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"content": "\u003cp>California joined nearly two dozen other states in suing the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday over its move to almost halve its workforce, which Attorney General \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rob-bonta\">Rob Bonta\u003c/a> said would hamper funding for low-income students and anti-discrimination efforts in districts across the state and Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department announced Tuesday that it would place 1,350 employees on administrative leave next week. Combined with nearly 600 employees who have accepted voluntary buy-outs or resignations since President Trump took office, that constitutes a cut of almost 50% of the department’s workforce — what Education Secretary Linda McMahon \u003ca href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369901522112\">told Fox News\u003c/a> was the first step to shutting down the department entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This en masse firing exceeds any statutory authority granted by Congress,” Bonta said at a press conference announcing the suit, joined by 20 other Democratic attorneys general on Thursday morning. “Alongside numerous other actions the Trump administration has taken, this sweeping mass firing is, simply put, illegal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Created by Congress in 1979, the Department of Education administers federal education programs for K–12 schools and provides grants to local education agencies, including for special and early education services, among other duties. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/65178/what-does-the-us-department-of-education-do-some-facts-about-its-role-in-schools\">Unwinding it fully\u003c/a> would almost certainly require an act of Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday’s lawsuit alleges that the mass firings will impede the department’s ability to carry out those statutory functions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reductions will also gut the department’s civil rights division, which enforces anti-discrimination laws in school districts. Seven of the division’s 12 offices, including the one in San Francisco, will be closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12013319\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12013319\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/02052019_capitol_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The U.S. Capitol Building on Feb. 5, 2019, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Zach Gibson/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Office for Civil Rights protects students from race-based discrimination and sexual assault, and it supports students who have disabilities or are members of other protected classes — all obligations that Bonta said would be impossible for a diminished Department of Education to carry out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a congressionally required function of the Department of Education,” he said. “It must be fulfilled, and it is unlawful and unconstitutional for it to be dismantled the way that the Trump administration has sought to dismantle it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear to what extent Bay Area schools will feel the effects of the cuts, but McMahon said that the department will retain the “right people” to ensure its grants and appropriations from Congress are being met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s public school budget for 2024–25 included more than $45 million in federal funding — including millions for both early child development and care and nutrition programs. That’s just short of 4% of the district’s $1.3 billion budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12031166 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/DonaldTrumpEOGetty-1020x664.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit follows another Bonta joined against the Department of Education last week, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030028/trump-cut-education-grants-over-dei-it-will-worsen-teacher-shortages-lawsuit-says\">aimed to reverse funding cuts\u003c/a> for teacher training programs at universities, including eight California State and University of California campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun granted a temporary two-week restraining order blocking the Trump administration from terminating $600 million worth of Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grants. That funding supports residency programs that train K–12 teachers in difficult-to-staff regions and specialties, such as special education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta said Thursday he was prepared to take action if that order wasn’t followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorneys general who have signed onto the suit against the mass firings also said the move was somewhat anticipatory, as the Trump administration has signaled that it will issue an executive order calling for McMahon to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/05/nx-s1-5316227/trump-order-dismantling-education-department\">dismantle her agency\u003c/a> “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many ways, we’re getting ahead of what may come,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said. “What we know to be true is that you have a president and an education secretary where their goal is to dismantle this agency in its entirety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Number one, we are pointing out to this court and to the public that they do not have the authority to dismantle any agency that was created by Congress. [And] second … [the employees] who were recently suspended or let go, they have critical functions that they serve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit follows another Bonta joined against the Department of Education last week, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030028/trump-cut-education-grants-over-dei-it-will-worsen-teacher-shortages-lawsuit-says\">aimed to reverse funding cuts\u003c/a> for teacher training programs at universities, including eight California State and University of California campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun granted a temporary two-week restraining order blocking the Trump administration from terminating $600 million worth of Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grants. That funding supports residency programs that train K–12 teachers in difficult-to-staff regions and specialties, such as special education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta said Thursday he was prepared to take action if that order wasn’t followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorneys general who have signed onto the suit against the mass firings also said the move was somewhat anticipatory, as the Trump administration has signaled that it will issue an executive order calling for McMahon to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/05/nx-s1-5316227/trump-order-dismantling-education-department\">dismantle her agency\u003c/a> “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many ways, we’re getting ahead of what may come,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said. “What we know to be true is that you have a president and an education secretary where their goal is to dismantle this agency in its entirety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Number one, we are pointing out to this court and to the public that they do not have the authority to dismantle any agency that was created by Congress. [And] second … [the employees] who were recently suspended or let go, they have critical functions that they serve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Federal Judge in SF Orders Trump Administration to Reverse Mass Firings at 6 Agencies",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:02 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to “immediately” reinstate thousands of probationary employees at six federal agencies who lost their jobs in recent waves of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029015/us-judge-in-san-francisco-will-hear-union-request-to-halt-trump-mass-firings\">mass firings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the firings violated federal law and ordered the administration to issue immediate offers of reinstatement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers in question were employed by the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said the firings were unlawful because the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its acting director did not have the authority to order the terminations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that it was clear federal agencies had followed OPM’s directive to use a loophole — which he called “a gimmick” — to fire the workers based on poor performance, even though they had received positive feedback from supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029027\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029027\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-2200003760-scaled-e1741885776172.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1463\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Federal workers gather outside a federal building in Boston to protest the Trump administration’s mass layoffs and budget cuts on Feb. 19, 2025. Labor unions argued in front of a federal judge at a Thursday hearing in San Francisco that Trump officials lack the authority to order terminations of probationary federal employees and that notices to workers were premised on a lie of poor job performance. \u003ccite>(Brett Phelps/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” he said. “It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement provided to NPR, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the firings and said the administration would fight back against what she called an “absurd and unconstitutional order.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch — singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the President’s agenda,” Leavitt said. “If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for President themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday’s ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and advocacy groups in response to the administration’s effort to dramatically \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doge-firings-layoffs-federal-government-workers-musk-d33cdd7872d64d2bdd8fe70c28652654\">downsize the federal workforce\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge’s ruling follows a temporary restraining order he issued earlier this month that halted the Trump administration’s firing of probationary employees, an injunction that he further extended on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030313 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250307-BERKELEY-SCIENCE-PROTEST-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup expressed his frustration with lawyers representing the Trump administration, saying he was tired of seeing them “stonewall” his efforts to find out whether it was OPM or the agencies themselves that directed the mass terminations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also took issue that OPM’s acting director, Charles Ezell, and his senior adviser, Noah Peters, did not attend the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross-examination would reveal the truth,” Alsup told the administration’s legal team. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration’s lawyers, meanwhile, argued that firings of probationary employees were directed by the heads of the agencies, in accordance with established laws, and that press releases issued by the respective agencies proved that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before issuing his ruling, Alsup also clarified with lawyers representing the unions that the administration’s current \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030839/us-education-department-says-it-is-cutting-nearly-half-of-all-staff\">“reduction in force” orders\u003c/a> at several other agencies, including the Department of Education, were still legal and could proceed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it’s done right, there can be a reduction in force within an agency, that has to be true,” Alsup said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luz Fuller, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1206 in Sacramento, which represents about 4,500 Veterans Affairs employees, said she felt a great sense of relief after hearing the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just so happy for those families that I know were sitting at home. They lost their jobs, they were illegally fired,” she said. “And now they’re going to get contacted by their supervisors. And be made known that they were fired illegally. They can return to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:02 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to “immediately” reinstate thousands of probationary employees at six federal agencies who lost their jobs in recent waves of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029015/us-judge-in-san-francisco-will-hear-union-request-to-halt-trump-mass-firings\">mass firings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the firings violated federal law and ordered the administration to issue immediate offers of reinstatement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers in question were employed by the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said the firings were unlawful because the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its acting director did not have the authority to order the terminations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that it was clear federal agencies had followed OPM’s directive to use a loophole — which he called “a gimmick” — to fire the workers based on poor performance, even though they had received positive feedback from supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029027\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029027\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-2200003760-scaled-e1741885776172.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1463\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Federal workers gather outside a federal building in Boston to protest the Trump administration’s mass layoffs and budget cuts on Feb. 19, 2025. Labor unions argued in front of a federal judge at a Thursday hearing in San Francisco that Trump officials lack the authority to order terminations of probationary federal employees and that notices to workers were premised on a lie of poor job performance. \u003ccite>(Brett Phelps/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” he said. “It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement provided to NPR, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the firings and said the administration would fight back against what she called an “absurd and unconstitutional order.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch — singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the President’s agenda,” Leavitt said. “If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for President themselves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday’s ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and advocacy groups in response to the administration’s effort to dramatically \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doge-firings-layoffs-federal-government-workers-musk-d33cdd7872d64d2bdd8fe70c28652654\">downsize the federal workforce\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge’s ruling follows a temporary restraining order he issued earlier this month that halted the Trump administration’s firing of probationary employees, an injunction that he further extended on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup expressed his frustration with lawyers representing the Trump administration, saying he was tired of seeing them “stonewall” his efforts to find out whether it was OPM or the agencies themselves that directed the mass terminations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also took issue that OPM’s acting director, Charles Ezell, and his senior adviser, Noah Peters, did not attend the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross-examination would reveal the truth,” Alsup told the administration’s legal team. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration’s lawyers, meanwhile, argued that firings of probationary employees were directed by the heads of the agencies, in accordance with established laws, and that press releases issued by the respective agencies proved that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before issuing his ruling, Alsup also clarified with lawyers representing the unions that the administration’s current \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030839/us-education-department-says-it-is-cutting-nearly-half-of-all-staff\">“reduction in force” orders\u003c/a> at several other agencies, including the Department of Education, were still legal and could proceed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it’s done right, there can be a reduction in force within an agency, that has to be true,” Alsup said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luz Fuller, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1206 in Sacramento, which represents about 4,500 Veterans Affairs employees, said she felt a great sense of relief after hearing the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just so happy for those families that I know were sitting at home. They lost their jobs, they were illegally fired,” she said. “And now they’re going to get contacted by their supervisors. And be made known that they were fired illegally. They can return to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "vta-strike-underscores-silicon-valleys-widening-income-inequality",
"title": "How the VTA Strike Underscores Silicon Valley’s Widening Income Inequality",
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"content": "\u003cp>While higher wages are a key sticking point for the more than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030780/bus-drivers-light-rail-operators-on-strike-in-the-south-bay\">bus drivers and train operators on strike\u003c/a> in the pricey Silicon Valley, tens of thousands of riders could also face increased costs as they figure out how else to get around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a problem that underscores the growing income inequality and cost of living in the South Bay, both for transit operators and the riders who depend on their service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely very inconvenient, and it’s going to affect my plans on going to work,” Chris Zin of Union City said of the strike, which ground \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> service to a halt this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zin took BART from Union City to Milpitas, where he was waiting Monday afternoon at a VTA bus stop near the station when he saw an electronic signboard notifying him about the lack of bus and light rail service. Because of that, he said he’ll need to pay to travel one stop farther on BART to Berryessa and then for a service like Uber or Lyft to take him the rest of the way to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to affect my income as well,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sudden loss of transit service is especially a burden on those with limited incomes, who often have few other options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030771 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, strike for the second day on North First Street in San José, demanding a better contract and an increase in wages on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit the VTA filed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030759/vta-sues-to-end-historic-south-bay-transit-workers-strike\">try to halt the strike\u003c/a>, the agency said a shutdown in services “especially impacts certain sectors of the population including seniors, people with disabilities and low-income riders.” Nearly 21% of weekday VTA riders earn less than $15,000 a year, the agency said. More than 27% are going to or from school or college, and about 40% are going to or from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We calculate that regular folks are spending $10,000 at least minimally on their transportation costs in our region. These are all really difficult things, especially when most people are now spending more than 50% of their income on housing alone,” said Russell Hancock, the president and CEO of think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “So we’re a deeply burdened region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a strike, the added costs to transit riders can be one more hit to their checking accounts or even drive people away from using transit in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Very often it’s the people that are in the service professions that are reliant on transit, so this can hurt,” Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030759 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, the union representing the striking VTA workers, said he empathizes with riders, but he blamed the transit agency for what he called “bad faith” negotiations that ran for more than six months before \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">the strike was called\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel for those people. The best part of our job, being an operator, is getting someone from A to B, whether it’s their doctor’s appointment, grocery shopping, or even the school trips. We take pride in the work that we do,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unfortunate that the agency has pushed us to this point,” he said. “I hope people understand that this wasn’t something that we intended on doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA’s latest offer to ATU workers includes a 9% pay increase spread over three years, with 4% coming in the first year, followed by 3% and 2%, respectively. The offer represents half of what the union is seeking — an 18% raise over the same time period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA officials have said the agency can’t afford the union’s ask without cutting service and possibly cutting jobs, and believe their current offer is competitive, as it would ensure ATU members remain the second-highest paid transit workers in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hancock and some transit riders, meanwhile, said they understand that striking transit workers are also having trouble in an expensive place to live and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030773\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030773\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A blacked-out sign at a railroad track stop on North First Street in San José on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sheila Mirrielees, who takes public transit from Mountain View to work in downtown Oakland, was planning on using a VTA light rail train to get home on Monday afternoon from Milpitas BART.