency now holds that expertise in-house, Lieberman said. The consolidation will save more than $400,000 a year, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lieberman rejected any link between the move and the recent attention from \u003ca href=\"https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/caltrain-pays-1-4m-for-deputy-leader-over-three-times-top-paid-executive-director-s/article_081a36cc-9f50-445b-8e39-71a1c07aa013.html\">local news outlets\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any suggestion that this decision was made in response to recent scrutiny reflects an inaccurate timeline,” he said, adding that Caltrain decided nearly a year ago to combine the two roles and posted the deputy job in October 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076190\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076190\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/3W0A6625-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Caltrain’s electric trains, which may offer BART users a way to go around the Bay in the event of a Transbay Tube shutdown. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caltrain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He cast the shift as part of a broader effort to lean less on outside consultants and to “grow long-term in-house technical knowledge,” and said Caltrain’s professional-services budget will fall to $8 million in fiscal 2027 from $10.2 million in fiscal 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bullock’s pay first drew attention after public records showed she earned more than $800,000 in 2025 across a series of interim roles. In April, with the deputy job still open, Caltrain kept her on under a contract amendment worth up to $1.4 million. Less than two months later, she took the permanent job. In her first year, she is also eligible for, but not guaranteed, a $20,000 performance bonus at six, 12 and 18 months, Lieberman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consultants are common at transit agencies and can cost less than employees because the agency avoids pensions, healthcare benefits and other long-term costs.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Those savings tend to necessitate, for time-limited, competitive bids for project work. Critics say Bullock has effectively held senior leadership at the agency for close to two decades, largely as a consultant, and that several of her engagements were not competitively bid — a characterization that Caltrain disputes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Audrey Brook, Caltrain’s former director of capital program delivery, wrote in a November letter to the agency’s board that Caltrain had “paid consultant rates for nearly 18 years for the same leadership.” She wrote that the agency filled the role she reported to “through a closed, non-competitive process that bypassed HR policy,” and warned that such actions “waste public money and erode trust among both staff and taxpayers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brook has also sued Caltrain and its governing board, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. Her petition, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court in January, asked a judge to order a hearing over what she said was her forced departure, and levels separate allegations against Bullock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lieberman said Caltrain “conducted an open and competitive recruitment” for the deputy job that drew more than 50 applicants and included interviewers from outside agencies. He said the agency has denied Brook’s claims and “will vigorously defend itself,” but declined to say more, citing the pending case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081648\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-TRANSITRIDERSHIPREBOUND00494_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transit riders walk through the Caltrain station on King Street and Fourth Street in San Francisco on April 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a written response to KQED, Bullock defended both her hiring and her consulting record. She said she agrees “wholeheartedly” that long-term leadership roles should be filled competitively — and that the deputy job, through what she called “a thorough and extensive public recruitment,” put her before three interview panels totaling 11 people, including senior leaders from partner agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Her earlier consulting work, she said, ran through Caltrain’s standard work-directive process, with annual renewals authorized only after review. “Delivering positive results and outcomes for Caltrain is a pre-requisite of any continuous consultant service,” Bullock wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrain, like other local public transit agencies, has struggled financially since the pandemic upended commuting, even as ridership rebounds — the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081663/the-ohtani-effect-and-more-whats-behind-bay-area-transits-comeback\"> agency reported a 33% jump in riders in March\u003c/a>, among its strongest months since 2020. In November, voters across five counties will decide on the sales tax Caltrain said it needs to avoid cutting weekend and evening service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-jose-at-a-stalemate-with-its-largest-city-employee-union",
"title": "San José at a Stalemate With Its Largest City Employee Union",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a>’s largest public employee union is heading into mediation with the city this week after a bargaining stalemate over pay raises that could push workers toward a strike vote if it’s not resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Municipal Employees’ Federation, AFSCME Local 101 (MEF), whose members include librarians, code inspectors and city planners, is scheduled to meet with the city and a state mediator from the Public Employment Relations Board on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate union representing engineers, architects and other supervisors — the City Association of Management Personnel, IFPTE, Local 21 — will begin mediation with the city on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just three years after disagreements over pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958216/san-jose-city-worker-strike-on-hold-after-agreement\">nearly led\u003c/a> to a historic work stoppage, contracts with the unions representing more than 3,000 city workers expired on June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials contend that with ongoing budget deficits, they are unable to offer more than a 3% annual raise in each of the next three fiscal years — an increase union leaders argue would leave workers unable to keep pace with the rising cost of living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We tried to put across proposals that were reasonable but also recognized that it’s an expensive place to live in the Bay Area,” said Charles Allen, union representative for MEF. “The costs that city employees incur — increased gas prices, increased food prices, just generally increases all around — were not really addressed by the city’s proposal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Julian Street and Notre Dame Avenue in downtown San José was still blocked off on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>MEF and IFPTE countered the city’s offer with a proposed wage hike of 4% in the current fiscal year, followed by 4.5% in 2027-28 and 5.5% in 2028-29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen said his union’s members have not yet taken a vote to authorize a potential strike, but are discussing the possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We obviously remain optimistic that mediation might be able to get us to where we need to be, but at this point we’re out of contract,” he said. “Once we’ve gone through the process, then the membership does have the ability to take a strike vote and in fact go on strike.”[aside postID=news_12087836 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_003-KQED.jpg']A work stoppage could limit library services, summer activities and permit processing in a city that is already one of the most thinly staffed in California. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/23/5-charts-that-show-how-california-cities-spent-37-billion-on-public-employees-last-year/\">\u003cem>Mercury News\u003c/em> analysis\u003c/a> in 2024 found San José has 112 residents per city employee; among California’s 10 largest cities, only Bakersfield has a lower staffing ratio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan said the city has little flexibility to offer higher wages after recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12086842/san-jose-city-budget-new-immigrant-funding-cuts-reserve-spending\">approving a budget\u003c/a> that closed a $50.3 million shortfall by tapping reserves and cutting more than a dozen positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City budget analysts are projecting an ongoing shortfall of $26.8 million in 2027-28 and $11.8 million in 2028-29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city is offering a fair deal,” Mahan said. “To go any higher than a 3% raise over the next three years, we would have to make significant service cuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While negotiations are being led by the Office of Employee Relations, which reports to the city manager, any tentative agreement will need to be approved by the City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Mahan was the lone vote on the council against new contracts for MEF and IFPTE — arguing that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958290/san-jose-city-council-approves-agreements-with-unions-to-avoid-strike\">wage hikes\u003c/a> of 14.5% over three years \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960949/san-jose-city-council-approves-budget-trims-to-fund-worker-raises\">were beyond\u003c/a> what the city could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049894\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049894\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a July 25, 2025 press conference in North San José about a partnership with PG&E intended to attract more data center development to the city. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think the council has just been through a difficult budget cycle where some of the members of the council were expressing a little bit of regret in private over deals that I pointed out three years ago were likely to set us up for service cuts,” Mahan said. “To do that again in this moment would be a mistake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond wages, the unions and city remain apart on the use of artificial intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under an MEF proposal submitted in March, the city would be barred from using technological systems “for the purpose of eliminating bargaining unit work” and from using AI “for new programs, positions or functions that could replace future new bargaining unit positions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s counterproposal offered the consideration of training and reassignment prior to layoffs, in cases “where artificial intelligence will result in workforce reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The city will enter mediation with unions representing librarians, code inspectors and architects after two labor contracts expired. Without a deal, the unions could take a strike vote.",
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"title": "San José at a Stalemate With Its Largest City Employee Union | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a>’s largest public employee union is heading into mediation with the city this week after a bargaining stalemate over pay raises that could push workers toward a strike vote if it’s not resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Municipal Employees’ Federation, AFSCME Local 101 (MEF), whose members include librarians, code inspectors and city planners, is scheduled to meet with the city and a state mediator from the Public Employment Relations Board on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A separate union representing engineers, architects and other supervisors — the City Association of Management Personnel, IFPTE, Local 21 — will begin mediation with the city on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just three years after disagreements over pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958216/san-jose-city-worker-strike-on-hold-after-agreement\">nearly led\u003c/a> to a historic work stoppage, contracts with the unions representing more than 3,000 city workers expired on June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials contend that with ongoing budget deficits, they are unable to offer more than a 3% annual raise in each of the next three fiscal years — an increase union leaders argue would leave workers unable to keep pace with the rising cost of living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We tried to put across proposals that were reasonable but also recognized that it’s an expensive place to live in the Bay Area,” said Charles Allen, union representative for MEF. “The costs that city employees incur — increased gas prices, increased food prices, just generally increases all around — were not really addressed by the city’s proposal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Julian Street and Notre Dame Avenue in downtown San José was still blocked off on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>MEF and IFPTE countered the city’s offer with a proposed wage hike of 4% in the current fiscal year, followed by 4.5% in 2027-28 and 5.5% in 2028-29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen said his union’s members have not yet taken a vote to authorize a potential strike, but are discussing the possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We obviously remain optimistic that mediation might be able to get us to where we need to be, but at this point we’re out of contract,” he said. “Once we’ve gone through the process, then the membership does have the ability to take a strike vote and in fact go on strike.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A work stoppage could limit library services, summer activities and permit processing in a city that is already one of the most thinly staffed in California. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/08/23/5-charts-that-show-how-california-cities-spent-37-billion-on-public-employees-last-year/\">\u003cem>Mercury News\u003c/em> analysis\u003c/a> in 2024 found San José has 112 residents per city employee; among California’s 10 largest cities, only Bakersfield has a lower staffing ratio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan said the city has little flexibility to offer higher wages after recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12086842/san-jose-city-budget-new-immigrant-funding-cuts-reserve-spending\">approving a budget\u003c/a> that closed a $50.3 million shortfall by tapping reserves and cutting more than a dozen positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City budget analysts are projecting an ongoing shortfall of $26.8 million in 2027-28 and $11.8 million in 2028-29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city is offering a fair deal,” Mahan said. “To go any higher than a 3% raise over the next three years, we would have to make significant service cuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While negotiations are being led by the Office of Employee Relations, which reports to the city manager, any tentative agreement will need to be approved by the City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Mahan was the lone vote on the council against new contracts for MEF and IFPTE — arguing that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958290/san-jose-city-council-approves-agreements-with-unions-to-avoid-strike\">wage hikes\u003c/a> of 14.5% over three years \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960949/san-jose-city-council-approves-budget-trims-to-fund-worker-raises\">were beyond\u003c/a> what the city could afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12049894\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12049894\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250725-SJPOWER-JG-8_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a July 25, 2025 press conference in North San José about a partnership with PG&E intended to attract more data center development to the city. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think the council has just been through a difficult budget cycle where some of the members of the council were expressing a little bit of regret in private over deals that I pointed out three years ago were likely to set us up for service cuts,” Mahan said. “To do that again in this moment would be a mistake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond wages, the unions and city remain apart on the use of artificial intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under an MEF proposal submitted in March, the city would be barred from using technological systems “for the purpose of eliminating bargaining unit work” and from using AI “for new programs, positions or functions that could replace future new bargaining unit positions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s counterproposal offered the consideration of training and reassignment prior to layoffs, in cases “where artificial intelligence will result in workforce reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-airport-skycap-says-workplace-injury-left-her-homeless",
