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He brought along his youngest son, a second grader at Sunnyside Elementary School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072892\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bart Evans, programs manager and science instructor, talks with students and parents at Mission Science Workshop in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2026, during an SFUSD teachers’ strike that closed all district schools. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Parents who flocked to the workshop were splitting child care duties with their neighbors or friends, or were shuffling their work hours, to adapt to the school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t know what else to do, so this is great,” said David Andrade, who brought his son, a third grader at Alvarado Elementary School, to the workshop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrade works as a paraeducator, assisting a student who is deaf and blind at the school district. He’s not a member of the teacher’s union, and said that while he supports their fight for “better things down the road,” he’s worried about the student in his care.[aside postID=news_12072028 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED.jpg']“I’m just wondering how he’s doing today, and how his dad is doing. He’s got a single father. And so I was really curious how they’re handling it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emily de Ayora took the morning off to bring her three kids, along with her neighbor’s children and a fellow PTA board member’s child, to the workshop. She belongs to her neighborhood mom’s group on WhatsApp, and said many members have already offered to trade child care responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty amazing how quickly parents can organize when we need to,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>De Ayora, who’s also a member of the San Francisco Parent Coalition, said she supports the teachers’ cause, but hopes they can get what they need through negotiations and the strike could end soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My kids are fine. I’m lucky,” she said. “But there are many, many other children in this district that rely on school for food. There are many parents who are emergency workers, and they rely on schools as a safe place for their children to go every day. There are many, many students in this district who are [in] special education, and taking them out of their daily routine is extremely challenging for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike brought other parents back to the pandemic, when they were juggling with work and remote learning at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072891\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072891\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emily de Ayora (center), communications specialist for the SF Parents Coalition, chaperones a group of students at Mission Science Workshop in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2026, during an SFUSD teachers’ strike that closed all district schools. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Abigail Alvarenga tried to get her two kids, who are in second and third grade at Monroe Elementary School, to work on their math and grammar worksheets before giving up and taking them to the science workshop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarenga and her husband are both firefighters, and they alternate their shifts to take care of the children. The couple can handle an indefinite strike, she said, but other families and older students aren’t so lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids are young, but I imagine for kids that are trying to do all of their high school stuff and trying to get their grades up for getting into colleges, the more days they’re off, the further and further behind they will get,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The longer the strike goes on, she said, she’ll have to reach for the workbooks and keep her children up to speed on their writing, reading and arithmetic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With some 50,000 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> students out of class on the first day of a teacher’s strike on Monday, parents around the city scrambled to adjust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school system’s 111 public \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072729/san-francisco-teachers-walk-out-in-first-strike-in-nearly-50-years\">campuses were shuttered\u003c/a> after the San Francisco Unified School District and United Educators of San Francisco failed to come to an agreement over the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Excelsior neighborhood, the nonprofit Mission Science Workshop decided to open its doors to give refuge to families who had nowhere else to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A class was originally scheduled to visit the maker’s space, but when the strike canceled their field trip, the nonprofit offered kids the chance to drop in, tinker with tools, make art or pet a snake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just like during the pandemic, as a small organization, we’re able to really quickly pivot and change our programs on the fly,” said Bart Evans, an assistant director and instructor at the workshop. He brought along his youngest son, a second grader at Sunnyside Elementary School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072892\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-13-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bart Evans, programs manager and science instructor, talks with students and parents at Mission Science Workshop in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2026, during an SFUSD teachers’ strike that closed all district schools. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Parents who flocked to the workshop were splitting child care duties with their neighbors or friends, or were shuffling their work hours, to adapt to the school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t know what else to do, so this is great,” said David Andrade, who brought his son, a third grader at Alvarado Elementary School, to the workshop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrade works as a paraeducator, assisting a student who is deaf and blind at the school district. He’s not a member of the teacher’s union, and said that while he supports their fight for “better things down the road,” he’s worried about the student in his care.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’m just wondering how he’s doing today, and how his dad is doing. He’s got a single father. And so I was really curious how they’re handling it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emily de Ayora took the morning off to bring her three kids, along with her neighbor’s children and a fellow PTA board member’s child, to the workshop. She belongs to her neighborhood mom’s group on WhatsApp, and said many members have already offered to trade child care responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty amazing how quickly parents can organize when we need to,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>De Ayora, who’s also a member of the San Francisco Parent Coalition, said she supports the teachers’ cause, but hopes they can get what they need through negotiations and the strike could end soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My kids are fine. I’m lucky,” she said. “But there are many, many other children in this district that rely on school for food. There are many parents who are emergency workers, and they rely on schools as a safe place for their children to go every day. There are many, many students in this district who are [in] special education, and taking them out of their daily routine is extremely challenging for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strike brought other parents back to the pandemic, when they were juggling with work and remote learning at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072891\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072891\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFUSDSTRIKE-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emily de Ayora (center), communications specialist for the SF Parents Coalition, chaperones a group of students at Mission Science Workshop in the Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2026, during an SFUSD teachers’ strike that closed all district schools. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Abigail Alvarenga tried to get her two kids, who are in second and third grade at Monroe Elementary School, to work on their math and grammar worksheets before giving up and taking them to the science workshop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarenga and her husband are both firefighters, and they alternate their shifts to take care of the children. The couple can handle an indefinite strike, she said, but other families and older students aren’t so lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids are young, but I imagine for kids that are trying to do all of their high school stuff and trying to get their grades up for getting into colleges, the more days they’re off, the further and further behind they will get,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The longer the strike goes on, she said, she’ll have to reach for the workbooks and keep her children up to speed on their writing, reading and arithmetic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-teachers-walk-out-in-first-strike-in-nearly-50-years",
"title": "SF Teachers Walk Out in First Strike in Nearly 50 Years. Schools Will Remain Closed",
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"headTitle": "SF Teachers Walk Out in First Strike in Nearly 50 Years. Schools Will Remain Closed | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s educators headed to the picket lines early Monday, kicking off the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072392/san-francisco-teachers-will-call-for-a-strike-next-week\">first school strike\u003c/a> in almost 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s 111 public school \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072599/sf-schools-will-close-if-teachers-strike-heres-how-city-hall-plans-to-step-in\">campuses are shuttered\u003c/a> after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> and United Educators of San Francisco failed to come to a contract deal over the weekend, and the union declined Mayor Daniel Lurie’s call to delay the strike while negotiations continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What this contract represents is stability for San Francisco Unified for years to come,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said outside Mission High School on Monday morning, where students and families joined hundreds of teachers, counselors and social workers outside the darkened building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the only way to call off the strike would be for the union and district to come to a full contract agreement: “You can expect to see strong picket lines until that agreement is achieved,” Curiel added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without a deal, SFUSD’s schools are closed indefinitely. Just before 2 p.m., the district confirmed to families that campuses would remain closed Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the thousands of striking educators, hundreds of custodial and food service workers, principals and administrators also walked off the job in sympathy strikes, making it unsafe for the district to open schools, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, center, speaks during a press conference at Mission High School on Feb. 9, 2026. Teachers went on strike for the first time in nearly 50 years. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Maria Su told reporters Monday morning that the district’s team was prepared to receive a proposal from UESF when negotiations resumed at noon Monday, after an hourslong bargaining session broke down late Saturday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are ready to sit that down at the bargaining table, work through the remaining issues, and quite frankly, stay here all night as long as it takes to get to a full agreement,” she said, adding that the district hopes to reach an agreement today. “Every day this strike continues has real consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many families rely on school for access to food and child care throughout the day, along with instruction, mental health support and social connection, Su said.[aside postID=news_12072028 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg']During the disruption, the city has set up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072028/2026-san-francisco-teachers-strike-sfusd-when-sf-union-childcare-after-school-programs-meals\">meal distribution sites\u003c/a>, and the district said some of its community partners and Recreation and Park Department after-school programs have been extended to all-day child care for their most at-risk students. Libraries and recreation centers are opening their doors to students older than 8, and the district is also offering independent study packets for children at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF declared the strike last week after months of state-led mediation ended with the union and district still far apart on many key demands, including fully funded family health care benefits and wage increases. The parties have been negotiating a new contract for almost a year, and educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to health coverage, the union has asked for raises of 9% and 14% for teachers and paraeducators over two years and changes to special education staffing. The district had said those demands are impossible given its financial crisis, and it repeatedly offered a 6% raise over three years and some increases to health care coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the union declared it would strike, SFUSD made some movement on key demands, offering a 6% raise over two years and a $24,000 annual benefit allowance to cover health care costs during an hourslong bargaining session on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that session, the district and union reached a tentative agreement regarding the district’s sanctuary schools policy. UESF cited the agreement as an “important win” but rejected the district’s wage and benefits offers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072850\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tadd Scott, English teacher at Mission High, bangs a drum during a teacher’s strike at Mission High School on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The district is clearly not taking our demands seriously,” the union said in a statement. “They are still telling us that any salary increases will come at the cost of previous contract wins. They are still not addressing the widespread crisis in our special education classrooms. And they are still not offering us a contract with fully funded family healthcare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gabriel Farfan, a paraeducator at Mission High School, stood on the picket lines early Monday. He said he was fighting for better wages, after being forced to move out of the city last year as the cost of living