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t listen to the news this morning. So now I have to take an Uber out to Mountain View,” Mirrielees said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As long as the strike continues, Mirrielees said she’ll stick to using Caltrain and BART for her commute. Despite the inconvenience, she said she’s on the side of the striking workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is such an expensive area to live that the wages just don’t keep up in most professions,” she said. “People just don’t go on strike for the fun of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Silicon Valley was once known for its wealth as a middle-class region, that has shifted dramatically in the last few decades, Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Now, we have the nation’s highest wealth and income gaps where the bulk of the wealth is held by a small number of people and a large number of people are barely getting by,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Joint Venture’s recently published annual report, \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/publications/silicon-valley-index\">the Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, Hancock noted that while the region remains an “economic superpower,” it is simultaneously struggling to address critical issues like homelessness, stagnating wages and higher costs for just about everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most people will tell you that those are the conditions for instability and that those are the conditions where you start seeing blood in the streets,” Hancock said. “It’s just a very difficult place to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waiting for a ride on Monday afternoon, Preeti Sharma of Milpitas described her day as “not a good one” because she was tired from the daylight saving time shift and wanted to get home quickly, but was caught off guard by the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharma was catching a ride that day with her friend Helly Tanna, who takes an AC Transit bus into Milpitas BART, but due to the strike on Monday, the signboard Tanna usually checks to confirm her bus is coming was blank, even though the AC Transit is running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The confusion added some stress to her day, and she had to coordinate with her husband and their baby’s sleeping schedule to arrange a last-minute pickup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how long the strike will last, union and agency officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it will be long-lasting, then it might cause trouble,” Tanna said. “We’ll see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "South Bay bus drivers and train operators are striking in part for higher wages in a costly place to live. The shutdown is also hitting riders who depend on their service. ",
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"title": "How the VTA Strike Underscores Silicon Valley’s Widening Income Inequality | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>While higher wages are a key sticking point for the more than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030780/bus-drivers-light-rail-operators-on-strike-in-the-south-bay\">bus drivers and train operators on strike\u003c/a> in the pricey Silicon Valley, tens of thousands of riders could also face increased costs as they figure out how else to get around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a problem that underscores the growing income inequality and cost of living in the South Bay, both for transit operators and the riders who depend on their service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely very inconvenient, and it’s going to affect my plans on going to work,” Chris Zin of Union City said of the strike, which ground \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> service to a halt this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zin took BART from Union City to Milpitas, where he was waiting Monday afternoon at a VTA bus stop near the station when he saw an electronic signboard notifying him about the lack of bus and light rail service. Because of that, he said he’ll need to pay to travel one stop farther on BART to Berryessa and then for a service like Uber or Lyft to take him the rest of the way to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to affect my income as well,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sudden loss of transit service is especially a burden on those with limited incomes, who often have few other options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030771 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-16-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority workers, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, strike for the second day on North First Street in San José, demanding a better contract and an increase in wages on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit the VTA filed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030759/vta-sues-to-end-historic-south-bay-transit-workers-strike\">try to halt the strike\u003c/a>, the agency said a shutdown in services “especially impacts certain sectors of the population including seniors, people with disabilities and low-income riders.” Nearly 21% of weekday VTA riders earn less than $15,000 a year, the agency said. More than 27% are going to or from school or college, and about 40% are going to or from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We calculate that regular folks are spending $10,000 at least minimally on their transportation costs in our region. These are all really difficult things, especially when most people are now spending more than 50% of their income on housing alone,” said Russell Hancock, the president and CEO of think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “So we’re a deeply burdened region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a strike, the added costs to transit riders can be one more hit to their checking accounts or even drive people away from using transit in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Very often it’s the people that are in the service professions that are reliant on transit, so this can hurt,” Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, the union representing the striking VTA workers, said he empathizes with riders, but he blamed the transit agency for what he called “bad faith” negotiations that ran for more than six months before \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">the strike was called\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel for those people. The best part of our job, being an operator, is getting someone from A to B, whether it’s their doctor’s appointment, grocery shopping, or even the school trips. We take pride in the work that we do,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unfortunate that the agency has pushed us to this point,” he said. “I hope people understand that this wasn’t something that we intended on doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VTA’s latest offer to ATU workers includes a 9% pay increase spread over three years, with 4% coming in the first year, followed by 3% and 2%, respectively. The offer represents half of what the union is seeking — an 18% raise over the same time period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA officials have said the agency can’t afford the union’s ask without cutting service and possibly cutting jobs, and believe their current offer is competitive, as it would ensure ATU members remain the second-highest paid transit workers in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hancock and some transit riders, meanwhile, said they understand that striking transit workers are also having trouble in an expensive place to live and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030773\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030773\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250311_VTASTRIKEDAY2_GC-22-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A blacked-out sign at a railroad track stop on North First Street in San José on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sheila Mirrielees, who takes public transit from Mountain View to work in downtown Oakland, was planning on using a VTA light rail train to get home on Monday afternoon from Milpitas BART.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t listen to the news this morning. So now I have to take an Uber out to Mountain View,” Mirrielees said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As long as the strike continues, Mirrielees said she’ll stick to using Caltrain and BART for her commute. Despite the inconvenience, she said she’s on the side of the striking workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is such an expensive area to live that the wages just don’t keep up in most professions,” she said. “People just don’t go on strike for the fun of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Silicon Valley was once known for its wealth as a middle-class region, that has shifted dramatically in the last few decades, Hancock said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Now, we have the nation’s highest wealth and income gaps where the bulk of the wealth is held by a small number of people and a large number of people are barely getting by,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Joint Venture’s recently published annual report, \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/publications/silicon-valley-index\">the Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, Hancock noted that while the region remains an “economic superpower,” it is simultaneously struggling to address critical issues like homelessness, stagnating wages and higher costs for just about everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most people will tell you that those are the conditions for instability and that those are the conditions where you start seeing blood in the streets,” Hancock said. “It’s just a very difficult place to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waiting for a ride on Monday afternoon, Preeti Sharma of Milpitas described her day as “not a good one” because she was tired from the daylight saving time shift and wanted to get home quickly, but was caught off guard by the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharma was catching a ride that day with her friend Helly Tanna, who takes an AC Transit bus into Milpitas BART, but due to the strike on Monday, the signboard Tanna usually checks to confirm her bus is coming was blank, even though the AC Transit is running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The confusion added some stress to her day, and she had to coordinate with her husband and their baby’s sleeping schedule to arrange a last-minute pickup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how long the strike will last, union and agency officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it will be long-lasting, then it might cause trouble,” Tanna said. “We’ll see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As South Bay transit workers continue \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">a historic strike\u003c/a> for a second day over stalled contract talks, halting bus and train service in the region, the agency that employs them is suing to force them back to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> filed a complaint late Monday night against the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, alleging the strike is a breach of contract and an act of bad faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This abrupt disruption in service has created substantial uncertainty for VTA’s tens of thousands of daily riders and other members of the public who rely on VTA to transport their employees, students, and loved ones throughout the county and beyond,” reads the complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 ATU workers have walked off their jobs as bus drivers, train operators, maintenance technicians, dispatchers and customer service agents. The VTA is asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the strike, the first in the 30-year history of the transit agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This strike is having an overwhelming impact on the community, and we are working on all efforts to support our riders getting to work, school, medical appointments, and events,” VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said in a statement. “Getting our buses and trains rolling is imperative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s complaint alleges that the collective bargaining agreement with the ATU prohibits a strike or work stoppage not only during the life of the previous contract, which expired on March 3 but also during ongoing negotiations for a new contract.[aside postID=news_12029584 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240409-VTAfile-02-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']“VTA recognizes that ATU employees have the right to strike so long as they comply with the law and the collective bargaining agreement,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “However, ATU has failed to meet those requirements prior to initiating their strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of ATU Local 265, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit on Tuesday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the union began new contract negotiations in August and even went through a round of mediation at the start of this year, but the two sides are still far apart on the critical issue of wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA’s latest offer, made on Feb. 28, includes a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials have also said they are seeking a fairer arbitration process for workers who file grievances with the VTA and other deal points, including long-term leave due to injury and illness, which the agency is seeking to cut from two years to one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the strike, VTA Deputy General Manager Greg Richardson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">characterized the union’s wage demands\u003c/a> as “unreasonable” and said the agency can’t afford that level of pay increases without reducing services and possibly cutting jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a developing story, and it will be updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As South Bay transit workers continue \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030584/santa-clara-county-transit-grinds-to-a-halt-as-vta-workers-strike\">a historic strike\u003c/a> for a second day over stalled contract talks, halting bus and train service in the region, the agency that employs them is suing to force them back to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> filed a complaint late Monday night against the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, alleging the strike is a breach of contract and an act of bad faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This abrupt disruption in service has created substantial uncertainty for VTA’s tens of thousands of daily riders and other members of the public who rely on VTA to transport their employees, students, and loved ones throughout the county and beyond,” reads the complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 ATU workers have walked off their jobs as bus drivers, train operators, maintenance technicians, dispatchers and customer service agents. The VTA is asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the strike, the first in the 30-year history of the transit agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This strike is having an overwhelming impact on the community, and we are working on all efforts to support our riders getting to work, school, medical appointments, and events,” VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said in a statement. “Getting our buses and trains rolling is imperative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s complaint alleges that the collective bargaining agreement with the ATU prohibits a strike or work stoppage not only during the life of the previous contract, which expired on March 3 but also during ongoing negotiations for a new contract.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“VTA recognizes that ATU employees have the right to strike so long as they comply with the law and the collective bargaining agreement,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “However, ATU has failed to meet those requirements prior to initiating their strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of ATU Local 265, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit on Tuesday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency and the union began new contract negotiations in August and even went through a round of mediation at the start of this year, but the two sides are still far apart on the critical issue of wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA’s latest offer, made on Feb. 28, includes a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials have also said they are seeking a fairer arbitration process for workers who file grievances with the VTA and other deal points, including long-term leave due to injury and illness, which the agency is seeking to cut from two years to one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the strike, VTA Deputy General Manager Greg Richardson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">characterized the union’s wage demands\u003c/a> as “unreasonable” and said the agency can’t afford that level of pay increases without reducing services and possibly cutting jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a developing story, and it will be updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11:15 a.m. Tuesday: Multiple media outlets have reported that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reached a deal with the Trump administration on April 7 that would grant immigration officials access to the personal information of undocumented immigrants who have been ordered to leave the United States. This agreement — which complete details have yet to be made public — represents a major shift for the IRS. KQED will be updating this story as more information becomes available. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/politics/irs-dhs-sign-data-deal-undocumented-immigrants/index.html\">Read more about the deal between the IRS and the Trump administration.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every year, thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909786/how-to-find-free-tax-help-near-you-and-prepare-everything-you-need-for-your-appointment\">Bay Area families file their taxes for free\u003c/a> at the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in San Francisco. These clients include people who file taxes using an \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin\">individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)\u003c/a> from the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, in the absence of a Social Security number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost everyone who earns income in the United States is required to pay taxes, regardless of their immigration status. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/\">This includes millions of undocumented people\u003c/a> who file their taxes — alongside American citizens and immigrants with work permits — in order to comply with federal tax law and potentially improve their chances of one day obtaining legal immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, there’s one question that MEDA’s VP of family support and school-based services, Jaqueline Marcelos, said her staff is hearing more: How private is my tax information?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay Rojas, senior program manager with United Way Bay Area (UWBA), works with free tax sites like MEDA all over the region and said she’s been hearing the same concern, too: “Will my information be shared with other agencies?