"title": "Oakland Airport Skycap Says Workplace Injury Left Her Homeless",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Airport Skycap Says Workplace Injury Left Her Homeless | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>On the morning of Jan. 1, 2025, Oakland airport skycap Keiana Vernon collapsed while helping passengers check luggage outside Terminal 2. Coworkers rushed to lift her to her feet, but she could barely walk. Pain radiated from the right side of her body, where she said she felt the impact most. Her supervisors were alerted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was in excruciating pain,” Vernon, 47, said. “It was very painful to walk on my leg because I lost a lot of movement in my right leg. And that’s what’s bothering me to this day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident and her employer’s response became a turning point that unraveled her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The once-active Oakland native now spends her days in a wheelchair, living at an Alameda County skilled nursing facility with no income. Vernon blames her employer, Prospect Airport Services, for allegedly failing to follow California’s requirements for responding to workplace injuries. As weeks passed without her returning to work, Vernon’s job was terminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s workers’ compensation system is intended to ensure employees injured on the job quickly receive medical care while claims are investigated. Benefits may also include partial wage replacement during recovery. But interviews with Vernon, several coworkers and a former supervisor suggest those protections may have broken down in her case, illustrating how workers can fall through the system’s cracks with devastating financial and medical consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vernon lost her housing, car and life’s savings after 22 years of working for airline services contractors at the Oakland airport, she said, including five years as a Prospect employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unfair. I needed a lot of help throughout the process, and I felt like they failed me. I didn’t know where to begin as far as medical coverage, how to seek any type of support,” Vernon said. “I hit rock bottom. I became homeless because of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087350\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12087350 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keiana Vernon holds a photo of herself at work at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport on her phone outside Fairmont Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most California employers are responsible for arranging prompt medical attention for a work-related injury. State law also required the company to give Vernon a workers’ compensation claim form within a day and report the incident to its insurance company within five days, both critical steps to beginning the benefits process. None of that happened, according to Vernon and a former supervisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Vernon said her manager, Salesh Prasad, told her to go home shortly after her fall. He directed a coworker to drive her to the airport employee parking lot, where she was left alone in her car, with no clear guidance about medical care. She tried contacting Prasad in the days that followed, but he became unresponsive, she said, finally asking her to turn in her security badge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attempts to reach Prospect Airport Services were unsuccessful. Unifi Aviation, which owns Prospect, declined several requests for comment. Unifi, North America’s largest provider of aviation services, operates at more than 240 airports. The Atlanta-based\u003ca href=\"https://www.carlyle.com/media-room/news-release-archive/carlyle-announces-strategic-financing-unifi-aviation\"> company\u003c/a>, which generates about $2 billion in revenue, is a subsidiary of the privately held Argenbright Holdings, its majority owner, and Delta Air Lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Southwest Airlines, which contracts with Prospect at OAK, deferred questions to the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to labor experts, the chain of contractors servicing airlines incentivizes cost-cutting, leaving low-wage workers who push passengers in wheelchairs, clean airplane cabins and handle baggage with eroded benefits and job conditions, particularly if they are not unionized, as is the case with Prospect’s Oakland baggage handlers.[aside postID=news_12084053 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/ELEAZAR-RESENDIZ-CORTES-KQED-LEOPO-2026-1438-KQED.jpg']It’s unclear whether the company’s alleged failure to respond to Vernon’s injury as required by law was an isolated incident or part of a broader pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Failures to follow workers’ compensation laws are often the result of employers not properly training or overseeing their managers, said Jason Marcus, former president of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association, whose members represent injured workers in the workers’ compensation system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve certainly seen my fair share of what we kind of refer to as horror stories,” said Marcus, who has nearly two decades of experience. “Somebody gets hurt, suffers a serious injury, and is kind of left to their own devices without any real help or guidance from their employer. And that’s just not how it’s supposed to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time Nicole Owens visited Vernon at her home in March, she was dismayed to find her long-time friend mostly immobile, in pain and depressed. The last time the pair — who refer to each other as sisters — had seen each other was in September 2024, when they’d danced together at the Oakland Arena during an Usher show, Vernon’s favorite performer, Owens said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was very shocking, I’ll be honest with you, because I’m used to my sister working two jobs and being very mobile, full of life, always moving around,” said Owens, 48, a program manager at PG&E. “So to see her in this state, it was just very disheartening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Owens said that, after calling Prospect three times without receiving a response, she helped Vernon, who is estranged from relatives, find medical help. Doctors at Alameda Health System have since diagnosed Vernon with a nerve disorder, chronic bilateral low back pain and right-sided sciatica. At the Fairmont Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, where Vernon has lived for about a year, she continues to take cortisone shots to manage her pain. She remains unable to walk without fearing she will fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Prospect supervisor who was not present at the airport the morning of Vernon’s accident but later checked on her case in the company’s computer system said he found no evidence of an on-the-job injury report, a medical filing, an insurance claim or other paperwork indicating that proper procedures were followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign for the Oakland International Airport hangs above a BART station at the airport in Oakland on April 12, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a complete negligence on the part of the company,” said Alan Norris, a Prospect training supervisor who said he helped Vernon file a formal complaint with Cal/OSHA, which is investigating. “She should have had a good outcome, at least a reasonable outcome. ‘Hey, she got injured, OK, let’s get you the help.’ But no, she was completely ignored, thrown under the bus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Norris was fired earlier this year. He believes he was retaliated against for reporting what he described as a “toxic work environment” to Prospect’s human resources department and Southwest. According to Norris, Vernon and a current employee who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, some Prospect managers allowed favoritism, harassment and other problems to fester at OAK while the company failed to address conduct they described as illegal or incompetent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Prospect agreed to a confidential settlement to resolve a lawsuit by a female dispatcher at the airport who alleged she was wrongly terminated after managers, including Prasad, failed to prevent a supervisor’s sexual harassment, which she claimed began weeks after she was hired, according to KQED’s review of public records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prasad stopped working for Prospect in February, according to his LinkedIn profile. Reached by phone, Prasad confirmed he was no longer working for the company and declined to answer questions about Vernon. “Better contact the company,” he said before hanging up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087349\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087349\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keiana Vernon (center) talks with fellow residents who have become friends outside Fairmont Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro on June 11, 2026. Vernon suffered a workplace injury while working for an airport services contractor and is now living at the long-term care facility after developing chronic injuries and mobility limitations. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In April, Vernon and other airline service contractors at the Oakland airport spoke about safety hazards and other alleged labor law violations before the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners, which oversees the airport. Accompanying the workers were organizers with SEIU-USWW, calling on the Port to adopt policies that the union said would incentivize regulatory compliance by contractors, which operate under agreements with the airlines — not the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said the Port is considering a measure that would affirm workers’ rights to unionize without retaliation, similar to one already in place at the San Francisco International Airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Port requires all contractors and employers operating at the airport to comply with applicable federal, state and local labor laws, but it’s up to separate enforcement agencies to investigate any alleged violations, said Justin Berton, communications director for the Port. The Port, however, is reviewing its tenant labor standards and discussing the airport contractor concerns raised by workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re taking these issues very, very seriously,” Andreas Cluver, president of the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners, told workers during the April 9 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Long-time baggage handler accused her former employer, an OAK airline services contractor, of violating California workers’ compensation laws meant to support those injured on the job. ",
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"title": "Oakland Airport Skycap Says Workplace Injury Left Her Homeless | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On the morning of Jan. 1, 2025, Oakland airport skycap Keiana Vernon collapsed while helping passengers check luggage outside Terminal 2. Coworkers rushed to lift her to her feet, but she could barely walk. Pain radiated from the right side of her body, where she said she felt the impact most. Her supervisors were alerted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was in excruciating pain,” Vernon, 47, said. “It was very painful to walk on my leg because I lost a lot of movement in my right leg. And that’s what’s bothering me to this day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident and her employer’s response became a turning point that unraveled her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The once-active Oakland native now spends her days in a wheelchair, living at an Alameda County skilled nursing facility with no income. Vernon blames her employer, Prospect Airport Services, for allegedly failing to follow California’s requirements for responding to workplace injuries. As weeks passed without her returning to work, Vernon’s job was terminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s workers’ compensation system is intended to ensure employees injured on the job quickly receive medical care while claims are investigated. Benefits may also include partial wage replacement during recovery. But interviews with Vernon, several coworkers and a former supervisor suggest those protections may have broken down in her case, illustrating how workers can fall through the system’s cracks with devastating financial and medical consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vernon lost her housing, car and life’s savings after 22 years of working for airline services contractors at the Oakland airport, she said, including five years as a Prospect employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unfair. I needed a lot of help throughout the process, and I felt like they failed me. I didn’t know where to begin as far as medical coverage, how to seek any type of support,” Vernon said. “I hit rock bottom. I became homeless because of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087350\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12087350 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keiana Vernon holds a photo of herself at work at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport on her phone outside Fairmont Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro on June 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most California employers are responsible for arranging prompt medical attention for a work-related injury. State law also required the company to give Vernon a workers’ compensation claim form within a day and report the incident to its insurance company within five days, both critical steps to beginning the benefits process. None of that happened, according to Vernon and a former supervisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Vernon said her manager, Salesh Prasad, told her to go home shortly after her fall. He directed a coworker to drive her to the airport employee parking lot, where she was left alone in her car, with no clear guidance about medical care. She tried contacting Prasad in the days that followed, but he became unresponsive, she said, finally asking her to turn in her security badge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attempts to reach Prospect Airport Services were unsuccessful. Unifi Aviation, which owns Prospect, declined several requests for comment. Unifi, North America’s largest provider of aviation services, operates at more than 240 airports. The Atlanta-based\u003ca href=\"https://www.carlyle.com/media-room/news-release-archive/carlyle-announces-strategic-financing-unifi-aviation\"> company\u003c/a>, which generates about $2 billion in revenue, is a subsidiary of the privately held Argenbright Holdings, its majority owner, and Delta Air Lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Southwest Airlines, which contracts with Prospect at OAK, deferred questions to the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to labor experts, the chain of contractors servicing airlines incentivizes cost-cutting, leaving low-wage workers who push passengers in wheelchairs, clean airplane cabins and handle baggage with eroded benefits and job conditions, particularly if they are not unionized, as is the case with Prospect’s Oakland baggage handlers.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s unclear whether the company’s alleged failure to respond to Vernon’s injury as required by law was an isolated incident or part of a broader pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Failures to follow workers’ compensation laws are often the result of employers not properly training or overseeing their managers, said Jason Marcus, former president of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association, whose members represent injured workers in the workers’ compensation system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve certainly seen my fair share of what we kind of refer to as horror stories,” said Marcus, who has nearly two decades of experience. “Somebody gets hurt, suffers a serious injury, and is kind of left to their own devices without any real help or guidance from their employer. And that’s just not how it’s supposed to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time Nicole Owens visited Vernon at her home in March, she was dismayed to find her long-time friend mostly immobile, in pain and depressed. The last time the pair — who refer to each other as sisters — had seen each other was in September 2024, when they’d danced together at the Oakland Arena during an Usher show, Vernon’s favorite performer, Owens said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was very shocking, I’ll be honest with you, because I’m used to my sister working two jobs and being very mobile, full of life, always moving around,” said Owens, 48, a program manager at PG&E. “So to see her in this state, it was just very disheartening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Owens said that, after calling Prospect three times without receiving a response, she helped Vernon, who is estranged from relatives, find medical help. Doctors at Alameda Health System have since diagnosed Vernon with a nerve disorder, chronic bilateral low back pain and right-sided sciatica. At the Fairmont Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, where Vernon has lived for about a year, she continues to take cortisone shots to manage her pain. She remains unable to walk without fearing she will fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Prospect supervisor who was not present at the airport the morning of Vernon’s accident but later checked on her case in the company’s computer system said he found no evidence of an on-the-job injury report, a medical filing, an insurance claim or other paperwork indicating that proper procedures were followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/240412-OAKAirport-009-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign for the Oakland International Airport hangs above a BART station at the airport in Oakland on April 12, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a complete negligence on the part of the company,” said Alan Norris, a Prospect training supervisor who said he helped Vernon file a formal complaint with Cal/OSHA, which is investigating. “She should have had a good outcome, at least a reasonable outcome. ‘Hey, she got injured, OK, let’s get you the help.’ But no, she was completely ignored, thrown under the bus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Norris was fired earlier this year. He believes he was retaliated against for reporting what he described as a “toxic work environment” to Prospect’s human resources department and Southwest. According to Norris, Vernon and a current employee who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, some Prospect managers allowed favoritism, harassment and other problems to fester at OAK while the company failed to address conduct they described as illegal or incompetent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Prospect agreed to a confidential settlement to resolve a lawsuit by a female dispatcher at the airport who alleged she was wrongly terminated after managers, including Prasad, failed to prevent a supervisor’s sexual harassment, which she claimed began weeks after she was hired, according to KQED’s review of public records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prasad stopped working for Prospect in February, according to his LinkedIn profile. Reached by phone, Prasad confirmed he was no longer working for the company and declined to answer questions about Vernon. “Better contact the company,” he said before hanging up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087349\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087349\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260611-OAKLANDAIRPORTWORKERS-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keiana Vernon (center) talks with fellow residents who have become friends outside Fairmont Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro on June 11, 2026. Vernon suffered a workplace injury while working for an airport services contractor and is now living at the long-term care facility after developing chronic injuries and mobility limitations. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In April, Vernon and other airline service contractors at the Oakland airport spoke about safety hazards and other alleged labor law violations before the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners, which oversees the airport. Accompanying the workers were organizers with SEIU-USWW, calling on the Port to adopt policies that the union said would incentivize regulatory compliance by contractors, which operate under agreements with the airlines — not the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said the Port is considering a measure that would affirm workers’ rights to unionize without retaliation, similar to one already in place at the San Francisco International Airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Port requires all contractors and employers operating at the airport to comply with applicable federal, state and local labor laws, but it’s up to separate enforcement agencies to investigate any alleged violations, said Justin Berton, communications director for the Port. The Port, however, is reviewing its tenant labor standards and discussing the airport contractor concerns raised by workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re taking these issues very, very seriously,” Andreas Cluver, president of the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners, told workers during the April 9 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "A Lifeline for California’s Small Farms Just Expired. What Comes Next?",