outpaced his pay. Now, he said, he has a 45-minute commute from the East Bay to get to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>“We are the lowest paid throughout school, and we are the backbone for our students,” he told KQED, adding that most paraeducators only work six hours a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everybody here has their hopes up for the negotiations to go through,” he said. “I have a lot of students I’ve been helping from ninth all the way to 12th grade. I know a lot of the students in here; they know me. I get emails saying, ‘I will miss you,’ and I miss them, too, of course. For most of them, we are their second home. We’re their second families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the city at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, Charlie Macias and her mom, Nicole, had joined an early morning picket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043121\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student holds a sign alongside teachers and fellow students of Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy during a rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2024, to protest against the potential closure of the school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’m missing my classroom a lot,” the first-grader said. She hopes classes will be back in session by Friday, when the school has planned a pajama day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We figured if school’s going to be closed, we might as well join our teachers and fight for them and what they deserve,” Nicole, who said she was home from work Monday because of the strike, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Lurie pleaded with the union to delay its walkout by three days so that schools can remain open as negotiations continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is critical that they continue the conversation so our kids can stay in school,” Lurie wrote in a statement, which was echoed by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our teachers are custodians of our children five days of the week, and they deserve our support, our students need continuity and our families deserve certainty,” Pelosi wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072846\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072846\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFUSD educators picket for the first time in nearly 50 years at Mission High School on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco State University labor historian John Logan said in an email that the union “really can’t delay the strike unless it genuinely believes that a deal is imminent, which is clearly not the case here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s honestly kind of mind-boggling that they’ve let it get to this point,” he wrote. “The problems facing the district in terms of teacher retention, morale and staffing levels have been building for years. The district knew that there was enormous dissatisfaction among the teachers, and if they had any doubt about just how bad it was, they saw the result of two overwhelming strike votes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday morning at the Tenderloin Recreation Center, Lurie spoke publicly about the strike for the first time, saying he said he was frustrated that after Saturday’s bargaining session, where union and district officials said they made significant progress, negotiations seemed to stall Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yesterday, there was a lack of dialogue,” Lurie told reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think so incredibly highly of our educators and our teachers. I want them well-paid. I want them to be able to afford health care,” he continued. “And I want our kids in school. So I’m going to work tirelessly 24-7 to facilitate an agreement that educators can agree to and that the school district can agree to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/aaliahmad\">\u003cem>Ayah Ali-Ahmad\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/sjohnson\">\u003cem>Sydney Johnson\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The city’s 111 public school campuses are closed Monday and will stay closed Tuesday after the San Francisco Unified School District and the teachers union failed to come to a contract deal.",
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"title": "SF Teachers Walk Out in First Strike in Nearly 50 Years. Schools Will Remain Closed | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s educators headed to the picket lines early Monday, kicking off the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072392/san-francisco-teachers-will-call-for-a-strike-next-week\">first school strike\u003c/a> in almost 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s 111 public school \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072599/sf-schools-will-close-if-teachers-strike-heres-how-city-hall-plans-to-step-in\">campuses are shuttered\u003c/a> after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> and United Educators of San Francisco failed to come to a contract deal over the weekend, and the union declined Mayor Daniel Lurie’s call to delay the strike while negotiations continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What this contract represents is stability for San Francisco Unified for years to come,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said outside Mission High School on Monday morning, where students and families joined hundreds of teachers, counselors and social workers outside the darkened building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the only way to call off the strike would be for the union and district to come to a full contract agreement: “You can expect to see strong picket lines until that agreement is achieved,” Curiel added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without a deal, SFUSD’s schools are closed indefinitely. Just before 2 p.m., the district confirmed to families that campuses would remain closed Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the thousands of striking educators, hundreds of custodial and food service workers, principals and administrators also walked off the job in sympathy strikes, making it unsafe for the district to open schools, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, center, speaks during a press conference at Mission High School on Feb. 9, 2026. Teachers went on strike for the first time in nearly 50 years. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Maria Su told reporters Monday morning that the district’s team was prepared to receive a proposal from UESF when negotiations resumed at noon Monday, after an hourslong bargaining session broke down late Saturday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are ready to sit that down at the bargaining table, work through the remaining issues, and quite frankly, stay here all night as long as it takes to get to a full agreement,” she said, adding that the district hopes to reach an agreement today. “Every day this strike continues has real consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many families rely on school for access to food and child care throughout the day, along with instruction, mental health support and social connection, Su said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>During the disruption, the city has set up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072028/2026-san-francisco-teachers-strike-sfusd-when-sf-union-childcare-after-school-programs-meals\">meal distribution sites\u003c/a>, and the district said some of its community partners and Recreation and Park Department after-school programs have been extended to all-day child care for