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marcelos attributes the anxiety she’s seeing from clients to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024332/ice-raids-in-california-how-to-sort-fact-from-rumor-online\">President Donald Trump’s moves to target undocumented immigrants under his new administration\u003c/a>. In February, \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/28/immigration-enforcement-trump-administration-irs/\">the Washington Post reported\u003c/a> that the Department of Homeland Security asked the IRS to provide the addresses and phone numbers of individuals who may be in the country without a legal immigration status — a request that the IRS ultimately rejected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030567\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030567\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building stands on April 15, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Due to privacy rules passed by Congress in 1976, tax returns are confidential information — not public documents the president can access when desired. \u003ccite>(Zach Gibson/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The tax agency has also been a target of the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — led by billionaire Elon Musk — which reportedly \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/top-musk-staffer-goes-irs-examine-operations-sources-say-2025-02-13/\">showed up at the IRS headquarters last month in order to review agency operations\u003c/a>. The IRS was able to block \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/irs-blocks-musk-aide-accessing-taxpayer-data-2025-02-21/#:~:text=Feb%2021%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20The,agency%20and%20the%20Trump%20administration.\">one of Musk’s DOGE aides from accessing individual taxpayer returns\u003c/a> and other personal information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what laws are in place that establish how the IRS acts and who it shares information with? And can these rules hold off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026245/can-trump-actually-change-federal-funding-rules-through-executive-orders\">a president who has shown his determination to reshape how the federal government works\u003c/a>? While the IRS did not reply to KQED’s multiple requests for comment, we spoke to multiple tax experts about current tax law to understand what legal mechanisms protect personal taxpayer data and recent actions by the IRS to protect this information.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What rules does the IRS have to follow?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When you submit information to the IRS, your tax return by law cannot be shared \u003cem>outside \u003c/em>of the IRS, said Amy Spivey, professor and director of the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic at UC College of the Law in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, what that means is: the IRS is not permitted to share information about those who may be undocumented or without status here in the United States with other organizations like the Department of Homeland Security or ICE,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IRS operates under the \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103\">Internal Revenue Code (IRC)\u003c/a>, first \u003ca href=\"https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=271147&p=2630483#:~:text=There%20have%20been%20three%20major,laws%20were%20individual%20Revenue%20Acts.\">established by Congress in 1939\u003c/a>, which defines not just how the federal government collects taxes but also what it does with taxpayer data. Specifically, IRC Section 6103 establishes that “taxpayer information is extremely confidential,” said Josh Rosenthal, who leads the workers’ rights program at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12029428 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250226-NAMEGENDERMARKERS-12-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Taxpayer information at the IRS can only be disclosed under extremely, extremely limited circumstances,” Rosenthal said, “mostly for the purposes of administering the tax system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these exceptions the IRC provides \u003cem>do \u003c/em>apply during certain investigations, like taxpayer audits, for example, when the IRS needs to update state tax agencies — such as California’s Franchise Tax Board — that there are changes to a taxpayer’s filing information, or in limited criminal investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is no such exception for immigration enforcement “or other civil enforcement,” Rosenthal said — “and the exceptions that are there for criminal enforcement have substantial, procedural protection to make sure that taxpayer information is protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even if an individual IRS employee wanted to share taxpayer information, Rosenthal added, “it’s actually a crime for a federal employee to look at or disclose taxpayer information outside of those privacy protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>How do undocumented immigrants pay taxes?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The IRS started issuing ITINs in 1996 in order to improve tax collection, and since then, \u003ca href=\"https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-individual-taxpayer-identification-numbers-itins/\">millions of people working in the U.S. have paid their taxes with an ITIN\u003c/a>. Many people who use an ITIN to file are undocumented, although \u003ca href=\"https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-individual-taxpayer-identification-numbers-itins/#_ftnref8\">other groups may use an ITIN, too\u003c/a>, including the spouses of workers legally authorized to work in the U.S. and international students. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/how-to-apply-for-an-itin\">Requesting an ITIN from the IRS can be\u003c/a> a complicated process that requires applicants to send their foreign passports, along with other personal information, to the tax agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/\">a 2024 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy\u003c/a>, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022. However, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving Medicare or Social Security retirement benefits — \u003ca href=\"https://taxpolicycenter.org/fiscal-facts/yes-undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes-and-receive-few-tax-benefits#:~:text=Most%20people%20who%20pay%20into,tax%20benefits%20as%20US%20citizens.\">despite contributing massively to these programs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody who earns income in the United States is obligated to file taxes,” said Rosenthal from the Asian Law Caucus. “ITINs [recognize] that people are here across a range of immigration situations in order to build safe and healthy lives for themselves and for their families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11982862\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11982862\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This year, those who are eligible can do their taxes directly through the IRS using their Direct File tool instead of buying and using tax software. \u003ccite>(d3sign/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, at the start of the previous Trump administration, community tax clinics in the Bay Area reported \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/04/17/523634144/tax-filings-seen-dipping-amid-trump-crackdown-on-illegal-immigration\">a 20% decline in the number of people filing with ITINs\u003c/a>. Staff working at these clinics told NPR in 2017 that their undocumented clients felt discouraged to file taxes when the federal government was making the path to citizenship much harder for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Could the Trump administration force the IRS to break the law?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since his return to the White House, Trump and his allies \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026245/can-trump-actually-change-federal-funding-rules-through-executive-orders\">have intervened in almost every corner of the federal government\u003c/a>. Many of these actions have already been frozen by federal judges across the country, with legal scholars insisting that the administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028351/what-happens-if-the-president-disobeys-the-courts-a-constitutional-crisis-experts-say\">has been acting against federal law and the U.S. Constitution\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IRS has already been a target of the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk. Around \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/irs-drafting-plans-to-slash-as-much-as-half-of-its-90000-person-workforce-leaving-agency-dysfunctional-ap-sources-say\">7,000 probationary IRS employees were laid off\u003c/a> in February, and\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/irs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html\"> the Trump administration is now assessing budget cuts and additional layoffs\u003c/a> that could ultimately result in the IRS reducing its workforce by up to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Against this backdrop, could Trump force the IRS to go against its own laws and disclose to other federal agencies the personal information of specific taxpayers — immigrant taxpayers using their ITINs, for example?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that we’ve seen across the board with this administration is that they are acting erratically and chaotically,” said Rosenthal from the Asian Law Caucus — “and they’re trying to inspire confusion and fear, particularly among immigrant communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points out that many of these tax privacy protections were created in response to a previous American president who tried to weaponize the IRS: Richard Nixon. In 1973, members of the Nixon administration testified to Congress that they \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxnotes/2023/03/13/timelines-in-tax-history-nixon-aide-tried-to-weaponize-the-irs-by-pressuring-the-commissioner/\">tried — and failed — to obtain from the IRS tax information about individuals that Nixon considered to be his enemies.\u003c/a> Using the IRS as a political tool would later be \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/14/archives/an-explanation-the-allegatoins-of-nixons-irs-interference-many.html\">one of the accusations Nixon faced from lawmakers who wanted to impeach him\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11721589\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/01/nixonsb-3_enl-ff57c096653782415da98c1be82a850c3c68bfd3-e1741642037958.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11721589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/01/nixonsb-3_enl-ff57c096653782415da98c1be82a850c3c68bfd3-e1741642037958.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1654\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Richard Nixon speaking on a beach in Santa Barbara in March 1969. Using the IRS as a political tool would later be one of the accusations Nixon faced from lawmakers who wanted to impeach him.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few years later, Congress passed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/94th-congress/house-bill/10612\">Tax Reform Act of 1976\u003c/a>, which established the privacy rules in the Internal Revenue Code 6103 and made it clear that \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/center-article/the-future-of-tax-privacy/\">tax returns are confidential information\u003c/a> — not public documents the president can access when desired. On March 7, \u003ca href=\"https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/1-Complaint-10.pdf\">immigration advocacy groups based out of Chicago sued IRS leadership,\u003c/a> arguing that Internal Revenue Code section 6103 “forbids Defendants from complying with requests — whether from the President, DHS, ICE, or a state — to share return or return information for purposes of immigration enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosenthal said there is reason to believe that the IRS will protect its autonomy once again if challenged, just like agency employees pushed back against Nixon in the 1970s. “There are career staff in these agencies who … emphasize that everybody has the same obligation to pay taxes, and people who are doing that shouldn’t be made to fear because of their participation in the system,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12028454 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-2177324845-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When officials from DOGE \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/top-musk-staffer-goes-irs-examine-operations-sources-say-2025-02-13/\">showed up at the IRS headquarters last month in order to review agency operations\u003c/a>, the IRS responded by asking for clear and written rules of what information DOGE would be able to access. The agreement reached between federal officials states that if DOGE employees were to look at any taxpayer returns, that information “shall only be provided if it is anonymized and in a manner that cannot be associated with, directly or indirectly, any taxpayer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IRS did not reply to multiple requests from KQED to comment on this agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Internal Revenue Code 6103] should be protecting the tax return information of those who are undocumented, for now,” said Spivey from UC Law. “Whether this will stay in place or whether it will be amended, that’s another question.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid this uncertainty, if you are still nervous that filing taxes may complicate your immigration situation, every tax expert KQED spoke to recommends that you reach out to a legal services organization or a lawyer, with whom you can discuss your particular situation and make a decision that is best for you and your family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every scenario is different … We cannot provide one statement for everybody,” said Marcelos from MEDA. “[Clients] need to check with their immigration lawyer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909786/how-to-find-free-tax-help-near-you-and-prepare-everything-you-need-for-your-appointment\">Read our guide on how to find a free or low-cost tax preparer near you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Free tax clinics in the Bay Area are hearing from clients, many of who are immigrants without permanent legal status, about whether the IRS can share their tax information with the Trump administration. KQED spoke to experts to understand what the law says.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11:15 a.m. Tuesday: Multiple media outlets have reported that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reached a deal with the Trump administration on April 7 that would grant immigration officials access to the personal information of undocumented immigrants who have been ordered to leave the United States. This agreement — which complete details have yet to be made public — represents a major shift for the IRS. KQED will be updating this story as more information becomes available. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/politics/irs-dhs-sign-data-deal-undocumented-immigrants/index.html\">Read more about the deal between the IRS and the Trump administration.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every year, thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909786/how-to-find-free-tax-help-near-you-and-prepare-everything-you-need-for-your-appointment\">Bay Area families file their taxes for free\u003c/a> at the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in San Francisco. These clients include people who file taxes using an \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin\">individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)\u003c/a> from the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, in the absence of a Social Security number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost everyone who earns income in the United States is required to pay taxes, regardless of their immigration status. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/\">This includes millions of undocumented people\u003c/a> who file their taxes — alongside American citizens and immigrants with work permits — in order to comply with federal tax law and potentially improve their chances of one day obtaining legal immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this year, there’s one question that MEDA’s VP of family support and school-based services, Jaqueline Marcelos, said her staff is hearing more: How private is my tax information?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsay Rojas, senior program manager with United Way Bay Area (UWBA), works with free tax sites like MEDA all over the region and said she’s been hearing the same concern, too: “Will my information be shared with other agencies?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marcelos attributes the anxiety she’s seeing from clients to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024332/ice-raids-in-california-how-to-sort-fact-from-rumor-online\">President Donald Trump’s moves to target undocumented immigrants under his new administration\u003c/a>. In February, \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/28/immigration-enforcement-trump-administration-irs/\">the Washington Post reported\u003c/a> that the Department of Homeland Security asked the IRS to provide the addresses and phone numbers of individuals who may be in the country without a legal immigration status — a request that the IRS ultimately rejected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030567\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030567\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/internal-revenue-service_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building stands on April 15, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Due to privacy rules passed by Congress in 1976, tax returns are confidential information — not public documents the president can access when desired. \u003ccite>(Zach Gibson/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The tax agency has also been a target of the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — led by billionaire Elon Musk — which reportedly \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/top-musk-staffer-goes-irs-examine-operations-sources-say-2025-02-13/\">showed up at the IRS headquarters last month in order to review agency operations\u003c/a>. The IRS was able to block \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/irs-blocks-musk-aide-accessing-taxpayer-data-2025-02-21/#:~:text=Feb%2021%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20The,agency%20and%20the%20Trump%20administration.\">one of Musk’s DOGE aides from accessing individual taxpayer returns\u003c/a> and other personal information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what laws are in place that establish how the IRS acts and who it shares information with? And can these rules hold off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026245/can-trump-actually-change-federal-funding-rules-through-executive-orders\">a president who has shown his determination to reshape how the federal government works\u003c/a>? While the IRS did not reply to KQED’s multiple requests for comment, we spoke to multiple tax experts about current tax law to understand what legal mechanisms protect personal taxpayer data and recent actions by the IRS to protect this information.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What rules does the IRS have to follow?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When you submit information to the IRS, your tax return by law cannot be shared \u003cem>outside \u003c/em>of the IRS, said Amy Spivey, professor and director of the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic at UC College of the Law in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, what that means is: the IRS is not permitted to share information about those who may be undocumented or without status here in the United States with other organizations like the Department of Homeland Security or ICE,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IRS operates under the \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103\">Internal Revenue Code (IRC)\u003c/a>, first \u003ca href=\"https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=271147&p=2630483#:~:text=There%20have%20been%20three%20major,laws%20were%20individual%20Revenue%20Acts.\">established by Congress in 1939\u003c/a>, which defines not just how the federal government collects taxes but also what it does with taxpayer data. Specifically, IRC Section 6103 establishes that “taxpayer information is extremely confidential,” said Josh Rosenthal, who leads the workers’ rights program at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Taxpayer information at the IRS can only be disclosed under extremely, extremely limited circumstances,” Rosenthal said, “mostly for the purposes of administering the tax system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these exceptions the IRC provides \u003cem>do \u003c/em>apply during certain investigations, like taxpayer audits, for example, when the IRS needs to update state tax agencies — such as California’s Franchise Tax Board — that there are changes to a taxpayer’s filing information, or in limited criminal investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is no such exception for immigration enforcement “or other civil enforcement,” Rosenthal said — “and the exceptions that are there for criminal enforcement have substantial, procedural protection to make sure that taxpayer information is protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even if an individual IRS employee wanted to share taxpayer information, Rosenthal added, “it’s actually a crime for a federal employee to look at or disclose taxpayer information outside of those privacy protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>How do undocumented immigrants pay taxes?