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"content": "\u003cp>For eight years, Angelica Estrada-Bugarin’s life moved with the lettuce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a food safety manager for one of the country’s largest salad producers, she followed the harvest the way thousands of agricultural workers do: spring and summer in California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/salinas\">Salinas\u003c/a> Valley, winter in Yuma, Arizona, as the whole operation shifted south so the crop never stopped growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/merced-county\">Merced County\u003c/a>, Estrada-Bugarin watched her parents buy produce from small farmers and truck it to terminal markets in Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to study managerial economics at UC Davis, learning how big food worked from the inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, she decided to stop moving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I realized I needed to kind of settle down,” Estrada-Bugarin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as she settled, she noticed a problem that kept surfacing: small farmers in the Central Valley — many of them immigrants, many growing without synthetic chemicals — could grow beautiful food but had nowhere reliable to sell it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089197\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089197\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angelica Estrada-Bugarin, founder of Sweet Valley Produce, left, smiles with her mother Maria Elena, right, at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Angelica felt inspired to work in agriculture after growing up watching her parents buy produce from small farmers and distribute it to a larger market. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, Estrada-Bugarin is the founder and president of \u003ca href=\"https://svproduceinc.com/\">Sweet Valley Produce\u003c/a>, a food hub in Merced County that aggregates fruits and vegetables from small regenerative and organic farms and finds them markets. The beauty of her line of work, she said, lies in connecting growers and eaters “without having to go through a lot of steps in the food chain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one year, the program that made that vision work best was a federal one, called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA. It expired for Sweet Valley Produce in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal LFPA helped hundreds of California farms sell millions of pounds of locally grown food to food banks while paying growers full market prices. Now that the Trump administration has ended the program, California farmers fear losing one of their most reliable markets as state leaders weigh whether to keep it alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, lawmakers have proposed extending state funding for LFPA, and the measure sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom, who has publicly opposed the program’s cancellation, has until Tuesday to decide whether California will fund the program on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A box of vegetables, a family fed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>LFPA was born out of the pandemic, when federal money flowed to strengthen local food supply chains. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent funds to states, which used them to buy food from local farmers and route it to hunger-relief programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, the program was called Farms Together, which was run by three nonprofits — the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, or CAFF, Fresh Approach and the California Association of Food Banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Estrada-Bugarin and many other small farms, it worked like this: food banks paid Sweet Valley Produce, which assembled boxes of seven to 12 seasonal items — fruits, vegetables, herbs, plus a monthly value-added product like honey or microgreens — sourced from four or five local farms each.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089203\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089203\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fruit and vegetable stand at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is a farm and produce aggregator in Merced County specializing in growing and distributing sweet potatoes while also supplying fresh produce from local family farms. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The boxes went to the Modesto Salvation Army, which told her that many of the recipients were elderly people who couldn’t easily get to a store by themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without the program, she said, those families mostly received dry goods. “They don’t get the nutrient value of the vegetables and the fruits, especially those that are seasonally and locally available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scale was substantial. By Estrada-Bugarin and CAFF’s accounts, LFPA worked with roughly 870 farms across over 50 California counties and 50 food banks, moving some 23 million pounds of food and more than $60 million in local purchases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet Valley Produce alone held a contract worth more than $800,000 — money to buy from farms across Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno and Madera counties, and most importantly, money remaining rooted in the region. “When the farmer gets paid that money, they go and spend it within our own economy,” she said.[aside postID=news_12087134 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260610_LodiWine_GC-8-KQED.jpg']Nearly two hundred miles northwest, in Sonoma County, Dylan Stein watched the same program reshape a different operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stein is the wholesale manager and a worker-owner at \u003ca href=\"https://www.feedsonoma.com/\">FEED Cooperative\u003c/a>, a Petaluma food hub jointly owned by the farmers who sell through it and the workers who run it. FEED moves produce for a network of about 70 small North Bay farms, many of them 10 acres or less — tiny by California standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2024, it comprised like 25% of our sales,” Stein said of LFPA. “That being there just gave an extra outlet for the farms we work with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of a thriving year for a lot of farms in the North Bay,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Food banks noticed the difference. Pallets that might normally have held russet potatoes instead arrived full of leafy greens and herbs picked the day before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re opening these boxes, and it’s almost like gold light is coming out,” Stein said. “It’s the best quality produce that you can find.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of FEED’s other customers are high-end restaurants, he noted, meaning that the food banks were getting the same thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than charity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The deeper value of LFPA, the growers said, wasn’t just generosity. It was stability — and the price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you pay $3 for a bunch of kale at Sprouts, usually the farmer gets like $1 of that,” Estrada-Bugarin said. “But in this case the money went directly to the farmer, so the farmer got paid $3 a bunch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That cushion also made it possible for some growers to farm without synthetic chemicals. Regenerative practices, or rebuilding soil through crop rotation, hedgerows and minimal inputs, often result in lower yields. But the better price absorbed the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089201\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sweet potatoes rest in a crate at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is based in the Central Valley and specializes in growing and distributing sweet potatoes. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I actually had at least two farmers who were transitioning to organic farming from conventional farming because they were able to be supported through this program,” Estrada-Bugarin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, who previously grew a single crop, used it to start diversifying their fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At FEED, Stein saw similar progress. A grower with a surprise surplus — 80 cases of tomatoes in a year that usually yields 50 — suddenly had somewhere to send the extra load.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over three strong years, farmers accomplished what farm statistics rarely reflect: They expanded. They planted new fields, signed new leases and, in a few cases, bought land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Usually when you’re hearing about farm stats, it’s like farms closing and acreage downgrading,” Stein said. “So these expansions we saw were a huge deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Lavender, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said that combination of economic and human value helped the program win bipartisan support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089200\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089200\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cartons of sweet potatoes await sorting in a warehouse at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Farmers loved it because it improved their viability,” he said. “But they also loved just being able to feed their community on a human level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2025, the second Trump administration terminated the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavender said that the cancellation arrived at the worst possible moment in the agricultural calendar, “just as farmers were purchasing seeds and getting ready for the spring season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stein recalled the whiplash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even contracts that you’re in the middle of are canceled. They stop delivering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After pushback, growers were allowed to finish existing agreements, but the roughly three additional years of funding they had planned around simply evaporated.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Land, labor and belonging\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://caff.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026-CAFF-Policy-Report-English-Final-Single.pdf\">report\u003c/a> from CAFF found that 5% of landowners control half of California’s cropland, and that the market increasingly favors private equity firms and investors buying large parcels. For a small grower hoping to buy 10 or 20 acres, there’s often nothing within that size range to buy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Otherwise, you’re stuck renting,” Estrada-Bugarin said, “and then you’re just in this pattern of renting and never really owning the land that you farm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CAFF also estimates that about 70% of California farmers participating in LFPA identified as socially disadvantaged, a USDA designation for groups that have historically faced barriers to land, credit and federal programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089199\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089199\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The crops of a Laotian farmer, using their harvesting techniques, grow at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is a farm and produce aggregator in Merced County, specializing in growing and distributing sweet potatoes, while also supplying fresh produce from local family farms. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Estrada-Bugarin, the work is deeply personal. As a Mexican American, she grew up hearing that farming was a dead end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were always told, ‘Don’t work in the fields, agriculture is bad, it’s hard work, not well paid.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One story stands out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During last year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043515/more-protests-held-across-southern-california-as-trump-administration-orders-more-national-guard-to-la\">immigration protests\u003c/a> that shut down parts of downtown Los Angeles, a farmer she worked with couldn’t get to his local farmers market for an entire week. He had harvested 80 boxes of plums — and had nowhere to sell them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because LFPA existed, the plums went into food-bank boxes instead of the compost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a very strong example of the power that LFPA had to support us as farmers through these political climates,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns added another obstacle for farmers, Estrada-Bugarin said. Crops went unharvested. Yields and income were lost. She said immigration authorities drove past Sweet Valley Produce at least once. Her employees, although prepared, were rattled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigration reform and the farm bill move on separate tracks in Washington, through different congressional committees, Lavender said, so labor policy can’t simply be written into the bill — even though the two are “deeply linked” in the real world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089202\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089202\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1313\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED-1536x1008.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A farmer tends to their crops at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Estrada-Bugarin sees the gap from the ground. The industry’s long-running answer to labor uncertainty has been automation, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But what happens with that? You’re pushing out the small farmers, because we don’t have the money to have automation either,” said Estrada-Bugarin, who would rather see programs such as the H-2A agricultural visa become easier for farmers to use. “How to make it more accessible, or how to make it work better for all of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now she’s trying to convince the next generation that there are viable careers in agriculture. The community that Estrada-Bugarin has built reflects that ambition. The growers she works with are Hindu, Laotian, Indian, Mennonite and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This whole business is centered around relationship building,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a first-generation American, she had to build those relationships from scratch, without the established networks that others inherit, the same way her parents farmed on passion without the language or the technology to keep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Farm bill uncertainty looms\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For now, the future of California’s small farms may depend as much on Sacramento as it does Washington. With Farms Together’s federal funding gone, the coalition has asked the state for $45 million to keep the program alive. Lawmakers included $15 million in their \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB109\">budget proposal\u003c/a> that Newsom is reviewing — enough, CAFF estimates, to keep it operating for about another year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, CAFF’s policy and organizing manager Keely Cervantes said that “farmers, food hubs, and food banks across California are urging Governor Newsom to support this vital safety net for both farmers and food insecure families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, the picture is murkier. A new farm bill is being marked up ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. It includes the Local Farmers Feeding Communities Act, which would create a permanent program similar to LFPA. But the proposal includes no guaranteed funding. Lavender called it “the bones of the house, but there’s no furniture. The lights won’t go on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089196\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089196\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angelica Estrada-Bugarin, founder of Sweet Valley Produce, poses for a portrait at the entrance to the farm in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is a farm and produce aggregator in Merced County, specializing in growing and distributing sweet potatoes, while also supplying fresh produce from local family farms. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Estrada-Bugarin said she has heard officials talk about supporting local farmers and putting America first. She would like to see it reach the people who grow the food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to continue supporting, because California is where most of our fresh fruits and vegetables are coming from,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the funding returns, Estrada-Bugarin said, she will keep building. First refrigeration for her warehouse, food processing after that and then more partnerships with farmers. If it doesn’t, she fears some growers will simply quit. She has already watched several walk away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see the need,” Estrada-Bugarin said. “I just work toward whatever I can do to make it happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a recent industry expo, Estrada-Bugarin realized that she was the only small grower in the room. Half the buyers and suppliers, she said, were from other countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She felt imposter syndrome creeping in. Then she pushed past it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to start taking space and being in these places,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reporting for this story was supported by the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://lapressclub.org/\">\u003cem>Los Angeles Press Club’s\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> Charles M. Rappleye Investigative Journalism Award.