their most at-risk students. Libraries and recreation centers are opening their doors to students older than 8, and the district is also offering independent study packets for children at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF declared the strike last week after months of state-led mediation ended with the union and district still far apart on many key demands, including fully funded family health care benefits and wage increases. The parties have been negotiating a new contract for almost a year, and educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to health coverage, the union has asked for raises of 9% and 14% for teachers and paraeducators over two years and changes to special education staffing. The district had said those demands are impossible given its financial crisis, and it repeatedly offered a 6% raise over three years and some increases to health care coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the union declared it would strike, SFUSD made some movement on key demands, offering a 6% raise over two years and a $24,000 annual benefit allowance to cover health care costs during an hourslong bargaining session on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that session, the district and union reached a tentative agreement regarding the district’s sanctuary schools policy. UESF cited the agreement as an “important win” but rejected the district’s wage and benefits offers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072850\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tadd Scott, English teacher at Mission High, bangs a drum during a teacher’s strike at Mission High School on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The district is clearly not taking our demands seriously,” the union said in a statement. “They are still telling us that any salary increases will come at the cost of previous contract wins. They are still not addressing the widespread crisis in our special education classrooms. And they are still not offering us a contract with fully funded family healthcare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gabriel Farfan, a paraeducator at Mission High School, stood on the picket lines early Monday. He said he was fighting for better wages, after being forced to move out of the city last year as the cost of living outpaced his pay. Now, he said, he has a 45-minute commute from the East Bay to get to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>“We are the lowest paid throughout school, and we are the backbone for our students,” he told KQED, adding that most paraeducators only work six hours a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everybody here has their hopes up for the negotiations to go through,” he said. “I have a lot of students I’ve been helping from ninth all the way to 12th grade. I know a lot of the students in here; they know me. I get emails saying, ‘I will miss you,’ and I miss them, too, of course. For most of them, we are their second home. We’re their second families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the city at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, Charlie Macias and her mom, Nicole, had joined an early morning picket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043121\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-37-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student holds a sign alongside teachers and fellow students of Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy during a rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2024, to protest against the potential closure of the school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’m missing my classroom a lot,” the first-grader said. She hopes classes will be back in session by Friday, when the school has planned a pajama day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We figured if school’s going to be closed, we might as well join our teachers and fight for them and what they deserve,” Nicole, who said she was home from work Monday because of the strike, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Lurie pleaded with the union to delay its walkout by three days so that schools can remain open as negotiations continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is critical that they continue the conversation so our kids can stay in school,” Lurie wrote in a statement, which was echoed by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our teachers are custodians of our children five days of the week, and they deserve our support, our students need continuity and our families deserve certainty,” Pelosi wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072846\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072846\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20260209_SFUSDSTRIKE_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFUSD educators picket for the first time in nearly 50 years at Mission High School on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco State University labor historian John Logan said in an email that the union “really can’t delay the strike unless it genuinely believes that a deal is imminent, which is clearly not the case here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s honestly kind of mind-boggling that they’ve let it get to this point,” he wrote. “The problems facing the district in terms of teacher retention, morale and staffing levels have been building for years. The district knew that there was enormous dissatisfaction among the teachers, and if they had any doubt about just how bad it was, they saw the result of two overwhelming strike votes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday morning at the Tenderloin Recreation Center, Lurie spoke publicly about the strike for the first time, saying he said he was frustrated that after Saturday’s bargaining session, where union and district officials said they made significant progress, negotiations seemed to stall Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yesterday, there was a lack of dialogue,” Lurie told reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think so incredibly highly of our educators and our teachers. I want them well-paid. I want them to be able to afford health care,” he continued. “And I want our kids in school. So I’m going to work tirelessly 24-7 to facilitate an agreement that educators can agree to and that the school district can agree to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/aaliahmad\">\u003cem>Ayah Ali-Ahmad\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/sjohnson\">\u003cem>Sydney Johnson\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> teachers will go on strike Monday for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071181/san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years\">first time in half a century\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Educators of San Francisco gave formal notice to members and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> on Thursday that they will be on the picket lines next week as 11 months of contract negotiations come to a close without a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not come to this decision lightly,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said at a press conference on Thursday morning. “We want to be in our classrooms and our school sites with all of our students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, which represents 6,000 teachers, paraeducators and other school staff, has been negotiating a new two-year contract with the district since last March. Educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The parties are set to resume bargaining Thursday evening for the first time since declaring an impasse and entering mediation in October, and could still avert a work stoppage through a last-minute agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is up to the district to come [to the bargaining table] with a serious proposal to solve the stability crisis,” Curiel said. “If not, it will be up to the thousands of educators of UESF to do what few of us have done before and take the next step onto the picket lines on Monday morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025666\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, speaks during a press conference at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in San Francisco’s Mission District on Feb. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike, which would be the city’s first since 1979, comes as teachers’ unions across the state gear up for their own shutdowns: the Los Angeles Unified School District authorized a strike \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/updates/los-angeles-san-francisco-teachers-unions-vote-to-authorize-a-strike\">last weekend\u003c/a> and San Diego will hold a one-day work stoppage later this month. Oakland’s union has \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/12/18/oakland-unified-teachers-union-contract-negotiations-oea/\">indicated\u003c/a> it is not far behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands'\">more than 30 California unions\u003c/a> launched a coordinated bargaining focused on stabilizing schools through smaller class sizes, special education changes and better wages and benefit coverage meant to attract and retain educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF has requested full benefit coverage for educators and their dependents and wage increases ranging from 9% to 14% for teachers and paraeducators, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district can’t not afford to invest in stabilizing staffing,” said Teanna Tillery, UESF’s vice president of paraeducators. “With almost 400 educator vacancies and health care increasing by 20%, the writing’s on the wall. SFUSD needs to invest in all of its educators or risk losing most of us.”[aside postID=news_12072028 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240827_SFUSDPROTEST_GC-6-KQED-1020x634.jpg']The district has maintained that it’s hamstringed by a financial crisis and remains under state oversight. It said meeting the union’s wage and benefit demands is unfeasible and would be rejected by fiscal advisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the impasse, the district had proposed a 2% raise for each of the next three years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">with concessions\u003c/a> from educators. Superintendent Maria Su has repeatedly said that the district has also offered a “creative” way to fund health care, but hasn’t shared details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement to families after the strike was called, Su said that she wants to avert a strike, and that the district plans to present a proposal that “meets many of our educators’ requests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear what that offer contains. Earlier this week, a neutral panel released a “fact-finding report” — the final step of mediation — that included recommended compromises on the union’s top demands. That suggested 6% raises over two years and fully funded family health care for three years using temporary parcel tax money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has not said whether it would agree to the report’s recommendations, but Curiel said they “do not go far enough.” Paraeducators need more significant raises, and health care funding should be permanent, the union said in a written dissent following the fact-finding report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a strike goes forward on Monday, campus operations will be significantly impacted, and Su said schools could be forced to close. To operate, schools need an administrator and custodial services, along with staff to supervise and provide instruction for students, and food service workers to distribute meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is, if I determine that I cannot open school safely because we do not have the staff to open school safely, then we cannot,” Su said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046127\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SEIU 1021, which represents custodians, clerks and lunchroom helpers, has announced its members will hold a sympathy strike and won’t cross the picket lines. The United Administrators of San Francisco is voting through midday Friday to determine if it will do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Closed campuses could leave families of SFUSD’s 50,000 students scrambling to find alternative child care come Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a really hard moment for families,” said Meredith Dodson, who heads the nonprofit San Francisco Parents Coalition. For parents who “are working jobs where they don’t have flexibility, they’re trying to figure out alternative plans for where their kids will be on Monday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said about a quarter of the 700 families that the organization surveyed this week said they would have to miss work if their kids’ schools close. Just 4% said private childcare would be an option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>“It’s most worrying for those who are living paycheck to paycheck,” Dodson said. “We’re also hearing a lot of concerns, especially from families with children in the special ed system. Especially the ones with one-on-one paraeducator support. It’s really hard to get those needs met without our schools open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said that she’s working with after-school care providers to extend services for a small number of the district’s most vulnerable students, and would prioritize extremely low-income and unhoused students, as well as those receiving special education services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she estimated that might only cover a couple of hundred and up to 1,000 kids, a fraction of the number of SFUSD students who might be in a vulnerable position during a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About a third of the students experience housing insecurity or food insecurity,” said Nelson Barry, the president of Urban Angels SF, which serves unhoused and at-risk youth. “They come from families that are living at or near the poverty level, so when there’s a strike, it’s going to affect these children in great numbers, not just a few.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12070970 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks at a press conference at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco on Jan. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mayor Daniel Lurie said Wednesday that he has been in contact with the union and district and urged both sides to return to the bargaining table and avoid a work stoppage. He’s also said he’s in contact with city partners to prepare to support families if schools close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is crucial that our schools remain open,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/danielluriesf/?hl=en\">social media\u003c/a>. “Our working parents can’t afford to stay home if schools are closed. Our special needs students can’t afford to lose access to vital services that help them succeed. Schools are the foundation that makes daily life possible and helps every family in San Francisco thrive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last time San Francisco saw an educator strike was September 1979, when teachers took to picket lines for more than six weeks, delaying the start of the school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That strike, which was sparked by mass teacher layoffs in the wake of Proposition 13, shuttered some schools for more than two weeks and threw the city into chaos. Then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein was integral in striking a deal between the parties, which resulted in a 15.5% pay raise and a promise to rehire hundreds of teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco State University labor historian John Logan said Thursday that he still believes the parties could come to an agreement before Monday, “even if it defers a real solution on some issues [especially health care] for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, if there’s little or no possibility of an agreement, it might only take one meeting to determine that,” he wrote via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said the union is willing to hear a proposal from the district, but the clock is ticking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s 11:59 p.m,” she said, and “the homework is due at midnight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The strike, which would be the city’s first in nearly 50 years, comes as teachers' unions across California gear up for their own shutdowns.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> teachers will go on strike Monday for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071181/san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years\">first time in half a century\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Educators of San Francisco gave formal notice to members and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> on Thursday that they will be on the picket lines next week as 11 months of contract negotiations come to a close without a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did not come to this decision lightly,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said at a press conference on Thursday morning. “We want to be in our classrooms and our school sites with all of our students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, which represents 6,000 teachers, paraeducators and other school staff, has been negotiating a new two-year contract with the district since last March. Educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The parties are set to resume bargaining Thursday evening for the first time since declaring an impasse and entering mediation in October, and could still avert a work stoppage through a last-minute agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is up to the district to come [to the bargaining table] with a serious proposal to solve the stability crisis,” Curiel said. “If not, it will be up to the thousands of educators of UESF to do what few of us have done before and take the next step onto the picket lines on Monday morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12025666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12025666\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250204-WeCantWait-13-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco, speaks during a press conference at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in San Francisco’s Mission District on Feb. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike, which would be the city’s first since 1979, comes as teachers’ unions across the state gear up for their own shutdowns: the Los Angeles Unified School District authorized a strike \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/updates/los-angeles-san-francisco-teachers-unions-vote-to-authorize-a-strike\">last weekend\u003c/a> and San Diego will hold a one-day work stoppage later this month. Oakland’s union has \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/12/18/oakland-unified-teachers-union-contract-negotiations-oea/\">indicated\u003c/a> it is not far behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025440/schools-face-cuts-california-teachers-unions-band-together-demands'\">more than 30 California unions\u003c/a> launched a coordinated bargaining focused on stabilizing schools through smaller class sizes, special education changes and better wages and benefit coverage meant to attract and retain educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UESF has requested full benefit coverage for educators and their dependents and wage increases ranging from 9% to 14% for teachers and paraeducators, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district can’t not afford to invest in stabilizing staffing,” said Teanna Tillery, UESF’s vice president of paraeducators. “With almost 400 educator vacancies and health care increasing by 20%, the writing’s on the wall. SFUSD needs to invest in all of its educators or risk losing most of us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The district has maintained that it’s hamstringed by a financial crisis and remains under state oversight. It said meeting the union’s wage and benefit demands is unfeasible and would be rejected by fiscal advisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the impasse, the district had proposed a 2% raise for each of the next three years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">with concessions\u003c/a> from educators. Superintendent Maria Su has repeatedly said that the district has also offered a “creative” way to fund health care, but hasn’t shared details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement to families after the strike was called, Su said that she wants to avert a strike, and that the district plans to present a proposal that “meets many of our educators’ requests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear what that offer contains. Earlier this week, a neutral panel released a “fact-finding report” — the final step of mediation — that included recommended compromises on the union’s top demands. That suggested 6% raises over two years and fully funded family health care for three years using temporary parcel tax money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has not said whether it would agree to the report’s recommendations, but Curiel said they “do not go far enough.” Paraeducators need more significant raises, and health care funding should be permanent, the union said in a written dissent following the fact-finding report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a strike goes forward on Monday, campus operations will be significantly impacted, and Su said schools could be forced to close. To operate, schools need an administrator and custodial services, along with staff to supervise and provide instruction for students, and food service workers to distribute meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is, if I determine that I cannot open school safely because we do not have the staff to open school safely, then we cannot,” Su said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046127\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SEIU 1021, which represents custodians, clerks and lunchroom helpers, has announced its members will hold a sympathy strike and won’t cross the picket lines. The United Administrators of San Francisco is voting through midday Friday to determine if it will do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Closed campuses could leave families of SFUSD’s 50,000 students scrambling to find alternative child care come Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a really hard moment for families,” said Meredith Dodson, who heads the nonprofit San Francisco Parents Coalition. For parents who “are working jobs where they don’t have flexibility, they’re trying to figure out alternative plans for where their kids will be on Monday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said about a quarter of the 700 families that the