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The IRS started issuing ITINs in 1996 in order to improve tax collection, and since then, \u003ca href=\"https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-individual-taxpayer-identification-numbers-itins/\">millions of people working in the U.S. have paid their taxes with an ITIN\u003c/a>. Many people who use an ITIN to file are undocumented, although \u003ca href=\"https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-individual-taxpayer-identification-numbers-itins/#_ftnref8\">other groups may use an ITIN, too\u003c/a>, including the spouses of workers legally authorized to work in the U.S. and international students. \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/how-to-apply-for-an-itin\">Requesting an ITIN from the IRS can be\u003c/a> a complicated process that requires applicants to send their foreign passports, along with other personal information, to the tax agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/\">a 2024 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy\u003c/a>, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022. However, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving Medicare or Social Security retirement benefits — \u003ca href=\"https://taxpolicycenter.org/fiscal-facts/yes-undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes-and-receive-few-tax-benefits#:~:text=Most%20people%20who%20pay%20into,tax%20benefits%20as%20US%20citizens.\">despite contributing massively to these programs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody who earns income in the United States is obligated to file taxes,” said Rosenthal from the Asian Law Caucus. “ITINs [recognize] that people are here across a range of immigration situations in order to build safe and healthy lives for themselves and for their families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11982862\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11982862\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/gettyimages-1403824678_slide-f338fde370196cf054676c1627f763c404b1fa9a-s1600-c85-copy-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This year, those who are eligible can do their taxes directly through the IRS using their Direct File tool instead of buying and using tax software. \u003ccite>(d3sign/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, at the start of the previous Trump administration, community tax clinics in the Bay Area reported \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/04/17/523634144/tax-filings-seen-dipping-amid-trump-crackdown-on-illegal-immigration\">a 20% decline in the number of people filing with ITINs\u003c/a>. Staff working at these clinics told NPR in 2017 that their undocumented clients felt discouraged to file taxes when the federal government was making the path to citizenship much harder for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Could the Trump administration force the IRS to break the law?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since his return to the White House, Trump and his allies \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026245/can-trump-actually-change-federal-funding-rules-through-executive-orders\">have intervened in almost every corner of the federal government\u003c/a>. Many of these actions have already been frozen by federal judges across the country, with legal scholars insisting that the administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028351/what-happens-if-the-president-disobeys-the-courts-a-constitutional-crisis-experts-say\">has been acting against federal law and the U.S. Constitution\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IRS has already been a target of the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk. Around \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/irs-drafting-plans-to-slash-as-much-as-half-of-its-90000-person-workforce-leaving-agency-dysfunctional-ap-sources-say\">7,000 probationary IRS employees were laid off\u003c/a> in February, and\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/irs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html\"> the Trump administration is now assessing budget cuts and additional layoffs\u003c/a> that could ultimately result in the IRS reducing its workforce by up to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Against this backdrop, could Trump force the IRS to go against its own laws and disclose to other federal agencies the personal information of specific taxpayers — immigrant taxpayers using their ITINs, for example?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things that we’ve seen across the board with this administration is that they are acting erratically and chaotically,” said Rosenthal from the Asian Law Caucus — “and they’re trying to inspire confusion and fear, particularly among immigrant communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points out that many of these tax privacy protections were created in response to a previous American president who tried to weaponize the IRS: Richard Nixon. In 1973, members of the Nixon administration testified to Congress that they \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxnotes/2023/03/13/timelines-in-tax-history-nixon-aide-tried-to-weaponize-the-irs-by-pressuring-the-commissioner/\">tried — and failed — to obtain from the IRS tax information about individuals that Nixon considered to be his enemies.\u003c/a> Using the IRS as a political tool would later be \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/14/archives/an-explanation-the-allegatoins-of-nixons-irs-interference-many.html\">one of the accusations Nixon faced from lawmakers who wanted to impeach him\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11721589\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/01/nixonsb-3_enl-ff57c096653782415da98c1be82a850c3c68bfd3-e1741642037958.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11721589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/01/nixonsb-3_enl-ff57c096653782415da98c1be82a850c3c68bfd3-e1741642037958.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1654\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Richard Nixon speaking on a beach in Santa Barbara in March 1969. Using the IRS as a political tool would later be one of the accusations Nixon faced from lawmakers who wanted to impeach him.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few years later, Congress passed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/94th-congress/house-bill/10612\">Tax Reform Act of 1976\u003c/a>, which established the privacy rules in the Internal Revenue Code 6103 and made it clear that \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/center-article/the-future-of-tax-privacy/\">tax returns are confidential information\u003c/a> — not public documents the president can access when desired. On March 7, \u003ca href=\"https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/1-Complaint-10.pdf\">immigration advocacy groups based out of Chicago sued IRS leadership,\u003c/a> arguing that Internal Revenue Code section 6103 “forbids Defendants from complying with requests — whether from the President, DHS, ICE, or a state — to share return or return information for purposes of immigration enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosenthal said there is reason to believe that the IRS will protect its autonomy once again if challenged, just like agency employees pushed back against Nixon in the 1970s. “There are career staff in these agencies who … emphasize that everybody has the same obligation to pay taxes, and people who are doing that shouldn’t be made to fear because of their participation in the system,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When officials from DOGE \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/top-musk-staffer-goes-irs-examine-operations-sources-say-2025-02-13/\">showed up at the IRS headquarters last month in order to review agency operations\u003c/a>, the IRS responded by asking for clear and written rules of what information DOGE would be able to access. The agreement reached between federal officials states that if DOGE employees were to look at any taxpayer returns, that information “shall only be provided if it is anonymized and in a manner that cannot be associated with, directly or indirectly, any taxpayer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IRS did not reply to multiple requests from KQED to comment on this agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Internal Revenue Code 6103] should be protecting the tax return information of those who are undocumented, for now,” said Spivey from UC Law. “Whether this will stay in place or whether it will be amended, that’s another question.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid this uncertainty, if you are still nervous that filing taxes may complicate your immigration situation, every tax expert KQED spoke to recommends that you reach out to a legal services organization or a lawyer, with whom you can discuss your particular situation and make a decision that is best for you and your family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every scenario is different … We cannot provide one statement for everybody,” said Marcelos from MEDA. “[Clients] need to check with their immigration lawyer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909786/how-to-find-free-tax-help-near-you-and-prepare-everything-you-need-for-your-appointment\">Read our guide on how to find a free or low-cost tax preparer near you.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> employees walked off the job on Monday, bringing transit in the South Bay to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bus drivers, light rail train operators, maintenance workers, dispatchers and other members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 began picketing in the dark, early morning hours outside of five VTA yards and offices. The strike comes after a monthslong contract dispute with the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though there have been close calls before, Monday’s strike marks the first work stoppage in VTA’s 30-year history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While spirits among striking workers were high most of the day, a collision between a pickup truck and union members near a bus yard around 9 a.m. put some on edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials say the strike is meant to show the agency that workers are serious about their demands for a better contract, after negotiating for more than six months over wages, benefits and other issues, such as how employee grievances are handled in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are very appreciative that we’re putting up a fight against the agency that’s mistreated us for decades now,” Raj Singh, the union’s president, said Monday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Baypointe light rail platform in San José is vacant on Monday, March 10, 2025, the first day of a strike by the union representing VTA’s bus drivers and light rail train operators. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike’s first day meant roughly 100,000 transit riders who depended on trains and buses to get around the county had to find alternative transportation. The union authorized a strike in early February and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">late last week warned\u003c/a> it would begin the work stoppage if a deal wasn’t reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s affecting a lot of people, it’s affecting the community,” Melissa Rodriguez, a striking bus driver, said Monday while picketing outside the VTA’s Cerone Yard bus depot in North San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the strike is a big step, one she didn’t anticipate would come to pass, but it’s needed to gain what workers deserve in a high-cost area such as Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030160 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-33-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel really bad. But if we don’t do anything about this now, we’re just gonna continue to fight like this back and forth,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though some deal points have been settled in negotiations that began in August, the two sides are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">still far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages, even as the union’s previous contract expired last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their last offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA has made multiple modifications in the proposal it’s made in the last couple of weeks, while ATU appears to refuse to make any changes whatsoever to its demand,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Monday. “There’s no way that VTA can meet the specific wage increase demands that the union is asking for without having to cut service or cut jobs, and that’s just not a tenable option.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said the agency must improve its offer by increasing wages and granting the union more favorable arbitration terms in worker disputes with VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re waiting on the agency to call us to start these discussions again. We want to get this done sooner rather than later,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tensions increased when a low-speed collision occurred outside the Cerone Yard. Singh said a pickup truck leaving the yard was driven by a VTA supervisor who became impatient with picketers in the crosswalk. The driver accelerated as he turned onto the street, and union members who were in the road made contact with the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A partial video of the incident, shared with KQED by union members, shows two people in bright vests falling after colliding with the truck in traffic lanes, with several others close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said she couldn’t confirm whether the driver was a VTA employee, and said the San José Police Department is investigating the collision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said two people were taken to the hospital — one for injuries to their foot and the other due to swelling on their neck.[aside postID=news_12029843 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240620-AffordableHousingPresser-10-BL_qed-1-1020x680.jpg']“People are already infuriated by the fact that the agency’s been mistreating them,” Singh said. “That’s only going to escalate things and make things worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said the agency is concerned about picketers blocking the entrances of VTA work locations to other employees and being in traffic lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We respect the union’s right to strike and to protest and to picket, but we would hope that they would do it in a safe manner and not be unlawfully blocking people from coming to work, unlawfully blocking traffic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside VTA headquarters on North First Street, picketers chanted slogans just across the street from the empty River Oaks light rail stop while passing cars blared their horns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corena Medina, a striking VTA customer service agent, said striking workers have empathy for the riders they serve daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before we can be of service to anyone else, we must be able to take care of ourselves and be well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Negotiators for the agency and the union met Sunday to try and avert the strike, but the meeting was brief and nothing meaningful was settled, according to the agency and the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medina said workers want a solution but are resolved to strike as long as they need to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest hope we have right now is that we can come back to the table with VTA,” she said. “We can try to figure out how we can come to some type of an agreement so that we can get back out there and keep this county rolling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More than 1,500 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> employees walked off the job on Monday, bringing transit in the South Bay to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bus drivers, light rail train operators, maintenance workers, dispatchers and other members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265 began picketing in the dark, early morning hours outside of five VTA yards and offices. The strike comes after a monthslong contract dispute with the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though there have been close calls before, Monday’s strike marks the first work stoppage in VTA’s 30-year history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While spirits among striking workers were high most of the day, a collision between a pickup truck and union members near a bus yard around 9 a.m. put some on edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials say the strike is meant to show the agency that workers are serious about their demands for a better contract, after negotiating for more than six months over wages, benefits and other issues, such as how employee grievances are handled in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are very appreciative that we’re putting up a fight against the agency that’s mistreated us for decades now,” Raj Singh, the union’s president, said Monday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Baypointe light rail platform in San José is vacant on Monday, March 10, 2025, the first day of a strike by the union representing VTA’s bus drivers and light rail train operators. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike’s first day meant roughly 100,000 transit riders who depended on trains and buses to get around the county had to find alternative transportation. The union authorized a strike in early February and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030160/south-bay-transit-workers-call-strike-set-to-halt-vta-bus-and-rail-service\">late last week warned\u003c/a> it would begin the work stoppage if a deal wasn’t reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s affecting a lot of people, it’s affecting the community,” Melissa Rodriguez, a striking bus driver, said Monday while picketing outside the VTA’s Cerone Yard bus depot in North San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the strike is a big step, one she didn’t anticipate would come to pass, but it’s needed to gain what workers deserve in a high-cost area such as Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel really bad. But if we don’t do anything about this now, we’re just gonna continue to fight like this back and forth,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though some deal points have been settled in negotiations that began in August, the two sides are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">still far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages, even as the union’s previous contract expired last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their last offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the same day, the union requested an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA has made multiple modifications in the proposal it’s made in the last couple of weeks, while ATU appears to refuse to make any changes whatsoever to its demand,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Monday. “There’s no way that VTA can meet the specific wage increase demands that the union is asking for without having to cut service or cut jobs, and that’s just not a tenable option.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said the agency must improve its offer by increasing wages and granting the union more favorable arbitration terms in worker disputes with VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030673\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250220-VTASTRIKED1.-JG-8-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striking VTA workers picket acknowledge a passing honking car outside the agency’s headquarters on North First Street in San José on March 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re waiting on the agency to call us to start these discussions again. We want to get this done sooner rather than later,” Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tensions increased when a low-speed collision occurred outside the Cerone Yard. Singh said a pickup truck leaving the yard was driven by a VTA supervisor who became impatient with picketers in the crosswalk. The driver accelerated as he turned onto the street, and union members who were in the road made contact with the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A partial video of the incident, shared with KQED by union members, shows two people in bright vests falling after colliding with the truck in traffic lanes, with several others close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said she couldn’t confirm whether the driver was a VTA employee, and said the San José Police Department is investigating the collision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said two people were taken to the hospital — one for injuries to their foot and the other due to swelling on their neck.