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For eight years, Angelica Estrada-Bugarin’s life moved with the lettuce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a food safety manager for one of the country’s largest salad producers, she followed the harvest the way thousands of agricultural workers do: spring and summer in California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/salinas\">Salinas\u003c/a> Valley, winter in Yuma, Arizona, as the whole operation shifted south so the crop never stopped growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/merced-county\">Merced County\u003c/a>, Estrada-Bugarin watched her parents buy produce from small farmers and truck it to terminal markets in Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to study managerial economics at UC Davis, learning how big food worked from the inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, she decided to stop moving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I realized I needed to kind of settle down,” Estrada-Bugarin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as she settled, she noticed a problem that kept surfacing: small farmers in the Central Valley — many of them immigrants, many growing without synthetic chemicals — could grow beautiful food but had nowhere reliable to sell it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089197\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089197\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angelica Estrada-Bugarin, founder of Sweet Valley Produce, left, smiles with her mother Maria Elena, right, at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Angelica felt inspired to work in agriculture after growing up watching her parents buy produce from small farmers and distribute it to a larger market. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, Estrada-Bugarin is the founder and president of \u003ca href=\"https://svproduceinc.com/\">Sweet Valley Produce\u003c/a>, a food hub in Merced County that aggregates fruits and vegetables from small regenerative and organic farms and finds them markets. The beauty of her line of work, she said, lies in connecting growers and eaters “without having to go through a lot of steps in the food chain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one year, the program that made that vision work best was a federal one, called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA. It expired for Sweet Valley Produce in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal LFPA helped hundreds of California farms sell millions of pounds of locally grown food to food banks while paying growers full market prices. Now that the Trump administration has ended the program, California farmers fear losing one of their most reliable markets as state leaders weigh whether to keep it alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, lawmakers have proposed extending state funding for LFPA, and the measure sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom, who has publicly opposed the program’s cancellation, has until Tuesday to decide whether California will fund the program on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A box of vegetables, a family fed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>LFPA was born out of the pandemic, when federal money flowed to strengthen local food supply chains. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent funds to states, which used them to buy food from local farmers and route it to hunger-relief programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, the program was called Farms Together, which was run by three nonprofits — the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, or CAFF, Fresh Approach and the California Association of Food Banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Estrada-Bugarin and many other small farms, it worked like this: food banks paid Sweet Valley Produce, which assembled boxes of seven to 12 seasonal items — fruits, vegetables, herbs, plus a monthly value-added product like honey or microgreens — sourced from four or five local farms each.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089203\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089203\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fruit and vegetable stand at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is a farm and produce aggregator in Merced County specializing in growing and distributing sweet potatoes while also supplying fresh produce from local family farms. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The boxes went to the Modesto Salvation Army, which told her that many of the recipients were elderly people who couldn’t easily get to a store by themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without the program, she said, those families mostly received dry goods. “They don’t get the nutrient value of the vegetables and the fruits, especially those that are seasonally and locally available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scale was substantial. By Estrada-Bugarin and CAFF’s accounts, LFPA worked with roughly 870 farms across over 50 California counties and 50 food banks, moving some 23 million pounds of food and more than $60 million in local purchases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet Valley Produce alone held a contract worth more than $800,000 — money to buy from farms across Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno and Madera counties, and most importantly, money remaining rooted in the region. “When the farmer gets paid that money, they go and spend it within our own economy,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Nearly two hundred miles northwest, in Sonoma County, Dylan Stein watched the same program reshape a different operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stein is the wholesale manager and a worker-owner at \u003ca href=\"https://www.feedsonoma.com/\">FEED Cooperative\u003c/a>, a Petaluma food hub jointly owned by the farmers who sell through it and the workers who run it. FEED moves produce for a network of about 70 small North Bay farms, many of them 10 acres or less — tiny by California standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2024, it comprised like 25% of our sales,” Stein said of LFPA. “That being there just gave an extra outlet for the farms we work with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of a thriving year for a lot of farms in the North Bay,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Food banks noticed the difference. Pallets that might normally have held russet potatoes instead arrived full of leafy greens and herbs picked the day before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re opening these boxes, and it’s almost like gold light is coming out,” Stein said. “It’s the best quality produce that you can find.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of FEED’s other customers are high-end restaurants, he noted, meaning that the food banks were getting the same thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than charity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The deeper value of LFPA, the growers said, wasn’t just generosity. It was stability — and the price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you pay $3 for a bunch of kale at Sprouts, usually the farmer gets like $1 of that,” Estrada-Bugarin said. “But in this case the money went directly to the farmer, so the farmer got paid $3 a bunch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That cushion also made it possible for some growers to farm without synthetic chemicals. Regenerative practices, or rebuilding soil through crop rotation, hedgerows and minimal inputs, often result in lower yields. But the better price absorbed the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089201\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sweet potatoes rest in a crate at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is based in the Central Valley and specializes in growing and distributing sweet potatoes. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I actually had at least two farmers who were transitioning to organic farming from conventional farming because they were able to be supported through this program,” Estrada-Bugarin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, who previously grew a single crop, used it to start diversifying their fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At FEED, Stein saw similar progress. A grower with a surprise surplus — 80 cases of tomatoes in a year that usually yields 50 — suddenly had somewhere to send the extra load.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over three strong years, farmers accomplished what farm statistics rarely reflect: They expanded. They planted new fields, signed new leases and, in a few cases, bought land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Usually when you’re hearing about farm stats, it’s like farms closing and acreage downgrading,” Stein said. “So these expansions we saw were a huge deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Lavender, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said that combination of economic and human value helped the program win bipartisan support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089200\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089200\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cartons of sweet potatoes await sorting in a warehouse at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Farmers loved it because it improved their viability,” he said. “But they also loved just being able to feed their community on a human level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2025, the second Trump administration terminated the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavender said that the cancellation arrived at the worst possible moment in the agricultural calendar, “just as farmers were purchasing seeds and getting ready for the spring season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stein recalled the whiplash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even contracts that you’re in the middle of are canceled. They stop delivering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After pushback, growers were allowed to finish existing agreements, but the roughly three additional years of funding they had planned around simply evaporated.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Land, labor and belonging\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://caff.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026-CAFF-Policy-Report-English-Final-Single.pdf\">report\u003c/a> from CAFF found that 5% of landowners control half of California’s cropland, and that the market increasingly favors private equity firms and investors buying large parcels. For a small grower hoping to buy 10 or 20 acres, there’s often nothing within that size range to buy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Otherwise, you’re stuck renting,” Estrada-Bugarin said, “and then you’re just in this pattern of renting and never really owning the land that you farm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CAFF also estimates that about 70% of California farmers participating in LFPA identified as socially disadvantaged, a USDA designation for groups that have historically faced barriers to land, credit and federal programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089199\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089199\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The crops of a Laotian farmer, using their harvesting techniques, grow at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is a farm and produce aggregator in Merced County, specializing in growing and distributing sweet potatoes, while also supplying fresh produce from local family farms. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Estrada-Bugarin, the work is deeply personal. As a Mexican American, she grew up hearing that farming was a dead end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were always told, ‘Don’t work in the fields, agriculture is bad, it’s hard work, not well paid.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One story stands out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During last year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043515/more-protests-held-across-southern-california-as-trump-administration-orders-more-national-guard-to-la\">immigration protests\u003c/a> that shut down parts of downtown Los Angeles, a farmer she worked with couldn’t get to his local farmers market for an entire week. He had harvested 80 boxes of plums — and had nowhere to sell them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because LFPA existed, the plums went into food-bank boxes instead of the compost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a very strong example of the power that LFPA had to support us as farmers through these political climates,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns added another obstacle for farmers, Estrada-Bugarin said. Crops went unharvested. Yields and income were lost. She said immigration authorities drove past Sweet Valley Produce at least once. Her employees, although prepared, were rattled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigration reform and the farm bill move on separate tracks in Washington, through different congressional committees, Lavender said, so labor policy can’t simply be written into the bill — even though the two are “deeply linked” in the real world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089202\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089202\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1313\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-20-KQED-1536x1008.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A farmer tends to their crops at Sweet Valley Produce in Merced on June 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Estrada-Bugarin sees the gap from the ground. The industry’s long-running answer to labor uncertainty has been automation, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But what happens with that? You’re pushing out the small farmers, because we don’t have the money to have automation either,” said Estrada-Bugarin, who would rather see programs such as the H-2A agricultural visa become easier for farmers to use. “How to make it more accessible, or how to make it work better for all of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now she’s trying to convince the next generation that there are viable careers in agriculture. The community that Estrada-Bugarin has built reflects that ambition. The growers she works with are Hindu, Laotian, Indian, Mennonite and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This whole business is centered around relationship building,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a first-generation American, she had to build those relationships from scratch, without the established networks that others inherit, the same way her parents farmed on passion without the language or the technology to keep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Farm bill uncertainty looms\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For now, the future of California’s small farms may depend as much on Sacramento as it does Washington. With Farms Together’s federal funding gone, the coalition has asked the state for $45 million to keep the program alive. Lawmakers included $15 million in their \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB109\">budget proposal\u003c/a> that Newsom is reviewing — enough, CAFF estimates, to keep it operating for about another year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, CAFF’s policy and organizing manager Keely Cervantes said that “farmers, food hubs, and food banks across California are urging Governor Newsom to support this vital safety net for both farmers and food insecure families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, the picture is murkier. A new farm bill is being marked up ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. It includes the Local Farmers Feeding Communities Act, which would create a permanent program similar to LFPA. But the proposal includes no guaranteed funding. Lavender called it “the bones of the house, but there’s no furniture. The lights won’t go on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12089196\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12089196\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/20260626_CaliforniaFarmers_GC-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angelica Estrada-Bugarin, founder of Sweet Valley Produce, poses for a portrait at the entrance to the farm in Merced on June 26, 2026. Sweet Valley Produce is a farm and produce aggregator in Merced County, specializing in growing and distributing sweet potatoes, while also supplying fresh produce from local family farms. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Estrada-Bugarin said she has heard officials talk about supporting local farmers and putting America first. She would like to see it reach the people who grow the food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to continue supporting, because California is where most of our fresh fruits and vegetables are coming from,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the funding returns, Estrada-Bugarin said, she will keep building. First refrigeration for her warehouse, food processing after that and then more partnerships with farmers. If it doesn’t, she fears some growers will simply quit. She has already watched several walk away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see the need,” Estrada-Bugarin said. “I just work toward whatever I can do to make it happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a recent industry expo, Estrada-Bugarin realized that she was the only small grower in the room. Half the buyers and suppliers, she said, were from other countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She felt imposter syndrome creeping in. Then she pushed past it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to start taking space and being in these places,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reporting for this story was supported by the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://lapressclub.org/\">\u003cem>Los Angeles Press Club’s\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> Charles M. Rappleye Investigative Journalism Award.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "newsom-promised-to-help-californians-build-new-careers-now-the-money-is-running-out",