organization surveyed this week said they would have to miss work if their kids’ schools close. Just 4% said private childcare would be an option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>“It’s most worrying for those who are living paycheck to paycheck,” Dodson said. “We’re also hearing a lot of concerns, especially from families with children in the special ed system. Especially the ones with one-on-one paraeducator support. It’s really hard to get those needs met without our schools open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su said that she’s working with after-school care providers to extend services for a small number of the district’s most vulnerable students, and would prioritize extremely low-income and unhoused students, as well as those receiving special education services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she estimated that might only cover a couple of hundred and up to 1,000 kids, a fraction of the number of SFUSD students who might be in a vulnerable position during a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About a third of the students experience housing insecurity or food insecurity,” said Nelson Barry, the president of Urban Angels SF, which serves unhoused and at-risk youth. “They come from families that are living at or near the poverty level, so when there’s a strike, it’s going to affect these children in great numbers, not just a few.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12070970 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-SIGNATUREKICKOFF00606_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks at a press conference at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco on Jan. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mayor Daniel Lurie said Wednesday that he has been in contact with the union and district and urged both sides to return to the bargaining table and avoid a work stoppage. He’s also said he’s in contact with city partners to prepare to support families if schools close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is crucial that our schools remain open,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/danielluriesf/?hl=en\">social media\u003c/a>. “Our working parents can’t afford to stay home if schools are closed. Our special needs students can’t afford to lose access to vital services that help them succeed. Schools are the foundation that makes daily life possible and helps every family in San Francisco thrive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last time San Francisco saw an educator strike was September 1979, when teachers took to picket lines for more than six weeks, delaying the start of the school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That strike, which was sparked by mass teacher layoffs in the wake of Proposition 13, shuttered some schools for more than two weeks and threw the city into chaos. Then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein was integral in striking a deal between the parties, which resulted in a 15.5% pay raise and a promise to rehire hundreds of teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco State University labor historian John Logan said Thursday that he still believes the parties could come to an agreement before Monday, “even if it defers a real solution on some issues [especially health care] for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, if there’s little or no possibility of an agreement, it might only take one meeting to determine that,” he wrote via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curiel said the union is willing to hear a proposal from the district, but the clock is ticking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s 11:59 p.m,” she said, and “the homework is due at midnight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> educators are on the brink of striking for the first time in nearly 50 years, as the teachers’ union said Wednesday that it had reached the end of mediation with the district without an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has already authorized a strike, and now that the mediation process has concluded, educators could walk off the job as soon as next week if they don’t see a deal that meets their top demands, such as fully funded health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A monthslong impasse between the union and the San Francisco Unified School District brought both sides to mediation, a state-mandated step that legally must precede a teachers’ strike. That process ended Wednesday with a fact-finding report issued by a panel that includes one representative each from the union and the district, along with a neutral mediator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The report does not go far enough — and the recommendations here alone will not solve the stability crisis in our district,” Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said in a statement. “Now is the time for the district to come to the table with real solutions and show the community that they are fully committed to funding the classrooms and schools our students and communities deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report is meant to offer an analysis of the merits of both the district’s and the union’s proposals, as well as nonbinding recommendations for a settlement. It recommends the district give union members a 3% raise for each of the next two years and fully fund health benefits for the next three years through existing parcel tax money. After that, the report said, the district should look into the possibility of extending full health care coverage through a different source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although the district concurred with the report’s findings, the union dissented in part. UESF argued that paraeducators, who are among the lowest paid in the union, need more than a 3% annual raise and that health benefit coverage should be ongoing, not limited to the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has proposed 9% raises for teachers and 14% for paraeducators over two years, along with fully funded health care and a written commitment to the district’s sanctuary immigration policy and emergency shelter program for unhoused families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has said that such a raise isn’t feasible given its current budget crisis, and it countered with an offer for a 2% raise for each of the next three years in October. Last month, it said it could fund Kaiser Permanente health care benefits through existing parcel tax funding until it expires in three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said SFUSD rejected its sanctuary and housing proposals, which the district argued should be determined through district policy, not labor contracts. According to the fact-finding report, there are “significant challenges” associated with adding the language to educators’ contracts, which it said “imposes onerous responsibilities on the District as a landlord, job trainer, and legal advocate,” and opens SFUSD up to significant liability.