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“People are already infuriated by the fact that the agency’s been mistreating them,” Singh said. “That’s only going to escalate things and make things worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross said the agency is concerned about picketers blocking the entrances of VTA work locations to other employees and being in traffic lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We respect the union’s right to strike and to protest and to picket, but we would hope that they would do it in a safe manner and not be unlawfully blocking people from coming to work, unlawfully blocking traffic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside VTA headquarters on North First Street, picketers chanted slogans just across the street from the empty River Oaks light rail stop while passing cars blared their horns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corena Medina, a striking VTA customer service agent, said striking workers have empathy for the riders they serve daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before we can be of service to anyone else, we must be able to take care of ourselves and be well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Negotiators for the agency and the union met Sunday to try and avert the strike, but the meeting was brief and nothing meaningful was settled, according to the agency and the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medina said workers want a solution but are resolved to strike as long as they need to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest hope we have right now is that we can come back to the table with VTA,” she said. “We can try to figure out how we can come to some type of an agreement so that we can get back out there and keep this county rolling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated at 3:22 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 South Bay transit workers plan to strike beginning Monday, disrupting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> bus and rail service, if a new contract deal cannot be reached, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, informed the VTA Board of Directors of the decision at its meeting on Thursday evening, more than six months after the two sides began negotiations over a new pay and benefits contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No ATU member will be rolling buses, or the light rail, or any other service provided by ATU members,” Singh said. “We hope, either today or in the near future, you guys give us something that is fair and equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union’s bus drivers, train operators, maintenance workers and dispatchers make up about 70% of VTA’s total workforce, and a strike could effectively grind the entire agency’s services to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday. VTA officials said Friday that bus and light rail service will not run starting Monday morning if the strike occurs, and some routes may be interrupted if they are normally scheduled to run past midnight on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030165\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority card machine at the Ohlone/Chynoweth Light Rail Station in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Greg Richardson, VTA’s deputy general manager, said during a Friday press conference that the agency is disappointed with ATU for its decision to announce an intent to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regret the impact this will have on the tens of thousands of our passengers and customers who rely on our service every day to get to school, to get to work and medical appointments,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is warning riders to begin making alternative transportation plans like carpooling, ridesharing, taking regional rail, walking and biking. VTA paratransit services are staffed by workers of another union and would not be affected, the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU and VTA began contract talks in August, and while several deal points have been hammered out since then, the two parties \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">remain far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages. There are also disputes about how the agency should handle employee grievances in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12006407 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240925-VTARRAIGN-JG-2-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their “last, best and final” offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. When compounded over time, agency officials said the total increase is 9.3%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, on the same day, made its most recent ask of the agency, which is for an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh. When compounded over time, agency officials said the union’s ask would amount to 19.1%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richardson said the offer VTA has made to the union will maintain their status as the second-highest paid transit employees in the Bay Area, and could be put into place without any cuts to service or layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU’s demands are simply too high of a cost for the agency to meet, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality — with a wage increase at that level or anything close to it — would be service cuts throughout our system and the likely elimination of positions across VTA,” he said. “This is not a direction that we are willing to go. We will not cut service to accommodate unreasonable demands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the board meeting Thursday night, Singh said the union has “not had any meaningful conversation with the agency in regards to reaching terms on a new deal” since Feb. 28.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Singh characterized communication from the agency as “very poor” and accused VTA of not acting in good faith, which an agency spokesperson contested. Singh did not respond to requests for comment Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how many of the estimated 100,000 daily riders that use VTA’s bus and light rail services are already aware of the potential strike. Richardson said the agency has been notifying riders with signage at stations and sending notices to schools and cities in Santa Clara County to try and reach as many people as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are folks who are trying to get to their job. And if they’re not aware of it and they’re having to clock in, clock out, this is going to be something that could impact them dramatically. And it’s not something that we want to see,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adele Cuevas of Santa Clara stepped off a light rail stop near Levi’s Stadium Friday afternoon on her way home from work. She’s an in-home caretaker and relies on the VTA’s light rail and buses to get to her clients all over the South Bay. She was notified about the possible strike on the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m probably gonna lose a lot of clients because I can only do ones that are closer to me,” Cuevas said about the possible strike. “I don’t think it should happen, because it does help those of us out that have to use the transportation. It does suck, but it is what it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Friday afternoon, Richardson said no talks were scheduled over the weekend between the union and the agency but didn’t rule out that the strike could still be averted with a last-minute deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have always maintained that we are open to having those conversations with [ATU] to find a solution,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated at 3:22 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,500 South Bay transit workers plan to strike beginning Monday, disrupting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> bus and rail service, if a new contract deal cannot be reached, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, informed the VTA Board of Directors of the decision at its meeting on Thursday evening, more than six months after the two sides began negotiations over a new pay and benefits contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No ATU member will be rolling buses, or the light rail, or any other service provided by ATU members,” Singh said. “We hope, either today or in the near future, you guys give us something that is fair and equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union’s bus drivers, train operators, maintenance workers and dispatchers make up about 70% of VTA’s total workforce, and a strike could effectively grind the entire agency’s services to a halt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday. VTA officials said Friday that bus and light rail service will not run starting Monday morning if the strike occurs, and some routes may be interrupted if they are normally scheduled to run past midnight on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030165\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240617-VTAfile-30-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority card machine at the Ohlone/Chynoweth Light Rail Station in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Greg Richardson, VTA’s deputy general manager, said during a Friday press conference that the agency is disappointed with ATU for its decision to announce an intent to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regret the impact this will have on the tens of thousands of our passengers and customers who rely on our service every day to get to school, to get to work and medical appointments,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is warning riders to begin making alternative transportation plans like carpooling, ridesharing, taking regional rail, walking and biking. VTA paratransit services are staffed by workers of another union and would not be affected, the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU and VTA began contract talks in August, and while several deal points have been hammered out since then, the two parties \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029584/south-bay-transit-strike-threat-looms-over-vta-talks-after-contract-expires\">remain far apart\u003c/a> on the critical issue of wages. There are also disputes about how the agency should handle employee grievances in arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VTA negotiators offered their “last, best and final” offer to the union on Feb. 28, which included a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. When compounded over time, agency officials said the total increase is 9.3%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, on the same day, made its most recent ask of the agency, which is for an 18% raise over the same three-year period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh. When compounded over time, agency officials said the union’s ask would amount to 19.1%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richardson said the offer VTA has made to the union will maintain their status as the second-highest paid transit employees in the Bay Area, and could be put into place without any cuts to service or layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ATU’s demands are simply too high of a cost for the agency to meet, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality — with a wage increase at that level or anything close to it — would be service cuts throughout our system and the likely elimination of positions across VTA,” he said. “This is not a direction that we are willing to go. We will not cut service to accommodate unreasonable demands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the board meeting Thursday night, Singh said the union has “not had any meaningful conversation with the agency in regards to reaching terms on a new deal” since Feb. 28.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Singh characterized communication from the agency as “very poor” and accused VTA of not acting in good faith, which an agency spokesperson contested. Singh did not respond to requests for comment Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how many of the estimated 100,000 daily riders that use VTA’s bus and light rail services are already aware of the potential strike. Richardson said the agency has been notifying riders with signage at stations and sending notices to schools and cities in Santa Clara County to try and reach as many people as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are folks who are trying to get to their job. And if they’re not aware of it and they’re having to clock in, clock out, this is going to be something that could impact them dramatically. And it’s not something that we want to see,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adele Cuevas of Santa Clara stepped off a light rail stop near Levi’s Stadium Friday afternoon on her way home from work. She’s an in-home caretaker and relies on the VTA’s light rail and buses to get to her clients all over the South Bay. She was notified about the possible strike on the VTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m probably gonna lose a lot of clients because I can only do ones that are closer to me,” Cuevas said about the possible strike. “I don’t think it should happen, because it does help those of us out that have to use the transportation. It does suck, but it is what it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Friday afternoon, Richardson said no talks were scheduled over the weekend between the union and the agency but didn’t rule out that the strike could still be averted with a last-minute deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have always maintained that we are open to having those conversations with [ATU] to find a solution,” Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Many in California’s science community are reeling after last week’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101909033/trump-purge-hits-bay-area-federal-workers\">mass firings\u003c/a> within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration upended workers’ lives and raised dire concerns for the climate agency’s work going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least seven people, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029178/trumps-mass-layoffs-noaa-cut-into-bay-area-weather-service\">National Weather Service employees\u003c/a> and staff at the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NOAA Fisheries, lost their jobs along the Central Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their stories are similar and heart-wrenching. The early-career federal workers are planning marriages, recently signed mortgages and were saving to buy their first homes. But last Thursday, they got an email saying they were “not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge, and/or skills do not fit the agency’s current needs” — many of them before their supervisors even knew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a 5 p.m. Eastern deadline before they were locked out of their emails and accounts, they scrambled, downloading health information, salary details, performance reports and hard copies of their termination letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three employees were fired from NOAA Fisheries’ Monterey office, including a communications specialist and two scientists, according to the researchers. Another fisheries communication expert lost his job in Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m heartbroken,” said Heather Welch, a research biologist at NOAA Fisheries employed to work on the NOAA Climate, Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative. “That was definitely the job I hoped to retire in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Welch and her boyfriend bought a house a few months after she started her job in April. Now, she must figure out her next steps and hopes a remote job will fill the financial void.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029803\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1632px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029803\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1632\" height=\"1224\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5.jpg 1632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1632px) 100vw, 1632px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NOAA’s R/V Fulmar on Oct. 15, 2015. California’s science community is reeling after last week’s mass firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which upended lives and cast a shadow over the agency’s critical climate work. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“All of a sudden, I’m a lot less mobile,” said Welch, who modeled the migration paths of species like endangered loggerhead turtles and whales with advanced tracking networks. “I can’t move to a different state and take a different job. It’s a tough time to have bought a house, both in terms of mobility and then financially.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told KQED that two others she works with also lost their jobs — communications specialist Matthew Koller and a physical scientist who could not be reached for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like a breakup of a family, and so it was really sad to walk out that door,” Welch said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12029178 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/NOAAGetty-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Welch said their work flowed into each other. The physical scientist developed forecasts and ocean models for changing ocean temperatures. Welch applied that data, relating it to animals, and turned it into tools for fisheries managers. Koller summarized the work and presented it to the general public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koller was fired after only four months of service. It took him about a year to land the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was terminated from my position at the exact same time that the training wheels were coming off,” said the 36-year-old, who recently moved to Monterey after graduate school and a fellowship. “It’s very unfortunate to have a career in the federal service cut short after putting in so much time to get this opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the three workers who were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029178/trumps-mass-layoffs-noaa-cut-into-bay-area-weather-service\">fired from the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office\u003c/a> last week — a meteorologist, an administrative support assistant and a facilities technician — the other four NOAA staffers who lost their jobs were probationary employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of them are worried that the cuts are just the beginning of Trump’s attack on climate science, fearing that the decision could have larger ramifications for the California coastline and endangered species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029854\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12029854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Koller. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Matthew Koller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since most of the workers who lost their jobs had them for short periods of time, Koller feels like the Trump administration is trying to stamp out the next generation of climate science leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The future leaders of NOAA were just cut,” he said. “The people that will eventually become senior scientists and project leads and help set the agency’s policy. It’s just very dispiriting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koller also believes the layoffs cut into NOAA’s mission of trying to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coast — as well as communicating its findings to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really hamstrings NOAA’s ability to fulfill that mission,” he said. “We should be investing in those programs and not terminating them because the welfare of all Americans and Californians depend on understanding our environment — and NOAA helps provide that clarity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to losing his job, Koller is getting married and is concerned that his firing might muddle his August nuptial plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ironically, earlier in the week, I had just put down a deposit for our wedding venue,” he said. “We put down the deposit on Wednesday, and I was unfortunately terminated on Thursday. How do we pay for a wedding without a job?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local losses are part of the Trump administration’s latest mass culling of the federal workforce, which has resulted in hundreds of firings within NOAA, one of the world’s preeminent climate research institutions. This effort is overseen by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/65248/former-trump-commissioner-blasts-doge-education-data-cuts\">Department of Government Efficiency\u003c/a>, or DOGE, the newly formed entity led by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat representing communities from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, has criticized the firings as a betrayal of the American people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we were looking for a point at which this crazy DOGE exercise really backfired into people’s lives, I think you’ve found it with NOAA,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 40 miles north of Monterey in Santa Cruz, another NOAA Fisheries science communications specialist is now on the hunt for a new job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1125px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1125\" height=\"842\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting.jpg 1125w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1125px) 100vw, 1125px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerimiah Oetting holding a Chinook salmon in August 2024, about a week before starting his job with NOAA. Oetting was fishing with family off the coast of Vancouver Island in B.C., where stock is healthy and sustains fishing. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jerimiah Oetting)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After stints in public media and federal agencies like the National Park Service, Jerimiah Oetting landed a full-time gig with NOAA in Santa Cruz about six months ago. He wrote about science and fish populations, like salmon and steelhead, for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, which he said is mandated to increase and keep species of salmon from going extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he was the only person cut from his building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe in public service, and I think being able to support myself as a public servant and do work that I really care about and love was a dream come true,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oetting is frustrated that the email he received said he doesn’t have the “skills, abilities, and knowledge” for the job “when clearly I possess those things.” He’s also worried about whether he and his wife can remain in Santa Cruz because the area is one of the most expensive rental markets in the country. His wife is a doctoral student and now the unit’s sole breadwinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve saved as much as we can, and that was hopefully eventually going to be a down payment on a house,” he said. “It’s turned into an emergency fund that honestly won’t last us very long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also concerned that his colleagues still at NOAA could be on the chopping block if the Trump administration goes after climate-related programs and makes more cuts to its workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now that there’s closure, I’m just focused on the future and righteously angry about what happened,” he said, “but I’m also trying to figure out a way to get involved in any way I can to stop this from happening more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Trump administration’s mass firings within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have hit the Bay Area’s National Weather Service office and fisheries in California.",