"title": "Newsom Promised to Help Californians Build New Careers. Now, the Money Is Running Out",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Promised to Help Californians Build New Careers. Now, the Money Is Running Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in a West Sacramento \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0Rs93LKuI\">high school cafeteria\u003c/a> in 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> promised fundamental reforms to the state’s job training programs. A few months later, he was in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpMC6yHOV_4\">a fire truck in Modesto\u003c/a>, and later, in\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5InB3qU9Q&t=3628s\"> a welding classroom\u003c/a> in Redding, making the same promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/04/career-education/\">point of pride\u003c/a>,” Newsom said last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a handful of those reforms are underway. A new inter-agency council, designed to increase collaboration among workforce providers, is meeting next week. The state is also developing a new kind of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/06/17/californias-career-passport-to-connect-qualified-workers-to-employment-with-or-without-a-four-year-degree/\">digital resume\u003c/a> that would help students and workers consolidate information about their work experience and education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the state faces yet another budget deficit, a flagship workforce program could be forced to scale back. One of the state’s leading agencies for coordinating workforce training, the California Workforce Development Board, could lose 20% of its staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the governor’s budget proposal for 2026-27 fiscal year, several workforce programs, including the governor’s \u003ca href=\"https://cwdb.ca.gov/cwdb-home/our-programs/high-road-programs/high-road-training-partnerships/\">“high road training partnerships\u003c/a>,” would receive little or no new funding, meaning that they could shut down by the time the next governor assumes office or soon thereafter. The Legislature has already passed a budget that largely accepts Newsom’s proposals, and the governor has until the end of the month to approve it. Some job training organizations criticized the governor’s proposal to withhold new funding this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At a time when affordability is such a massive concern, it feels like we’re focusing on what things cost and not enough on what people can earn,” said Julia Hatton, the president of the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, told CalMatters. Her organization trains workers for jobs in construction and climate-related careers and has received nearly $4 million in state workforce grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087658\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (left) looks on during an election night gathering at the California Democrats headquarters on Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, in a legislative hearing in April, Allison Hewitt, a budget analyst with California’s Department of Finance said the state is still committed to workforce development and that the board’s budget isn’t being cut, just that it isn’t receiving new funding. The workforce development board received a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/279461#t=2476&f=c90f5001889cb947a92f8d013b87727d\">“surge”\u003c/a> of grants over the past few years, and those dollars have been spent so less funding is available this year, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That did not sit well with at least one legislator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, you can say that all you want,” said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/maria-elena-durazo-165445\">Sen. María Elena Durazo\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, in response. “But if we’re not proposing funding for that … then you’re basically saying this is gonna be the new policy. The bottom line is without funding, it’s not a reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the governor, said Newsom’s workforce plan focuses on “structural changes to benefit students, which does not always require funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for California’s Department of Finance, responded in the same email, saying that the current budget proposes over $250 million in new workforce funds, including in healthcare and construction. By comparison, the state put over $2.2 billion into new workforce grants in the 2022-23 budget year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Have workforce programs succeeded?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For decades, states and the federal government have pumped money into job training programs, especially for low-income workers without college degrees, but the results \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/resource-library/providing-public-workforce-services-job-seekers-30-month-impact-findings-wia-adult\">are often poor\u003c/a>. Graduates end up earning minimum-wage or landing in jobs \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/08/for-profit-schools-california-jobs/\">with low retention\u003c/a>, where many workers quit within the first year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To improve outcomes, California created the high road training partnerships to target job training programs that yield long-lasting, living-wage employment where the employer, not just the government, has a stake in the worker’s professional growth. Starting around 2014, the state put a small amount of money into these programs, said Stewart Knox, the secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055465\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, which processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2021 and 2022, the state made “massive investments in the workforce,” he said, pumping hundreds of millions into high-road programs all across the state, including in construction, healthcare, technology and in public sector jobs. The state sent money to current and former oil workers to help them retrain for careers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/10/refinery-workers-california/\">when refineries close\u003c/a>. It also sent money to youth apprenticeship programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results have been\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/02/workforce-training/\"> mixed\u003c/a>. In the high-road program, some grants helped train hundreds or thousands of workers for union jobs while other grants created few concrete benefits for workers. One grant was supposed to train workers at the electric vehicle company Proterra, but the company closed before workers could begin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/rick-chavez-zbur-165429\">Rick Chavez Zbur\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, is proposing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2634\">a bill\u003c/a> to further restrict how the high-road money is used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the roughly 1,700 oil workers who could benefit from the state’s retraining grants, only about 500 participated as of May, according to a bill analysis. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2157\">That bill\u003c/a>, authored by San Rafael Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/damon-connolly-165425\">Damon Connolly,\u003c/a> a Democrat, would give grantees more time to spend the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A ‘master plan’ for career education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Newsom’s workforce plans culminated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.31.23-Career-Education-Executive-Order.pdf\">an executive order\u003c/a> calling for the creation of a master plan for career education that would create a “new foundation” for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-CA-Master-Plan-for-Career-Education.pdf\">The plan\u003c/a>, released in 2025, called for better coordination among the state’s workforce providers, who \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/09/trade-schools-job-training-california/\">often compete for the same students.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The master plan also called for more high-road job training programs and highlighted ongoing work supporting youth apprentices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080557\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Caltrans worker adjusts construction cones as traffic comes to a slow on I-80 eastbound in San Francisco on Saturday, April 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re definitely not done. We’re kind of mid-stage,” said Knox. “What you’re seeing is a little less money, yes, in terms of programs, but that’s because we did such massive investments from 2021 on into the system (and) those outcomes now are what we’re focused on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knox pointed to outcomes from the master plan, including the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/05/middle-school-california/\">dual enrollment,\u003c/a> which allows high school students to take college classes. The state is also helping thousands more students get \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/02/college-credit-california/\">college credit for their prior work experience\u003c/a>, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palmer, with the state’s Department of Finance, said in an email that the current proposal from the Legislature includes more funding both for dual enrollment and to help college students get credit for their work experience.[aside postID=news_12087559 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CaliforniaSealCM.jpg']Those funding allocations, however, come from a different pot of money, known as Proposition 98, which is largely restricted to education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Shirley Ware Education Center, a national job training nonprofit founded in Oakland, was among the earliest and largest recipients of the high-road training grants, which it used to help over 5,500 workers find better jobs, mostly in the healthcare industry. All told, the organization received more than $40 million in state workforce dollars starting in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the state was flush with cash, they put a lot of money into these programs,” said Rebecca Hanson, the executive director. Now, she said the state budget deficit makes it “hard to argue” for increased funding, especially when so many other core services are\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-budget-legislature-deal/\"> facing cuts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hanson’s high-road workforce grant ends in 2027, but even then, she said she isn’t too worried, since her organization has other funding and is used to these fluctuations in state support. “My hope is that by the time we’re talking about 2028, we’ll be able to find other money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/06/workforce-funding/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in a West Sacramento \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0Rs93LKuI\">high school cafeteria\u003c/a> in 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> promised fundamental reforms to the state’s job training programs. A few months later, he was in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpMC6yHOV_4\">a fire truck in Modesto\u003c/a>, and later, in\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5InB3qU9Q&t=3628s\"> a welding classroom\u003c/a> in Redding, making the same promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/04/career-education/\">point of pride\u003c/a>,” Newsom said last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a handful of those reforms are underway. A new inter-agency council, designed to increase collaboration among workforce providers, is meeting next week. The state is also developing a new kind of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/06/17/californias-career-passport-to-connect-qualified-workers-to-employment-with-or-without-a-four-year-degree/\">digital resume\u003c/a> that would help students and workers consolidate information about their work experience and education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the state faces yet another budget deficit, a flagship workforce program could be forced to scale back. One of the state’s leading agencies for coordinating workforce training, the California Workforce Development Board, could lose 20% of its staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the governor’s budget proposal for 2026-27 fiscal year, several workforce programs, including the governor’s \u003ca href=\"https://cwdb.ca.gov/cwdb-home/our-programs/high-road-programs/high-road-training-partnerships/\">“high road training partnerships\u003c/a>,” would receive little or no new funding, meaning that they could shut down by the time the next governor assumes office or soon thereafter. The Legislature has already passed a budget that largely accepts Newsom’s proposals, and the governor has until the end of the month to approve it. Some job training organizations criticized the governor’s proposal to withhold new funding this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At a time when affordability is such a massive concern, it feels like we’re focusing on what things cost and not enough on what people can earn,” said Julia Hatton, the president of the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, told CalMatters. Her organization trains workers for jobs in construction and climate-related careers and has received nearly $4 million in state workforce grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087658\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (left) looks on during an election night gathering at the California Democrats headquarters on Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, in a legislative hearing in April, Allison Hewitt, a budget analyst with California’s Department of Finance said the state is still committed to workforce development and that the board’s budget isn’t being cut, just that it isn’t receiving new funding. The workforce development board received a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/279461#t=2476&f=c90f5001889cb947a92f8d013b87727d\">“surge”\u003c/a> of grants over the past few years, and those dollars have been spent so less funding is available this year, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That did not sit well with at least one legislator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, you can say that all you want,” said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/maria-elena-durazo-165445\">Sen. María Elena Durazo\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, in response. “But if we’re not proposing funding for that … then you’re basically saying this is gonna be the new policy. The bottom line is without funding, it’s not a reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the governor, said Newsom’s workforce plan focuses on “structural changes to benefit students, which does not always require funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for California’s Department of Finance, responded in the same email, saying that the current budget proposes over $250 million in new workforce funds, including in healthcare and construction. By comparison, the state put over $2.2 billion into new workforce grants in the 2022-23 budget year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Have workforce programs succeeded?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For decades, states and the federal government have pumped money into job training programs, especially for low-income workers without college degrees, but the results \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/resource-library/providing-public-workforce-services-job-seekers-30-month-impact-findings-wia-adult\">are often poor\u003c/a>. Graduates end up earning minimum-wage or landing in jobs \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/08/for-profit-schools-california-jobs/\">with low retention\u003c/a>, where many workers quit within the first year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To improve outcomes, California created the high road training partnerships to target job training programs that yield long-lasting, living-wage employment where the employer, not just the government, has a stake in the worker’s professional growth. Starting around 2014, the state put a small amount of money into these programs, said Stewart Knox, the secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055465\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, which processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2021 and 2022, the state made “massive investments in the workforce,” he said, pumping hundreds of millions into high-road programs all across the state, including in construction, healthcare, technology and in public sector jobs. The state sent money to current and former oil workers to help them retrain for careers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/10/refinery-workers-california/\">when refineries close\u003c/a>. It also sent money to youth apprenticeship programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results have been\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/02/workforce-training/\"> mixed\u003c/a>. In the high-road program, some grants helped train hundreds or thousands of workers for union jobs while other grants created few concrete benefits for workers. One grant was supposed to train workers at the electric vehicle company Proterra, but the company closed before workers could begin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/rick-chavez-zbur-165429\">Rick Chavez Zbur\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, is proposing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2634\">a bill\u003c/a> to further restrict how the high-road money is used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the roughly 1,700 oil workers who could benefit from the state’s retraining grants, only about 500 participated as of May, according to a bill analysis. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2157\">That bill\u003c/a>, authored by San Rafael Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/damon-connolly-165425\">Damon Connolly,\u003c/a> a Democrat, would give grantees more time to spend the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A ‘master plan’ for career education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Newsom’s workforce plans culminated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.31.23-Career-Education-Executive-Order.pdf\">an executive order\u003c/a> calling for the creation of a master plan for career education that would create a “new foundation” for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-CA-Master-Plan-for-Career-Education.pdf\">The plan\u003c/a>, released in 2025, called for better coordination among the state’s workforce providers, who \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/09/trade-schools-job-training-california/\">often compete for the same students.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The master plan also called for more high-road job training programs and highlighted ongoing work supporting youth apprentices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080557\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Caltrans worker adjusts construction cones as traffic comes to a slow on I-80 eastbound in San Francisco on Saturday, April 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re definitely not done. We’re kind of mid-stage,” said Knox. “What you’re seeing is a little less money, yes, in terms of programs, but that’s because we did such massive investments from 2021 on into the system (and) those outcomes now are what we’re focused on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knox pointed to outcomes from the master plan, including the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/05/middle-school-california/\">dual enrollment,\u003c/a> which allows high school students to take college classes. The state is also helping thousands more students get \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/02/college-credit-california/\">college credit for their prior work experience\u003c/a>, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palmer, with the state’s Department of Finance, said in an email that the current proposal from the Legislature includes more funding both for dual enrollment and to help college students get credit for their work experience.