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"title": "‘I’m Heartbroken’: California Scientists Left Adrift by Mass Federal Layoffs at NOAA | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Many in California’s science community are reeling after last week’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101909033/trump-purge-hits-bay-area-federal-workers\">mass firings\u003c/a> within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration upended workers’ lives and raised dire concerns for the climate agency’s work going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least seven people, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029178/trumps-mass-layoffs-noaa-cut-into-bay-area-weather-service\">National Weather Service employees\u003c/a> and staff at the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NOAA Fisheries, lost their jobs along the Central Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their stories are similar and heart-wrenching. The early-career federal workers are planning marriages, recently signed mortgages and were saving to buy their first homes. But last Thursday, they got an email saying they were “not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge, and/or skills do not fit the agency’s current needs” — many of them before their supervisors even knew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a 5 p.m. Eastern deadline before they were locked out of their emails and accounts, they scrambled, downloading health information, salary details, performance reports and hard copies of their termination letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three employees were fired from NOAA Fisheries’ Monterey office, including a communications specialist and two scientists, according to the researchers. Another fisheries communication expert lost his job in Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m heartbroken,” said Heather Welch, a research biologist at NOAA Fisheries employed to work on the NOAA Climate, Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative. “That was definitely the job I hoped to retire in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Welch and her boyfriend bought a house a few months after she started her job in April. Now, she must figure out her next steps and hopes a remote job will fill the financial void.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029803\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1632px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029803\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1632\" height=\"1224\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5.jpg 1632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/E8590326-10CD-4544-8AC6-588BF362FDD5-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1632px) 100vw, 1632px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NOAA’s R/V Fulmar on Oct. 15, 2015. California’s science community is reeling after last week’s mass firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which upended lives and cast a shadow over the agency’s critical climate work. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“All of a sudden, I’m a lot less mobile,” said Welch, who modeled the migration paths of species like endangered loggerhead turtles and whales with advanced tracking networks. “I can’t move to a different state and take a different job. It’s a tough time to have bought a house, both in terms of mobility and then financially.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told KQED that two others she works with also lost their jobs — communications specialist Matthew Koller and a physical scientist who could not be reached for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like a breakup of a family, and so it was really sad to walk out that door,” Welch said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Welch said their work flowed into each other. The physical scientist developed forecasts and ocean models for changing ocean temperatures. Welch applied that data, relating it to animals, and turned it into tools for fisheries managers. Koller summarized the work and presented it to the general public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koller was fired after only four months of service. It took him about a year to land the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was terminated from my position at the exact same time that the training wheels were coming off,” said the 36-year-old, who recently moved to Monterey after graduate school and a fellowship. “It’s very unfortunate to have a career in the federal service cut short after putting in so much time to get this opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like the three workers who were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029178/trumps-mass-layoffs-noaa-cut-into-bay-area-weather-service\">fired from the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office\u003c/a> last week — a meteorologist, an administrative support assistant and a facilities technician — the other four NOAA staffers who lost their jobs were probationary employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of them are worried that the cuts are just the beginning of Trump’s attack on climate science, fearing that the decision could have larger ramifications for the California coastline and endangered species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029854\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12029854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Matthew-Koller-scaled-e1741205337982.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Koller. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Matthew Koller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since most of the workers who lost their jobs had them for short periods of time, Koller feels like the Trump administration is trying to stamp out the next generation of climate science leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The future leaders of NOAA were just cut,” he said. “The people that will eventually become senior scientists and project leads and help set the agency’s policy. It’s just very dispiriting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Koller also believes the layoffs cut into NOAA’s mission of trying to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coast — as well as communicating its findings to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really hamstrings NOAA’s ability to fulfill that mission,” he said. “We should be investing in those programs and not terminating them because the welfare of all Americans and Californians depend on understanding our environment — and NOAA helps provide that clarity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to losing his job, Koller is getting married and is concerned that his firing might muddle his August nuptial plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ironically, earlier in the week, I had just put down a deposit for our wedding venue,” he said. “We put down the deposit on Wednesday, and I was unfortunately terminated on Thursday. How do we pay for a wedding without a job?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local losses are part of the Trump administration’s latest mass culling of the federal workforce, which has resulted in hundreds of firings within NOAA, one of the world’s preeminent climate research institutions. This effort is overseen by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/65248/former-trump-commissioner-blasts-doge-education-data-cuts\">Department of Government Efficiency\u003c/a>, or DOGE, the newly formed entity led by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat representing communities from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, has criticized the firings as a betrayal of the American people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we were looking for a point at which this crazy DOGE exercise really backfired into people’s lives, I think you’ve found it with NOAA,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 40 miles north of Monterey in Santa Cruz, another NOAA Fisheries science communications specialist is now on the hunt for a new job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1125px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1125\" height=\"842\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting.jpg 1125w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Jerimiah-Oetting-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1125px) 100vw, 1125px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerimiah Oetting holding a Chinook salmon in August 2024, about a week before starting his job with NOAA. Oetting was fishing with family off the coast of Vancouver Island in B.C., where stock is healthy and sustains fishing. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jerimiah Oetting)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After stints in public media and federal agencies like the National Park Service, Jerimiah Oetting landed a full-time gig with NOAA in Santa Cruz about six months ago. He wrote about science and fish populations, like salmon and steelhead, for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, which he said is mandated to increase and keep species of salmon from going extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he was the only person cut from his building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe in public service, and I think being able to support myself as a public servant and do work that I really care about and love was a dream come true,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oetting is frustrated that the email he received said he doesn’t have the “skills, abilities, and knowledge” for the job “when clearly I possess those things.” He’s also worried about whether he and his wife can remain in Santa Cruz because the area is one of the most expensive rental markets in the country. His wife is a doctoral student and now the unit’s sole breadwinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve saved as much as we can, and that was hopefully eventually going to be a down payment on a house,” he said. “It’s turned into an emergency fund that honestly won’t last us very long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also concerned that his colleagues still at NOAA could be on the chopping block if the Trump administration goes after climate-related programs and makes more cuts to its workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now that there’s closure, I’m just focused on the future and righteously angry about what happened,” he said, “but I’m also trying to figure out a way to get involved in any way I can to stop this from happening more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than 1,500 bus drivers, train operators and maintenance workers in the South Bay could go on strike over wage negotiations, though how soon is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After six months of contract talks between the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> and workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, a new contract is still not signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So far, the two sides have just not been able to agree,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union workers last month authorized a strike if necessary, and with the previous contract expired as of Monday night, the strike threat is looming over the ongoing discussions. Workers represented by ATU make up nearly 70% of the agency’s employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday afternoon, VTA officials issued a warning to transit riders that they may need to make alternative transportation plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we’re concerned about at this point, now that the union has taken a strike vote, is that 100,000 customers a day have a way to get to work and school and wherever they need to go,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so it’s our responsibility that if we are not able to provide service, we need to give them adequate time to prepare,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the union president, said there is no date picked for a strike, and it’s unlikely workers would strike in the next few days. The union’s members will meet on Friday to discuss the negotiations and the potential for a strike, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the talks, at no point in time has the union ever said, ‘Hey, come March 4, we’re walking out.’ And even to this very moment, we don’t have a hard set date on when there might be a possible strike,” Singh said. “We’re hoping that they reach out, and maybe we can go back to the table and try to see if something can be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12028615 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/GettyImages-1150473913-1020x765.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest offer from VTA to the union is a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. The union’s most recent ask is for an 18% raise over the same time period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the negotiations are not just about the numbers but about fairness. For most of the talks, the agency offered union workers a total 3% raise, with 1% given each year, claiming it couldn’t afford more, Singh said. However, workers were angered to then see General Manager Carolyn Gonot given a 4% raise at a January board meeting, increasing her base compensation to $386,900 annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following a February board meeting where hundreds of ATU workers spoke out demanding a better contract, the transit agency upped its offer to the current one, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Negotiations have not been in good faith. The communication was very poor,” Singh said. “The beginning is usually just a waste of time, and that’s what they essentially did for five months when they were off-putting that 1% on the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hendler Ross rebuffed that assertion, saying the agency is negotiating in good faith. VTA’s frontline workers are the second-highest paid transit workers in the region, she said, and the agency’s current offer would maintain that status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA is trying to balance two very important interests here. On one hand, for our employees, we want to be as supportive and fair as possible. On the other hand, for our customers, we want to make sure that we can provide the service that they depend on,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh also said the agency, in recent years, has been avoiding arbitration to settle some disputes or grievances with workers, going against decades of established practice. Putting clearer rules on paper about when arbitration could be used is one of the sticking points in the talks, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross declined to comment in detail about the arbitration issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I can tell you is that VTA is negotiating in good faith and that we have put across a very competitive and strong and supportive offer for our employees,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More than 1,500 bus drivers, train operators and maintenance workers in the South Bay could go on strike over wage negotiations, though how soon is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After six months of contract talks between the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-valley-transportation-authority\">Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority\u003c/a> and workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, a new contract is still not signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So far, the two sides have just not been able to agree,” Stacey Hendler Ross, a VTA spokesperson, said Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union workers last month authorized a strike if necessary, and with the previous contract expired as of Monday night, the strike threat is looming over the ongoing discussions. Workers represented by ATU make up nearly 70% of the agency’s employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday afternoon, VTA officials issued a warning to transit riders that they may need to make alternative transportation plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12005816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12005816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240617-VTAfile-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus drives on Meridian Avenue in San José on June 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we’re concerned about at this point, now that the union has taken a strike vote, is that 100,000 customers a day have a way to get to work and school and wherever they need to go,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so it’s our responsibility that if we are not able to provide service, we need to give them adequate time to prepare,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raj Singh, the union president, said there is no date picked for a strike, and it’s unlikely workers would strike in the next few days. The union’s members will meet on Friday to discuss the negotiations and the potential for a strike, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the talks, at no point in time has the union ever said, ‘Hey, come March 4, we’re walking out.’ And even to this very moment, we don’t have a hard set date on when there might be a possible strike,” Singh said. “We’re hoping that they reach out, and maybe we can go back to the table and try to see if something can be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest offer from VTA to the union is a 9% raise spread over three years, with 4% offered in the first year, then 3% and 2%, respectively, in the latter years. The union’s most recent ask is for an 18% raise over the same time period, with 6% raises each year, according to Singh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the negotiations are not just about the numbers but about fairness. For most of the talks, the agency offered union workers a total 3% raise, with 1% given each year, claiming it couldn’t afford more, Singh said. However, workers were angered to then see General Manager Carolyn Gonot given a 4% raise at a January board meeting, increasing her base compensation to $386,900 annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following a February board meeting where hundreds of ATU workers spoke out demanding a better contract, the transit agency upped its offer to the current one, Singh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Negotiations have not been in good faith. The communication was very poor,” Singh said. “The beginning is usually just a waste of time, and that’s what they essentially did for five months when they were off-putting that 1% on the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hendler Ross rebuffed that assertion, saying the agency is negotiating in good faith. VTA’s frontline workers are the second-highest paid transit workers in the region, she said, and the agency’s current offer would maintain that status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“VTA is trying to balance two very important interests here. On one hand, for our employees, we want to be as supportive and fair as possible. On the other hand, for our customers, we want to make sure that we can provide the service that they depend on,” Hendler Ross said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh also said the agency, in recent years, has been avoiding arbitration to settle some disputes or grievances with workers, going against decades of established practice. Putting clearer rules on paper about when arbitration could be used is one of the sticking points in the talks, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hendler Ross declined to comment in detail about the arbitration issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I can tell you is that VTA is negotiating in good faith and that we have put across a very competitive and strong and supportive offer for our employees,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "musks-costly-cuts-x-will-doge-trump-face-similar-fallout",