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Those funding allocations, however, come from a different pot of money, known as Proposition 98, which is largely restricted to education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Shirley Ware Education Center, a national job training nonprofit founded in Oakland, was among the earliest and largest recipients of the high-road training grants, which it used to help over 5,500 workers find better jobs, mostly in the healthcare industry. All told, the organization received more than $40 million in state workforce dollars starting in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the state was flush with cash, they put a lot of money into these programs,” said Rebecca Hanson, the executive director. Now, she said the state budget deficit makes it “hard to argue” for increased funding, especially when so many other core services are\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-budget-legislature-deal/\"> facing cuts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hanson’s high-road workforce grant ends in 2027, but even then, she said she isn’t too worried, since her organization has other funding and is used to these fluctuations in state support. “My hope is that by the time we’re talking about 2028, we’ll be able to find other money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/06/workforce-funding/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than 100 members of the CSU Employees Union rallied at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-state-university\">San Francisco State University\u003c/a> on Tuesday, during an active bargaining session — demanding higher wages and job security on the heels of a newly delivered state budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers face a rare convergence: a sweeping set of labor negotiations playing out across the nation’s largest public university system, including a long-standing staff contract about to expire and a first-ever contract for student workers still unwritten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Tuesday’s rally, that fight spilled directly into the room where it’s being decided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers marched upstairs at the J. Paul Leonard Library to chant outside the bargaining session, briefly disrupting the talks. They left behind whiteboards listing their demands for administrators to read on the way out, before marching around the library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The standoff comes after years of financial whiplash across the CSU system, which has spent recent years closing budget deficits and bracing for steep cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, it grappled with a $218 million operating deficit and warned of a projected $\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11998761/california-state-university-stares-down-a-1-billion-budget-gap-as-campuses-cut-costs\">1 billion shortfall\u003c/a>, and in 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to cut \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/02/cal-state-budget-3/\">hundreds of millions\u003c/a> from its ongoing funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087830\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087830\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California State University Employees Union organizer speaks through a megaphone near the entrance to San Francisco State University during a rally on June 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Campuses responded by freezing hiring, leaving vacancies unfilled, consolidating classes and laying off workers. This year, the union said, the state budget finally delivered a record $264.8 million in new ongoing funding to the CSU, and workers argue that they have yet to see it reflected in their paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union represents 36,000 staff and student workers across the CSU’s 22 campuses, and juggles several contracts at once. The central one covers staff in bargaining units that include healthcare, facilities, custodial, technical and administrative workers — and it expires June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, student assistants who unionized in 2024 are bargaining for their first-ever contract, and roughly 1,000 workers employed by private service contractors on campus are also in first-contract talks.[aside postID=news_12086884 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MariaSuAP1.jpg']“I’m out here today because, like a lot of Americans, going to the grocery store feels like a luxury extravagance,” said Katie Murphy, chief steward for the union’s San Francisco State chapter and an academic office coordinator in the School of Social Work. “The pay structure we have currently does not support us having a living wage within this city and within the state of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Murphy, a Daly City commuter, said some of her colleagues drive in from as far as Sacramento because they can’t afford to live near campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She framed Tuesday’s action as part of a deliberate strategy that the union called “getting strike ready” — escalating demonstrations meant to show management that the workers are serious, in hopes of preventing an actual walkout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that the union has already forced CSU to change its bargaining plans on several occasions. “It’s great to know that we are having an effect and that the CSU knows our power.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This strike would be the first for CSUEU, the CSU’s largest labor group. Murphy said that if no fair contract is reached, the union is prepared to walk out — and to stay out. “We are in it for the long haul,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The State of California puts a premium on educating our next college graduates,” CSUEU President Catherine Hutchinson said in a statement. “Supporting the essential frontline staff who help students succeed must be a priority for CSU leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087831\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A union button reading “One Union, One Voice” is displayed on a California State University Employees Union shirt during a rally at San Francisco State University on June 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Murphy said the workers’ frustration stems from the CSU walking back a promise on a salary step structure — a system designed to reward years of service and make pay market-competitive — that the union had fought decades to win. She also pointed to raises for campus presidents and executives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They somehow have money to put into the pockets of people who are at the very top, but not put money in the pockets of people at the bottom for whom it would have the most impact,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For student assistants, the stakes are different, as they’re starting from scratch. Chloe Murray, a peer mentor at the library who earns minimum wage, said she had to take a second job just to afford living in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a contract right now, so it means that we don’t have any benefits,” Murray said, noting that while other units were given paid time off to attend the rally, she had to call out of work to be there. The students are pushing for $21 an hour, holiday pay and reduced parking fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We help make this campus run, and we have to juggle our class work and working on the campus,” Murray said. “It makes it really difficult when we’re not getting paid very much, and they’re not giving us very many hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Murray also pointed to rising tuition — a 6% increase each year under a plan adopted two years ago — despite department cuts and faculty layoffs. “We’re just getting a worse education for a higher cost,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the CSU said it is bargaining in good faith “toward achieving an agreement that recognizes and supports the work of our staff in fulfilling CSU’s mission.” The university said that it respects the right to peaceful protest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087828\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087828\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the California State University Employees Union march through the J. Paul Leonard Library during a rally at San Francisco State University on June 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_003-KQED.jpg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s rally at San Francisco State at San Francisco State was the second action of its kind in the past month, and it follows a wave of labor unrest across California’s public education sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11969109/hundreds-of-sf-state-faculty-ditch-class-in-1-day-strike-for-better-wages-working-conditions\">SF State faculty\u003c/a> staged a one-day strike, and earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/CSU-February-17-Statement-on-Teamsters-Local-2010-Strike.aspx\">Teamsters struck\u003c/a> within the CSU. This past spring, both \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066588/west-contra-costa-teachers-agree-to-end-strike-and-return-to-class-after-a-week\">West Contra Costa Unified School Distric\u003c/a>t and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073306/sfusd-teachers-strike-no-end-in-sight-health-care-battle\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> reached tentative agreements with unions after strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Murphy said those fights are a source of motivation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re always inspired and rallied by our union siblings, our union cousins across various sectors,” she said. “We are united, we’re coming together, and we’ve had enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers marched upstairs at the J. Paul Leonard Library to chant outside the bargaining session, briefly disrupting the talks. They left behind whiteboards listing their demands for administrators to read on the way out, before marching around the library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The standoff comes after years of financial whiplash across the CSU system, which has spent recent years closing budget deficits and bracing for steep cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, it grappled with a $218 million operating deficit and warned of a projected $\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11998761/california-state-university-stares-down-a-1-billion-budget-gap-as-campuses-cut-costs\">1 billion shortfall\u003c/a>, and in 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to cut \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/02/cal-state-budget-3/\">hundreds of millions\u003c/a> from its ongoing funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087830\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087830\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_016-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California State University Employees Union organizer speaks through a megaphone near the entrance to San Francisco State University during a rally on June 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Campuses responded by freezing hiring, leaving vacancies unfilled, consolidating classes and laying off workers. This year, the union said, the state budget finally delivered a record $264.8 million in new ongoing funding to the CSU, and workers argue that they have yet to see it reflected in their paychecks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union represents 36,000 staff and student workers across the CSU’s 22 campuses, and juggles several contracts at once. The central one covers staff in bargaining units that include healthcare, facilities, custodial, technical and administrative workers — and it expires June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, student assistants who unionized in 2024 are bargaining for their first-ever contract, and roughly 1,000 workers employed by private service contractors on campus are also in first-contract talks.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’m out here today because, like a lot of Americans, going to the grocery store feels like a luxury extravagance,” said Katie Murphy, chief steward for the union’s San Francisco State chapter and an academic office coordinator in the School of Social Work. “The pay structure we have currently does not support us having a living wage within this city and within the state of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Murphy, a Daly City commuter, said some of her colleagues drive in from as far as Sacramento because they can’t afford to live near campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She framed Tuesday’s action as part of a deliberate strategy that the union called “getting strike ready” — escalating demonstrations meant to show management that the workers are serious, in hopes of preventing an actual walkout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that the union has already forced CSU to change its bargaining plans on several occasions. “It’s great to know that we are having an effect and that the CSU knows our power.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This strike would be the first for CSUEU, the CSU’s largest labor group. Murphy said that if no fair contract is reached, the union is prepared to walk out — and to stay out. “We are in it for the long haul,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The State of California puts a premium on educating our next college graduates,” CSUEU President Catherine Hutchinson said in a statement. “Supporting the essential frontline staff who help students succeed must be a priority for CSU leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087831\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_018-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A union button reading “One Union, One Voice” is displayed on a California State University Employees Union shirt during a rally at San Francisco State University on June 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Murphy said the workers’ frustration stems from the CSU walking back a promise on a salary step structure — a system designed to reward years of service and make pay market-competitive — that the union had fought decades to win. She also pointed to raises for campus presidents and executives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They somehow have money to put into the pockets of people who are at the very top, but not put money in the pockets of people at the bottom for whom it would have the most impact,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For student assistants, the stakes are different, as they’re starting from scratch. Chloe Murray, a peer mentor at the library who earns minimum wage, said she had to take a second job just to afford living in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have a contract right now, so it means that we don’t have any benefits,” Murray said, noting that while other units were given paid time off to attend the rally, she had to call out of work to be there. The students are pushing for $21 an hour, holiday pay and reduced parking fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We help make this campus run, and we have to juggle our class work and working on the campus,” Murray said. “It makes it really difficult when we’re not getting paid very much, and they’re not giving us very many hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Murray also pointed to rising tuition — a 6% increase each year under a plan adopted two years ago — despite department cuts and faculty layoffs. “We’re just getting a worse education for a higher cost,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the CSU said it is bargaining in good faith “toward achieving an agreement that recognizes and supports the work of our staff in fulfilling CSU’s mission.” The university said that it respects the right to peaceful protest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087828\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087828\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the California State University Employees Union march through the J. Paul Leonard Library during a rally at San Francisco State University on June 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/061626CSU-Labor_GH_003-KQED.jpg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s rally at San Francisco State at San Francisco State was the second action of its kind in the past month, and it follows a wave of labor unrest across California’s public education sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11969109/hundreds-of-sf-state-faculty-ditch-class-in-1-day-strike-for-better-wages-working-conditions\">SF State faculty\u003c/a> staged a one-day strike, and earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/CSU-February-17-Statement-on-Teamsters-Local-2010-Strike.aspx\">Teamsters struck\u003c/a> within the CSU. This past spring, both \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066588/west-contra-costa-teachers-agree-to-end-strike-and-return-to-class-after-a-week\">West Contra Costa Unified School Distric\u003c/a>t and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073306/sfusd-teachers-strike-no-end-in-sight-health-care-battle\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> reached tentative agreements with unions after strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Murphy said those fights are a source of motivation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re always inspired and rallied by our union siblings, our union cousins across various sectors,” she said. “We are united, we’re coming together, and we’ve had enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A U.S. District Court ruling issued Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055659/national-park-service-california-yosemite-muir-woods-trump-executive-order\">signage at national parks that was taken down last year\u003c/a>. That includes a sign at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049405/muir-woods-national-monument-exhibit-removal-trump-executive-order-national-parks-history-under-construction-sticky-notes\">Muir Woods National Monument\u003c/a> in Marin County that documented the contributions of women and Indigenous people to the founding of the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The signage, which was removed as part of a 2025 \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history\">executive order\u003c/a>, includes anything on display that the administration deemed would “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Parks-PI-Order.pdf\">her 63-page ruling\u003c/a>, Judge Angel Kelley documented exhibits on slavery, climate change and history that were taken down by leaders in President Donald Trump’s White House, who she said: “seek to rewrite the nation’s history with a white-out pen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parks advocacy groups, which filed a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/slavery-exhibit-climate-national-parks-trump-cb443d3d61c0df9613bc6dd37f7b0f07\">February lawsuit\u003c/a> challenging the order, celebrated the decision, especially amid the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s court ruling will help protect national parks from the administration’s unprecedented campaign to erase history and science at these one-of-a-kind places,” wrote Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the plaintiff organizations. “National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent. Americans count on national parks to help us understand our full, rich history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Department of the Interior spokesperson told KQED in an email that it is weighing an appeal given the ruling is “from a [President] Biden-appointed judge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087613\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087613\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty-1536x981.