"title": "Musk’s Costly Cuts at X: Will DOGE and Trump Face Similar Fallout?",
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"content": "\u003cp>On Nov. 16, 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/elon-musk\">Elon Musk\u003c/a> sent an email to roughly three thousand Twitter employees with the subject line “A Fork in the Road.” The email gave employees until close of business the following day to decide whether they wanted to commit to an \u003cem>“extremely hardcore”\u003c/em> work culture at the company Musk just purchased or resign and accept three months of severance pay, which never arrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sound familiar? About a month ago, more than two million federal workers received \u003ca href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/opm-implementing-musks-doge-plans-sends-federal-workers/story?id=118401375\">an email with the same subject line\u003c/a> from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>implementing plans from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), sent. Those emails are now the subject of several lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-26/musk-s-ex-twitter-workers-win-severance-over-layoff-after-email\">Bloomberg\u003c/a> reported that four former employees of Twitter, now X, recently prevailed in closed-door arbitration proceedings. The four workers argued successfully that, although they did not respond to the “Fork in the Road” emails, they did not resign but were terminated and were entitled to severance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Twitter claims that those employees weren’t laid off, they voluntarily resigned. And we say no, that was instigated by Twitter. So we contend that they were laid off,” said labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who is representing 2,000 former employees in arbitration cases against Twitter, now X. She told KQED she’s not at liberty to talk about the roughly 20 cases so far where a judge has reached a decision. “I can tell you I’m feeling very good about our case. Very good,” said Liss-Riordan. X did not respond to KQED with a comment in time for this report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liss-Riordan suggested the early wins for the four Twitter workers could presage what’s ahead for federal workers who fight back against Musk’s efforts to cut costs with mass firings and pressure tactics to prompt resignations. “The similarities are just uncanny,” she said, adding, “There are a lot more protections for federal workers than there are for private employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11965845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11965845\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/AP23299774246124-e1740789537911.jpg\" alt=\"A brightly lit letter X is seen above a building.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers install lighting on an ‘X’ sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in San Francisco, on July 28, 2023. Elon Musk began transforming Twitter into what is now known as X in July 2023. The social media platform’s domain name change was completed in May 2024. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stanford professor Bill Gould, who chaired the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration, concurred. He pointed out that arbitration judges who hear many of the disputes between workers and employers in the U.S. have a \u003ca href=\"https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/\">reputation\u003c/a> for being less friendly to worker complaints than state and federal courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The victory by Twitter employees in what appears to be an employer-controlled arbitration system is remarkable and could spell trouble for the similar Musk-promoted procedures in government,” Gould wrote KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gould’s prediction appeared to be bolstered on Thursday when U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco found the mass firings of probationary employees, who have less than one year on the job, were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029015/us-judge-in-san-francisco-will-hear-union-request-to-halt-trump-mass-firings\">likely unlawful\u003c/a>. The judge ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe,” to hire or fire any employees but its own, Judge Alsop said.[aside postID=news_12029178 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/NOAAGetty-1020x680.jpg']However, given the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008292/uber-and-lyfts-appeal-in-california-labor-case-wont-be-heard-by-supreme-court\"> conservative direction\u003c/a> of the U.S. Supreme Court, it remains unclear if Alsup’s decision will be upheld if appealed. Many legal experts worry that Trump administration officials will choose not to abide by court rulings, given the president’s \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/video/trump-praises-musk-and-his-doge-tech-support-effort-at-first-cabinet-meeting-of-2nd-term-c20203b79c8c490d8f7f9b9579257e31\">support for Musk’s efforts\u003c/a> to cut the headcount in the federal government. Many critics characterize Musk’s leadership at DOGE as capricious, cruel and \u003ca href=\"https://newrepublic.com/post/191552/trump-ag-pam-bondi-corrupt-eric-adams\">unconcerned with legality\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When employees have job rights, as most federal employees do, they cannot be summarily fired without cause.” Catherine Fisk of UC Berkeley’s Law School wrote KQED. “Most federal civilian employees are protected by civil service laws that require the government to have just cause and to follow fair procedure to terminate them. That is true even when the government seeks to lay off employees for reasons of cost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisk added, “The taxpayers may wind up paying more to the thousands of federal employees whose rights have been violated in the recent mass purges than if it paid salaries and benefits now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That appears to be proving true for the X arbitration cases, according to Liss-Riordan, who noted that Twitter/X has to pay for arbitration fees, plus attorneys’ fees for both sides of each case the company loses. “It’s incredibly, insanely expensive what he’s doing,” Liss-Riordan said. “So anything Elon thought he was doing to save money is getting thrown out the window by spending all this money defending our cases, 2,000 of them, one by one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liss-Riordan said her office has been taking calls from federal employees in recent weeks who are assessing whether and how to sue over their dismissals. “They’re being told something different every day. I think that’s part of the, frankly, harassment that DOGE, Elon, Donald Trump himself are intending to inflict on federal employees to keep them in the dark and afraid. They seem to just really wanna be pushing more workers out the door through these tactics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she added, “Elon Musk doesn’t own this country. He doesn’t own the federal government. He’s not at liberty to break it or run roughshod over workers rights.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Legal pushback against 'Fork in the Road' emails Elon Musk sent to employees of Twitter, now X, could hint at what’s ahead for similar emails sent to millions of federal workers.",
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"title": "Musk’s Costly Cuts at X: Will DOGE and Trump Face Similar Fallout? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Nov. 16, 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/elon-musk\">Elon Musk\u003c/a> sent an email to roughly three thousand Twitter employees with the subject line “A Fork in the Road.” The email gave employees until close of business the following day to decide whether they wanted to commit to an \u003cem>“extremely hardcore”\u003c/em> work culture at the company Musk just purchased or resign and accept three months of severance pay, which never arrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sound familiar? About a month ago, more than two million federal workers received \u003ca href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/opm-implementing-musks-doge-plans-sends-federal-workers/story?id=118401375\">an email with the same subject line\u003c/a> from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>implementing plans from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), sent. Those emails are now the subject of several lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-26/musk-s-ex-twitter-workers-win-severance-over-layoff-after-email\">Bloomberg\u003c/a> reported that four former employees of Twitter, now X, recently prevailed in closed-door arbitration proceedings. The four workers argued successfully that, although they did not respond to the “Fork in the Road” emails, they did not resign but were terminated and were entitled to severance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Twitter claims that those employees weren’t laid off, they voluntarily resigned. And we say no, that was instigated by Twitter. So we contend that they were laid off,” said labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who is representing 2,000 former employees in arbitration cases against Twitter, now X. She told KQED she’s not at liberty to talk about the roughly 20 cases so far where a judge has reached a decision. “I can tell you I’m feeling very good about our case. Very good,” said Liss-Riordan. X did not respond to KQED with a comment in time for this report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liss-Riordan suggested the early wins for the four Twitter workers could presage what’s ahead for federal workers who fight back against Musk’s efforts to cut costs with mass firings and pressure tactics to prompt resignations. “The similarities are just uncanny,” she said, adding, “There are a lot more protections for federal workers than there are for private employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11965845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11965845\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/AP23299774246124-e1740789537911.jpg\" alt=\"A brightly lit letter X is seen above a building.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers install lighting on an ‘X’ sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in San Francisco, on July 28, 2023. Elon Musk began transforming Twitter into what is now known as X in July 2023. The social media platform’s domain name change was completed in May 2024. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Stanford professor Bill Gould, who chaired the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration, concurred. He pointed out that arbitration judges who hear many of the disputes between workers and employers in the U.S. have a \u003ca href=\"https://www.epi.org/publication/the-arbitration-epidemic/\">reputation\u003c/a> for being less friendly to worker complaints than state and federal courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The victory by Twitter employees in what appears to be an employer-controlled arbitration system is remarkable and could spell trouble for the similar Musk-promoted procedures in government,” Gould wrote KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gould’s prediction appeared to be bolstered on Thursday when U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco found the mass firings of probationary employees, who have less than one year on the job, were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029015/us-judge-in-san-francisco-will-hear-union-request-to-halt-trump-mass-firings\">likely unlawful\u003c/a>. The judge ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe,” to hire or fire any employees but its own, Judge Alsop said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>However, given the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008292/uber-and-lyfts-appeal-in-california-labor-case-wont-be-heard-by-supreme-court\"> conservative direction\u003c/a> of the U.S. Supreme Court, it remains unclear if Alsup’s decision will be upheld if appealed. Many legal experts worry that Trump administration officials will choose not to abide by court rulings, given the president’s \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/video/trump-praises-musk-and-his-doge-tech-support-effort-at-first-cabinet-meeting-of-2nd-term-c20203b79c8c490d8f7f9b9579257e31\">support for Musk’s efforts\u003c/a> to cut the headcount in the federal government. Many critics characterize Musk’s leadership at DOGE as capricious, cruel and \u003ca href=\"https://newrepublic.com/post/191552/trump-ag-pam-bondi-corrupt-eric-adams\">unconcerned with legality\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When employees have job rights, as most federal employees do, they cannot be summarily fired without cause.” Catherine Fisk of UC Berkeley’s Law School wrote KQED. “Most federal civilian employees are protected by civil service laws that require the government to have just cause and to follow fair procedure to terminate them. That is true even when the government seeks to lay off employees for reasons of cost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisk added, “The taxpayers may wind up paying more to the thousands of federal employees whose rights have been violated in the recent mass purges than if it paid salaries and benefits now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That appears to be proving true for the X arbitration cases, according to Liss-Riordan, who noted that Twitter/X has to pay for arbitration fees, plus attorneys’ fees for both sides of each case the company loses. “It’s incredibly, insanely expensive what he’s doing,” Liss-Riordan said. “So anything Elon thought he was doing to save money is getting thrown out the window by spending all this money defending our cases, 2,000 of them, one by one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liss-Riordan said her office has been taking calls from federal employees in recent weeks who are assessing whether and how to sue over their dismissals. “They’re being told something different every day. I think that’s part of the, frankly, harassment that DOGE, Elon, Donald Trump himself are intending to inflict on federal employees to keep them in the dark and afraid. They seem to just really wanna be pushing more workers out the door through these tactics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she added, “Elon Musk doesn’t own this country. He doesn’t own the federal government. He’s not at liberty to break it or run roughshod over workers rights.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "West Contra Costa Compromises on Eliminating Staff, but Student Services Could Face Cuts",
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"content": "\u003cp>In a move consistent with dozens of California school districts, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students or exploding its budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the start of the debate at Wednesday night’s school board meeting, the district had proposed cutting about 177 staffing positions and, after nearly three hours of debate, the board voted 3–1 to cut all but eight. But saving those eight positions jeopardizes funding for services for at-risk students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, with these decisions, our students will suffer the most without the staff that is needed to provide them with an excellent education that they deserve and which is necessary to decrease the longstanding education gaps for the district’s Black and brown students,” said Sheryl Lane, executive director of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.fierceadvocates.org/mission-vision\">Fierce Advocates\u003c/a>, a Richmond organization focused on working with parents of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the positions that are being eliminated, 122 are already vacant, according to district officials. And so far, the district has also received 27 resignations and 47 retirement notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear if there will be layoffs, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-community-rallies-around-educators-protesting-staffing-cuts/726845\">on Feb. \u003c/a>6, interim Superintendent Kim Moses said that because of vacancy levels, the district administrators “expect that there will be a certificated job available for all current WCCUSD (West Contra Costa Unified School District) educators for the 2025–26 school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout this month, educators, parents, students and community members showed up in large numbers to speak, as they have in all board meetings since the budget talks started, urging the board to reconsider cutting staff positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw today the dysfunction,” United Teachers of Richmond President Francisco Ortiz said during the meeting. “We need collaboration. Every single cabinet member has my direct phone number. Every board member has my phone number. We have been excluded from the decision-making process and in the collaboration since the new administration took over. This situation has been imposed on us, but we’re ready to fight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A split board\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It took nine amended resolutions for a vote to pass on Wednesday night. Trustee Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy attempted to save high school teachers, school counselors, social workers, psychologists, speech therapists, and career technical education educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the board was split.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Leslie Reckler and trustee Guadalupe Enllana voted down the motions while Gonzalez-Hoy and trustee Cinthia Hernandez were determined to save some staffing positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The successful resolution saved one part-time psychologist position, one part-time and seven full-time high school teachers. Reckler voted down the resolution and trustee Jamela Smith-Folds was absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to EdSource, Reckler argued the board had already approved the fiscal solvency plan and if the cuts weren’t passed, “it shows the board to be an unreliable steward of public funds, and I will not be lumped into that category.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My prime responsibility is to ensure the long-term fiscal solvency of the school district and ensure continued local control in decision-making,” Reckler said. “Last night’s vote will make it more difficult for the school district.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top priority for Gonzalez-Hoy was to save the high school teacher positions because cutting them would have caused some schools to go from a seven-period day to six, he said. English learners, students with disabilities and students who need more academic support would be most affected because they often need to take on extra courses and benefit from having more class periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could not in good conscience make those reductions, knowing the unintended impact they would have,” he said. “Even though it was a very difficult conversation and decision, I did vote to cut the majority of the positions, in part due to our ability to possibly retain some of those positions through grants, but also due to our financial situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, Enllana said the board and district can no longer continue to be “driven by individual interests but must prioritize the needs of all students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a clear distinction between needs and wants. Our first responsibility is to secure what our students need, and then work towards fulfilling the wants under our current budget.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California schools are in a budget crisis\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This week, other Bay Area school boards also made the difficult decision to lay off employees for the coming school year. Oakland’s school board voted to cut 100 positions, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-school-board-tiptoes-back-fiscal-cliff-20187724.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a>. \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According to KQED\u003c/a>, San Francisco Unified will also send pink slips to more than 500 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Contra Costa Unified has to balance between the need for fiscal solvency and keeping the schools adequately staffed with teachers, social workers, psychologists and other support staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These decisions by the school board are tough ones and speak to the structural changes needed at the state level to change the revenue it receives that can go towards funding local school districts, like WCCUSD,” Lane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has been under financial stress since last year and could risk insolvency if its fiscal plan isn’t followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When districts can’t get out of deficits, they risk being taken over by the state and losing local control over budget decisions. Twenty-six years ago, West Contra Costa became the first district in the state to go insolvent and received a $29 million bailout loan, which took 21 years to pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To stay out of a deficit, West Contra Costa has to cut $32.7 million in costs between 2024 and 2027. District officials have said about 84% of the budget is used to pay salaries and benefits — the reason staffing cuts would be unavoidable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district needs to put forth a fiscal solvency plan approved by the Contra Costa County Office of Education to avoid going insolvent and risking a takeover, Moses said. The staffing cuts are tied to the plan and must happen for the district to stay on track. The board \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-school-board-slashes-staffing-to-avoid-deficit/726423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved the plan\u003c/a> earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be multiple millions of dollars of impact to the general fund if we don’t take action,” Moses said during the meeting. “The response to the county, if that is the case, I think we would be sending a strong message that we are not addressing our fiscal stability, and that would not be advisable as they are oversight agents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The price of compromise\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Saving the high school teacher and psychologist positions will add $1.5 million to $1.75 million to the deficit, Moses said. The district doesn’t have a choice but to use funds that are meant for student services and will likely have to dip into the $4 million set aside for math curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We value all staff and their dedication to our community; however, the fiscal health of our district has to be prioritized as the foundation for our ability to continue normal district operations,” Moses said in a news release Thursday. “I am concerned about the added fiscal uncertainty we face after last night’s board meeting.”[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='west-contra-costa-unified-school-district']Cutting the money for teacher and math support is a step backward for the district, which makes it more difficult for educators to help students improve, said Natalie Walchuk, vice president of local impact at \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://gopublicschoolswcc.org/our-organization/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GO Public Schools\u003c/a>, an organization advocating for equitable public education.\u003cem> \u003c/em>In West Contra Costa, only \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://bit.ly/kidscan24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1 in 4 students are performing at grade level in math\u003c/a> and just 6.1% of seniors are ready for college-level math.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers need the right tools and resources to support their students, yet the district has lagged for years in adopting a new math curriculum,” Walchuk said. “While we recognize the difficult financial decisions the board had to make, it is critical that the district prioritizes student learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The positions on the chopping block came from two pots of money — the general fund, which accounts for 40 positions, and grants, which cover 137 positions. Money for grant-funded positions is either expiring or has been used faster than projected, said Camille Johnson, associate superintendent of human resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying to save the grant-funded positions would add to the deficit, Moses said. Although the district staff is working to secure more grants, the funds districts receive from the federal government are uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were not in a position to consult the (teachers) union because we do not have money to pay for these positions,” Moses said during the meeting. “Negotiations in terms of what stays and what goes was not possible in this scenario because it’s strictly driven by money that is expiring or money we aren’t responsible for assigning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district doesn’t have a choice but to eliminate some positions because they are dependent on school sites approving the positions in their budgets, Moses said. If approved, about 78 positions could be reinstated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deadline to give layoff notices is March 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/we-are-ready-to-fight-union-says-after-west-contra-costa-votes-to-cut-nearly-200-positions/727577\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Facing a big budget deficit, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students. The deadline to give layoff notices is March 15.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a move consistent with dozens of California school districts, West Contra Costa Unified board members have had to choose between eliminating staff and services for students or exploding its budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the start of the debate at Wednesday night’s school board meeting, the district had proposed cutting about 177 staffing positions and, after nearly three hours of debate, the board voted 3–1 to cut all but eight. But saving those eight positions jeopardizes funding for services for at-risk students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, with these decisions, our students will suffer the most without the staff that is needed to provide them with an excellent education that they deserve and which is necessary to decrease the longstanding education gaps for the district’s Black and brown students,” said Sheryl Lane, executive director of \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.fierceadvocates.org/mission-vision\">Fierce Advocates\u003c/a>, a Richmond organization focused on working with parents of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the positions that are being eliminated, 122 are already vacant, according to district officials. And so far, the district has also received 27 resignations and 47 retirement notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear if there will be layoffs, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-community-rallies-around-educators-protesting-staffing-cuts/726845\">on Feb. \u003c/a>6, interim Superintendent Kim Moses said that because of vacancy levels, the district administrators “expect that there will be a certificated job available for all current WCCUSD (West Contra Costa Unified School District) educators for the 2025–26 school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout this month, educators, parents, students and community members showed up in large numbers to speak, as they have in all board meetings since the budget talks started, urging the board to reconsider cutting staff positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw today the dysfunction,” United Teachers of Richmond President Francisco Ortiz said during the meeting. “We need collaboration. Every single cabinet member has my direct phone number. Every board member has my phone number. We have been excluded from the decision-making process and in the collaboration since the new administration took over. This situation has been imposed on us, but we’re ready to fight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A split board\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It took nine amended resolutions for a vote to pass on Wednesday night. Trustee Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy attempted to save high school teachers, school counselors, social workers, psychologists, speech therapists, and career technical education educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the board was split.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Leslie Reckler and trustee Guadalupe Enllana voted down the motions while Gonzalez-Hoy and trustee Cinthia Hernandez were determined to save some staffing positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The successful resolution saved one part-time psychologist position, one part-time and seven full-time high school teachers. Reckler voted down the resolution and trustee Jamela Smith-Folds was absent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to EdSource, Reckler argued the board had already approved the fiscal solvency plan and if the cuts weren’t passed, “it shows the board to be an unreliable steward of public funds, and I will not be lumped into that category.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My prime responsibility is to ensure the long-term fiscal solvency of the school district and ensure continued local control in decision-making,” Reckler said. “Last night’s vote will make it more difficult for the school district.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top priority for Gonzalez-Hoy was to save the high school teacher positions because cutting them would have caused some schools to go from a seven-period day to six, he said. English learners, students with disabilities and students who need more academic support would be most affected because they often need to take on extra courses and benefit from having more class periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could not in good conscience make those reductions, knowing the unintended impact they would have,” he said. “Even though it was a very difficult conversation and decision, I did vote to cut the majority of the positions, in part due to our ability to possibly retain some of those positions through grants, but also due to our financial situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, Enllana said the board and district can no longer continue to be “driven by individual interests but must prioritize the needs of all students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a clear distinction between needs and wants. Our first responsibility is to secure what our students need, and then work towards fulfilling the wants under our current budget.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California schools are in a budget crisis\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This week, other Bay Area school boards also made the difficult decision to lay off employees for the coming school year. Oakland’s school board voted to cut 100 positions, \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-school-board-tiptoes-back-fiscal-cliff-20187724.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a>. \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028317/sf-schools-brace-hundreds-layoffs-including-teachers-librarians-counselors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According to KQED\u003c/a>, San Francisco Unified will also send pink slips to more than 500 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Contra Costa Unified has to balance between the need for fiscal solvency and keeping the schools adequately staffed with teachers, social workers, psychologists and other support staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These decisions by the school board are tough ones and speak to the structural changes needed at the state level to change the revenue it receives that can go towards funding local school districts, like WCCUSD,” Lane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has been under financial stress since last year and could risk insolvency if its fiscal plan isn’t followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When districts can’t get out of deficits, they risk being taken over by the state and losing local control over budget decisions. Twenty-six years ago, West Contra Costa became the first district in the state to go insolvent and received a $29 million bailout loan, which took 21 years to pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To stay out of a deficit, West Contra Costa has to cut $32.7 million in costs between 2024 and 2027. District officials have said about 84% of the budget is used to pay salaries and benefits — the reason staffing cuts would be unavoidable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district needs to put forth a fiscal solvency plan approved by the Contra Costa County Office of Education to avoid going insolvent and risking a takeover, Moses said. The staffing cuts are tied to the plan and must happen for the district to stay on track. The board \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-school-board-slashes-staffing-to-avoid-deficit/726423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved the plan\u003c/a> earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be multiple millions of dollars of impact to the general fund if we don’t take action,” Moses said during the meeting. “The response to the county, if that is the case, I think we would be sending a strong message that we are not addressing our fiscal stability, and that would not be advisable as they are oversight agents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The price of compromise\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Saving the high school teacher and psychologist positions will add $1.5 million to $1.75 million to the deficit, Moses said. The district doesn’t have a choice but to use funds that are meant for student services and will likely have to dip into the $4 million set aside for math curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We value all staff and their dedication to our community; however, the fiscal health of our district has to be prioritized as the foundation for our ability to continue normal district operations,” Moses said in a news release Thursday. “I am concerned about the added fiscal uncertainty we face after last night’s board meeting.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cutting the money for teacher and math support is a step backward for the district, which makes it more difficult for educators to help students improve, said Natalie Walchuk, vice president of local impact at \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://gopublicschoolswcc.org/our-organization/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GO Public Schools\u003c/a>, an organization advocating for equitable public education.\u003cem> \u003c/em>In West Contra Costa, only \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://bit.ly/kidscan24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1 in 4 students are performing at grade level in math\u003c/a> and just 6.1% of seniors are ready for college-level math.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers need the right tools and resources to support their students, yet the district has lagged for years in adopting a new math curriculum,” Walchuk said. “While we recognize the difficult financial decisions the board had to make, it is critical that the district prioritizes student learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The positions on the chopping block came from two pots of money — the general fund, which accounts for 40 positions, and grants, which cover 137 positions. Money for grant-funded positions is either expiring or has been used faster than projected, said Camille Johnson, associate superintendent of human resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying to save the grant-funded positions would add to the deficit, Moses said. Although the district staff is working to secure more grants, the funds districts receive from the federal government are uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were not in a position to consult the (teachers) union because we do not have money to pay for these positions,” Moses said during the meeting. “Negotiations in terms of what stays and what goes was not possible in this scenario because it’s strictly driven by money that is expiring or money we aren’t responsible for assigning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district doesn’t have a choice but to eliminate some positions because they are dependent on school sites approving the positions in their budgets, Moses said. If approved, about 78 positions could be reinstated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deadline to give layoff notices is March 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/we-are-ready-to-fight-union-says-after-west-contra-costa-votes-to-cut-nearly-200-positions/727577\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday found that the mass firings of probationary employees were likely unlawful, granting some temporary relief to a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has sued to stop the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump administration’s\u003c/a> massive trimming of the federal workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including the Department of Defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe,” to hire or fire any employees but its own, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup handed down the order on a temporary restraining order sought by labor unions and nonprofits in a lawsuit filed by the coalition filed last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/federal-employees-firing-lawsuit-trump-probation-unions-4a9384c21e408df85ca17dfac5b9dc93\">filed\u003c/a> by five labor unions and five nonprofit organizations is among multiple lawsuits pushing back on the administration’s efforts to vastly shrink the federal workforce, which Trump has called bloated and sloppy. Thousands of probationary employees \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-workers-layoffs-doge-406752da1614755b8fabe9c94e0c71a8\">have already been fired\u003c/a> and his administration is now \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-elon-musk-federal-workers-layoffs-d295d4bb2cdd5023c27d9cb03754e81b\">aiming at career officials\u003c/a> with civil service protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs say the Office of Personnel Management had no authority to terminate the jobs of probationary workers who generally have less than a year on the job. They also say the firings were predicated on a lie of poor performance by the workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for the government say the Office of Personnel Management did not direct the firings, but asked agencies to review and determine whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment. They also say that probationary employees are not guaranteed employment and that only the highest performing and mission-critical employees should be hired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are an estimated 200,000 probationary workers — generally employees who have less than a year on the job — across federal agencies. About 15,000 are employed in California, providing services ranging from fire prevention to veterans’ care, the complaint says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12027914]Unions have recently struck out with two other federal judges in similar lawsuits attempting to stop the Trump administration’s goal of vastly reducing the federal workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, has presided over many high-profile cases and is known for his blunt talk. He oversaw the criminal probation of Pacific Gas & Electric and has called the nation’s largest utility a “\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-business-fires-crime-california-367cb44acf704920a0c2a72d60890bc5\">continuing menace\u003c/a> to California.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday found that the mass firings of probationary employees were likely unlawful, granting some temporary relief to a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has sued to stop the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump administration’s\u003c/a> massive trimming of the federal workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including the Department of Defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe,” to hire or fire any employees but its own, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup handed down the order on a temporary restraining order sought by labor unions and nonprofits in a lawsuit filed by the coalition filed last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
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