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Staff with the National Parks Service replace the plaques that were part of the ‘Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation’ exhibit at the President’s house on Feb. 19, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Jan. 22, 2926, the exhibit was removed as part of the Trump administration’s policies, and on President’s Day, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the exhibit’s restoration. \u003ccite>(Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jon Jarvis, former director of the National Park Service under President Barack Obama, said he anticipates an appeal, but even without one, it’s unlikely the administration will take immediate action to restore removed signs like the one at Muir Woods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This administration’s NPS has been “kind of a mess,” and has a “pattern of ignoring court decisions,” he said. “And I think implementation of this order will also be very messy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055659/national-park-service-california-yosemite-muir-woods-trump-executive-order\">removal process itself has been chaotic\u003c/a> since it was announced last year, Jarvis said.[aside postID=news_12087471 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Trailhead-Gays-LEDE.jpg']“There haven’t been a wholesale and comprehensive set of decisions made from [the executive order],” he said. “There have been some places that have been, let’s say, more aggressive about it … but in many cases, nothing’s ever actually been done to remove or adjust the signs.” Jarvis praised Kelley’s ruling as “well-justified.” He said it “will go in the sort of annals of park service legal lore,” in particular noting its focus on the park service’s education mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an affirmation of the park services, not only its mission and responsibilities, but its policy and its responsibility to tell America’s story authentically and to ensure that no one gets left out of that story,” Jarvis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parks advocacy groups nationwide have been\u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs/home\"> documenting what has been taken down\u003c/a> both physically and digitally on government websites as a result of the executive order. At sites across the state, including at Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, QR codes were posted soliciting public input on what should be taken down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The park service took down or revised a lot of signs, and they put them in storage, and they’ll come back out,” he said. “They’re either going to come back now, or they’re going to come back in a few years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A U.S. District Court ruling issued Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055659/national-park-service-california-yosemite-muir-woods-trump-executive-order\">signage at national parks that was taken down last year\u003c/a>. That includes a sign at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049405/muir-woods-national-monument-exhibit-removal-trump-executive-order-national-parks-history-under-construction-sticky-notes\">Muir Woods National Monument\u003c/a> in Marin County that documented the contributions of women and Indigenous people to the founding of the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The signage, which was removed as part of a 2025 \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history\">executive order\u003c/a>, includes anything on display that the administration deemed would “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Parks-PI-Order.pdf\">her 63-page ruling\u003c/a>, Judge Angel Kelley documented exhibits on slavery, climate change and history that were taken down by leaders in President Donald Trump’s White House, who she said: “seek to rewrite the nation’s history with a white-out pen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parks advocacy groups, which filed a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/slavery-exhibit-climate-national-parks-trump-cb443d3d61c0df9613bc6dd37f7b0f07\">February lawsuit\u003c/a> challenging the order, celebrated the decision, especially amid the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s court ruling will help protect national parks from the administration’s unprecedented campaign to erase history and science at these one-of-a-kind places,” wrote Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources at the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the plaintiff organizations. “National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent. Americans count on national parks to help us understand our full, rich history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Department of the Interior spokesperson told KQED in an email that it is weighing an appeal given the ruling is “from a [President] Biden-appointed judge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087613\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087613\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/NPSGetty-1536x981.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Staff with the National Parks Service replace the plaques that were part of the ‘Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation’ exhibit at the President’s house on Feb. 19, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Jan. 22, 2926, the exhibit was removed as part of the Trump administration’s policies, and on President’s Day, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the exhibit’s restoration. \u003ccite>(Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jon Jarvis, former director of the National Park Service under President Barack Obama, said he anticipates an appeal, but even without one, it’s unlikely the administration will take immediate action to restore removed signs like the one at Muir Woods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This administration’s NPS has been “kind of a mess,” and has a “pattern of ignoring court decisions,” he said. “And I think implementation of this order will also be very messy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055659/national-park-service-california-yosemite-muir-woods-trump-executive-order\">removal process itself has been chaotic\u003c/a> since it was announced last year, Jarvis said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There haven’t been a wholesale and comprehensive set of decisions made from [the executive order],” he said. “There have been some places that have been, let’s say, more aggressive about it … but in many cases, nothing’s ever actually been done to remove or adjust the signs.” Jarvis praised Kelley’s ruling as “well-justified.” He said it “will go in the sort of annals of park service legal lore,” in particular noting its focus on the park service’s education mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an affirmation of the park services, not only its mission and responsibilities, but its policy and its responsibility to tell America’s story authentically and to ensure that no one gets left out of that story,” Jarvis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parks advocacy groups nationwide have been\u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/save-our-signs/home\"> documenting what has been taken down\u003c/a> both physically and digitally on government websites as a result of the executive order. At sites across the state, including at Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, QR codes were posted soliciting public input on what should be taken down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The park service took down or revised a lot of signs, and they put them in storage, and they’ll come back out,” he said. “They’re either going to come back now, or they’re going to come back in a few years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As college graduates throw off their caps and move on to their next life chapter, one topic is surely on their minds: Has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> made their skills irrelevant? And what does an entry-level job even look like anymore?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past month, graduates across the country have\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/20/nx-s1-5822419/ai-colleges-commencement-booing\"> booed and jeered\u003c/a> college commencement speakers at the very mention of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no surprise. Recent polling suggests the technology weighs heavily on the minds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">those already in the job market\u003c/a> and those who seek to \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/704087/college-students-weigh-impact-majors-careers.aspx\">join it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several college graduates from around the state spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californiareportmagazine\">\u003cem>The California Report Magazine\u003c/em>\u003c/a> about how they’re navigating the unpredictable economy, and how AI factors into their job search. The testimonies below have been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087236\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gisselle Ulloa poses with her diploma from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Ulloa, who plans to be a teacher, said she witnessed the impact of AI on her middle-schoolers in the classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Gisselle Ulloa)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Gisselle Ulloa\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State Polytechnic University, Pomona\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Liberal Studies\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I plan to be a teacher in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a recent graduate, it is intimidating to apply to jobs and fail to meet the criteria of artificial intelligence. There’ve been occasions where I feel … the employer is not even going to gaze at my resume. Of course, jobs don’t come easily, and you have to earn your position. But it’s really difficult to learn to satisfy an algorithm instead of a person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With my experience tutoring, I saw the effects of AI, social media and electronics in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I worked with middle schoolers last year. Seeing my students struggle to write paragraphs with a pencil or solve math problems [with] ChatGPT was discouraging. It put into perspective the amount of work needed from teachers and staff to get students to where they need to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers can only do so much. As an aspiring educator, [AI] is a really pivotal tool, and I’m sure it works for bigger things, [like] social media and technology. But I fear it’s going to impact classrooms negatively in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Camalah Saleh\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State University, Fresno\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science and Communication\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I go to China at the end of August to earn a master’s in Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. My goal is to connect international affairs and global affairs to immigration because I want to be an immigration attorney and work on refugee and asylum cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087227\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087227\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Camalah Saleh smiles after graduating from California State University, Fresno. She said she initially tried to ignore ChatGPT but realized AI is not going anywhere. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Camalah Saleh)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ChatGPT first came out, everyone was talking about it, and I didn’t know what it was. I ignored it. I’m in a field where you need to critically write and be a critical thinker, and it can’t just do your work for you. Then, I realized [AI] is not going away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve looked at the way it’s going to impact my career. To see lawyers using it is really worrisome because … there’s a lot of ethical concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I need to pay attention to how it’s going to advance. And people need to be literate in AI so that they can analyze what is and is not made by AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087237\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Yang poses with her diploma at Oracle Park in San Francisco. She said the threat of AI taking over peoples’ jobs is “pretty scary.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michelle Yang)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Michelle Yang\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> San Francisco State University\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Marketing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I want to go into event [planning]. Hopefully, within the music industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With most jobs that include administration and planning, AI definitely has or could have the potential to take over certain skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with events, it’s a very in-person, human interaction type of industry. So, that’s not something I’m worried about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graduating college right now, it’s pretty scary with this threat of AI taking over. We spent so much time in school figuring out what we want to do after college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I can decide not to use AI within my life. But as society progresses, especially in San Francisco, AI [will] become more incorporated into society, [and] there might not be a choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Michelle Yang is a Live Events intern at KQED. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Amelia Zai\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UCLA (incoming senior)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Mechanical Engineering\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll probably start applying [for entry-level jobs] in the fall. I already know that even without AI, the job market is really difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087221\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087221\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg 1280w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amelia Zai \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Amelia Zai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you feel about AI?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m the president of the AI Robotics and Ethics Society at the University of California, Los Angeles. A lot of students here are aware of how AI is reshaping the world. They see it in the news; they’re seeing it in their classes; they use AI to help them understand assignments. I do that too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During every discussion, it’s inevitable that the question of whether AI will replace roles in some field comes up. I think it’s less of a competition between AI and people, and more of a competition between people who use AI and people who don’t know how to use AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because I know that AI is such a powerful tool, I’m trying to use that to my advantage and integrate it into my workflow to make myself a more efficient thinker. It’s the responsibility of universities to ensure that their graduates are competitive. And one way to achieve that goal is to integrate AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Aaron Kim\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UC Berkeley\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Career path: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor/Union Organizing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, in terms of my personal career trajectory, it still feels pretty peripheral. I ended up doing a lot of stuff in the union/labor world, so AI affects me less. None of the jobs that I was looking for are AI-exposed as much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the organizations I’m interested in are concerned with progressive issues and working people. How would you feel if your union rep is ChatGPT and tries to get you to sign union cards? That’s something AI can never take away. Because so much of organizing is based on building trust, human to human.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As college graduates throw off their caps and move on to their next life chapter, one topic is surely on their minds: Has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> made their skills irrelevant? And what does an entry-level job even look like anymore?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past month, graduates across the country have\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/20/nx-s1-5822419/ai-colleges-commencement-booing\"> booed and jeered\u003c/a> college commencement speakers at the very mention of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no surprise. Recent polling suggests the technology weighs heavily on the minds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">those already in the job market\u003c/a> and those who seek to \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/704087/college-students-weigh-impact-majors-careers.aspx\">join it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several college graduates from around the state spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californiareportmagazine\">\u003cem>The California Report Magazine\u003c/em>\u003c/a> about how they’re navigating the unpredictable economy, and how AI factors into their job search. The testimonies below have been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087236\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gisselle Ulloa poses with her diploma from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Ulloa, who plans to be a teacher, said she witnessed the impact of AI on her middle-schoolers in the classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Gisselle Ulloa)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Gisselle Ulloa\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State Polytechnic University, Pomona\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Liberal Studies\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I plan to be a teacher in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a recent graduate, it is intimidating to apply to jobs and fail to meet the criteria of artificial intelligence. There’ve been occasions where I feel … the employer is not even going to gaze at my resume. Of course, jobs don’t come easily, and you have to earn your position. But it’s really difficult to learn to satisfy an algorithm instead of a person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With my experience tutoring, I saw the effects of AI, social media and electronics in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I worked with middle schoolers last year. Seeing my students struggle to write paragraphs with a pencil or solve math problems [with] ChatGPT was discouraging. It put into perspective the amount of work needed from teachers and staff to get students to where they need to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers can only do so much. As an aspiring educator, [AI] is a really pivotal tool, and I’m sure it works for bigger things, [like] social media and technology. But I fear it’s going to impact classrooms negatively in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Camalah Saleh\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State University, Fresno\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science and Communication\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I go to China at the end of August to earn a master’s in Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. My goal is to connect international affairs and global affairs to immigration because I want to be an immigration attorney and work on refugee and asylum cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087227\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087227\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Camalah Saleh smiles after graduating from California State University, Fresno. She said she initially tried to ignore ChatGPT but realized AI is not going anywhere. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Camalah Saleh)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ChatGPT first came out, everyone was talking about it, and I didn’t know what it was. I ignored it. I’m in a field where you need to critically write and be a critical thinker, and it can’t just do your work for you. Then, I realized [AI] is not going away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve looked at the way it’s going to impact my career. To see lawyers using it is really worrisome because … there’s a lot of ethical concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I need to pay attention to how it’s going to advance. And people need to be literate in AI so that they can analyze what is and is not made by AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087237\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Yang poses with her diploma at Oracle Park in San Francisco. She said the threat of AI taking over peoples’ jobs is “pretty scary.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michelle Yang)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Michelle Yang\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> San Francisco State University\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Marketing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I want to go into event [planning]. Hopefully, within the music industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With most jobs that include administration and planning, AI definitely has or could have the potential to take over certain skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with events, it’s a very in-person, human interaction type of industry. So, that’s not something I’m worried about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graduating college right now, it’s pretty scary with this threat of AI taking over. We spent so much time in school figuring out what we want to do after college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I can decide not to use AI within my life. But as society progresses, especially in San Francisco, AI [will] become more incorporated into society, [and] there might not be a choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Michelle Yang is a Live Events intern at KQED. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Amelia Zai\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UCLA (incoming senior)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Mechanical Engineering\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll probably start applying [for entry-level jobs] in the fall. I already know that even without AI, the job market is really difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087221\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087221\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg 1280w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amelia Zai \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Amelia Zai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you feel about AI?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m the president of the AI Robotics and Ethics Society at the University of California, Los Angeles. A lot of students here are aware of how AI is reshaping the world. They see it in the news; they’re seeing it in their classes; they use AI to help them understand assignments. I do that too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During every discussion, it’s inevitable that the question of whether AI will replace roles in some field comes up. I think it’s less of a competition between AI and people, and more of a competition between people who use AI and people who don’t know how to use AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because I know that AI is such a powerful tool, I’m trying to use that to my advantage and integrate it into my workflow to make myself a more efficient thinker. It’s the responsibility of universities to ensure that their graduates are competitive. And one way to achieve that goal is to integrate AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Aaron Kim\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UC Berkeley\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Career path: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor/Union Organizing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, in terms of my personal career trajectory, it still feels pretty peripheral. I ended up doing a lot of stuff in the union/labor world, so AI affects me less. None of the jobs that I was looking for are AI-exposed as much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the organizations I’m interested in are concerned with progressive issues and working people. How would you feel if your union rep is ChatGPT and tries to get you to sign union cards? That’s something AI can never take away. Because so much of organizing is based on building trust, human to human.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Transportation will no longer enforce a bedrock civil rights regulation that prevents federally funded \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/transportation\">transportation\u003c/a> projects from having unintentional disparate impacts on protected classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rule change \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the-statutory-text-and-to\">announced \u003c/a>Wednesday — and \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/11/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-transportations-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely\">published Thursday\u003c/a> without public comment — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy approved eliminating disparate impact liability, a key tenet of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from the U.S. DOT’s regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive summary states the rule did not serve the public interest. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are serious statutory and constitutional concerns with the legality of the department’s Title VI regulations, which go beyond intentional discrimination by prohibiting conduct that has an unintentional disparate impact,” the federal register entry reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal funding. The law also requires that policy decisions don’t disproportionately impact people who are protected by the nation’s civil rights laws, regardless of whether the policy explicitly intends that harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civil rights advocates have successfully used Title VI to file civil rights complaints in the Bay Area, including against BART, when the agency built an extension in neighborhoods where a majority of residents were people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://mavensnotebook.com/2023/08/09/this-just-in-epa-accepts-civil-rights-complaint-against-california-state-water-board/\">complaint\u003c/a>, brought by Native American tribes and environmental advocates, accused the State Water Resources Board of mismanaging water quality along the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. The law has also had a preventative effect, making disparate impact analyses part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.actransit.org/DI-DB\">policy \u003c/a>\u003cu>planning \u003c/u>at agencies like AC Transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087116\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-1536x970.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board an airport-bound train from the Coliseum BART station on the Oakland Airport Connector line in Oakland, California on Friday, March 18, 2016. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ This a major rollback of civil rights protections,” said Laurel Paget-Seekins, senior policy advocate at Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule change means the DOT will no longer require transit agencies to weigh equity when considering changes to policies regarding \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067737/clipper-2-0-leaves-ac-transit-cash-riders-behind\">fares\u003c/a>, service frequency and location, or language access, along with the impacts of highway construction and other projects, as long as the action is not explicitly discriminatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has its own Title VI protections that prohibit recipients of state funds from discriminating against protected groups, which remain in place. But Paget-Seekins said that unlike the federal Title VI protections, the state doesn’t require agencies that receive funding to collect data and do preventative analyses. “Whether Bay Area transit agencies will continue to do this analysis voluntarily — and whether California will require them to — is now an important question that deserves public scrutiny,” Paget-Seekins said.[aside postID=news_12084077 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/05112629-BUS_GH_003-KQED.jpg']Public Advocates used Title VI to successfully file a civil rights \u003ca href=\"https://publicadvocates.org/campaigns/bart-oakland-airport-connector/\">complaint\u003c/a> against BART in 2009, after the agency failed to complete an analysis of how its planned Oakland Airport Connector would impact nearby communities. In response, the Federal Transit Administration withdrew $70 million in funds for the project, which was dispersed to other regional transit agencies and projects, and compelled BART to complete a service equity analysis for the \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/research/2503-cs3-oak-airport-connector.pdf\">project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon has called on the DOT to maintain disparate impact protections in transportation projects since March. Simon, a former BART Board Director, is legally blind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a transit-dependent person, I know how important it is for agencies receiving federal funds to consider disparate impact on the communities they serve,” Simon said in a March press release. “Here, the Trump administration has failed on two fronts — rolling back civil rights protections and preventing the public from providing feedback or sharing concerns. It’s disgraceful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/28/2025-07378/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy\">executive order\u003c/a> in April 2025 announcing its intention to eliminate disparate impact protections across the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the U.S. Department of Justice \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/10/2025-22448/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-justice-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the\">rescinded \u003c/a>disparate impact protections in its regulations using a similar rule change mechanism and language. This week, the DOJ issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-concludes-eeoc-disparate-impact-guidelines-violate-constitution\">opinion \u003c/a>stating that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidelines on disparate impact protections were unconstitutional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Correction:\u003c/strong> An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed language from a Federal Register ruling to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Duffy signed the ruling but was not the source of the quoted language.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Transportation will no longer enforce a bedrock civil rights regulation that prevents federally funded \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/transportation\">transportation\u003c/a> projects from having unintentional disparate impacts on protected classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rule change \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the-statutory-text-and-to\">announced \u003c/a>Wednesday — and \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/11/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-transportations-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely\">published Thursday\u003c/a> without public comment — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy approved eliminating disparate impact liability, a key tenet of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from the U.S. DOT’s regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive summary states the rule did not serve the public interest. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are serious statutory and constitutional concerns with the legality of the department’s Title VI regulations, which go beyond intentional discrimination by prohibiting conduct that has an unintentional disparate impact,” the federal register entry reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal funding. The law also requires that policy decisions don’t disproportionately impact people who are protected by the nation’s civil rights laws, regardless of whether the policy explicitly intends that harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civil rights advocates have successfully used Title VI to file civil rights complaints in the Bay Area, including against BART, when the agency built an extension in neighborhoods where a majority of residents were people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://mavensnotebook.com/2023/08/09/this-just-in-epa-accepts-civil-rights-complaint-against-california-state-water-board/\">complaint\u003c/a>, brought by Native American tribes and environmental advocates, accused the State Water Resources Board of mismanaging water quality along the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. The law has also had a preventative effect, making disparate impact analyses part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.actransit.org/DI-DB\">policy \u003c/a>\u003cu>planning \u003c/u>at agencies like AC Transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087116\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-1536x970.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board an airport-bound train from the Coliseum BART station on the Oakland Airport Connector line in Oakland, California on Friday, March 18, 2016. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ This a major rollback of civil rights protections,” said Laurel Paget-Seekins, senior policy advocate at Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule change means the DOT will no longer require transit agencies to weigh equity when considering changes to policies regarding \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067737/clipper-2-0-leaves-ac-transit-cash-riders-behind\">fares\u003c/a>, service frequency and location, or language access, along with the impacts of highway construction and other projects, as long as the action is not explicitly discriminatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has its own Title VI protections that prohibit recipients of state funds from discriminating against protected groups, which remain in place. But Paget-Seekins said that unlike the federal Title VI protections, the state doesn’t require agencies that receive funding to collect data and do preventative analyses. “Whether Bay Area transit agencies will continue to do this analysis voluntarily — and whether California will require them to — is now an important question that deserves public scrutiny,” Paget-Seekins said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Public Advocates used Title VI to successfully file a civil rights \u003ca href=\"https://publicadvocates.org/campaigns/bart-oakland-airport-connector/\">complaint\u003c/a> against BART in 2009, after the agency failed to complete an analysis of how its planned Oakland Airport Connector would impact nearby communities. In response, the Federal Transit Administration withdrew $70 million in funds for the project, which was dispersed to other regional transit agencies and projects, and compelled BART to complete a service equity analysis for the \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/research/2503-cs3-oak-airport-connector.pdf\">project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon has called on the DOT to maintain disparate impact protections in transportation projects since March. Simon, a former BART Board Director, is legally blind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a transit-dependent person, I know how important it is for agencies receiving federal funds to consider disparate impact on the communities they serve,” Simon said in a March press release. “Here, the Trump administration has failed on two fronts — rolling back civil rights protections and preventing the public from providing feedback or sharing concerns. It’s disgraceful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/28/2025-07378/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy\">executive order\u003c/a> in April 2025 announcing its intention to eliminate disparate impact protections across the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the U.S. Department of Justice \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/10/2025-22448/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-justice-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the\">rescinded \u003c/a>disparate impact protections in its regulations using a similar rule change mechanism and language. This week, the DOJ issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-concludes-eeoc-disparate-impact-guidelines-violate-constitution\">opinion \u003c/a>stating that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidelines on disparate impact protections were unconstitutional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Correction:\u003c/strong> An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed language from a Federal Register ruling to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Duffy signed the ruling but was not the source of the quoted language.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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