[aside postID=news_12072028 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240827_SFUSDPROTEST_GC-6-KQED-1020x634.jpg']The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the report’s release, Superintendent Maria Su said she believed the district and union were close to a deal and could avert a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are at the table; we want to continue and finish this conversation,” she said on Tuesday. “I know that we will be able to get to an agreement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said in a statement that its bargaining team is prepared to negotiate on Thursday and Friday, though it is unlikely to back down on its core demands. UESF has repeatedly said that it will not sign a deal without fully funded health care coverage, and it’s not clear if it will accept the current temporary proposal. UESF said it hasn’t seen that proposal in writing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a dissent issued with the fact-finding report, Angela Su, who represented the union on the committee, said: “I agree that the district should tap into the resources available to fully fund dependent benefits … but dissent that it should be anything other than ongoing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has said its members’ health care costs are rising exponentially, noting that as of 2026, a family of four pays more than $1,500 a month for coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just this January, educators got a 20% increase in our health care costs,” Curiel said Wednesday on KQED’s Forum. “Folks that are teaching … are going to have to go home today and make tough decisions about whether or not they can afford other things for the rest of the month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046361\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement on social media, Mayor Daniel Lurie said his office is in contact with both the district and union, urging them to “keep talking so kids can keep learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also said that if a strike goes forward, he’s working with city departments to ensure there are options for students in case classrooms close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su has repeatedly said that closing campuses is a last resort, but could be necessary if they do not have sufficient staffing to open safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our working parents can’t afford to stay home if schools are closed,” Lurie said. “Our special needs students can’t afford to lose access to vital services that help them succeed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union and district could return to the bargaining table as soon as Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The report does not go far enough — and the recommendations here alone will not solve the stability crisis in our district,” Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said in a statement. “Now is the time for the district to come to the table with real solutions and show the community that they are fully committed to funding the classrooms and schools our students and communities deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report is meant to offer an analysis of the merits of both the district’s and the union’s proposals, as well as nonbinding recommendations for a settlement. It recommends the district give union members a 3% raise for each of the next two years and fully fund health benefits for the next three years through existing parcel tax money. After that, the report said, the district should look into the possibility of extending full health care coverage through a different source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250418-SFUSD-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although the district concurred with the report’s findings, the union dissented in part. UESF argued that paraeducators, who are among the lowest paid in the union, need more than a 3% annual raise and that health benefit coverage should be ongoing, not limited to the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has proposed 9% raises for teachers and 14% for paraeducators over two years, along with fully funded health care and a written commitment to the district’s sanctuary immigration policy and emergency shelter program for unhoused families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has said that such a raise isn’t feasible given its current budget crisis, and it countered with an offer for a 2% raise for each of the next three years in October. Last month, it said it could fund Kaiser Permanente health care benefits through existing parcel tax funding until it expires in three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said SFUSD rejected its sanctuary and housing proposals, which the district argued should be determined through district policy, not labor contracts. According to the fact-finding report, there are “significant challenges” associated with adding the language to educators’ contracts, which it said “imposes onerous responsibilities on the District as a landlord, job trainer, and legal advocate,” and opens SFUSD up to significant liability.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the report’s release, Superintendent Maria Su said she believed the district and union were close to a deal and could avert a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are at the table; we want to continue and finish this conversation,” she said on Tuesday. “I know that we will be able to get to an agreement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said in a statement that its bargaining team is prepared to negotiate on Thursday and Friday, though it is unlikely to back down on its core demands. UESF has repeatedly said that it will not sign a deal without fully funded health care coverage, and it’s not clear if it will accept the current temporary proposal. UESF said it hasn’t seen that proposal in writing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a dissent issued with the fact-finding report, Angela Su, who represented the union on the committee, said: “I agree that the district should tap into the resources available to fully fund dependent benefits … but dissent that it should be anything other than ongoing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has said its members’ health care costs are rising exponentially, noting that as of 2026, a family of four pays more than $1,500 a month for coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just this January, educators got a 20% increase in our health care costs,” Curiel said Wednesday on KQED’s Forum. “Folks that are teaching … are going to have to go home today and make tough decisions about whether or not they can afford other things for the rest of the month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046361\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement on social media, Mayor Daniel Lurie said his office is in contact with both the district and union, urging them to “keep talking so kids can keep learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also said that if a strike goes forward, he’s working with city departments to ensure there are options for students in case classrooms close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su has repeatedly said that closing campuses is a last resort, but could be necessary if they do not have sufficient staffing to open safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our working parents can’t afford to stay home if schools are closed,” Lurie said. “Our special needs students can’t afford to lose access to vital services that help them succeed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union and district could return to the bargaining table as soon as Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years",
"title": "San Francisco Teachers Vote to Approve Historic Strike, First in Nearly 50 Years",
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"headTitle": "San Francisco Teachers Vote to Approve Historic Strike, First in Nearly 50 Years | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco teachers are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">barrelling toward a strike\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, voting overwhelmingly this week to authorize one after months of unsuccessful labor negotiations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The vote — which gives union leaders the go-ahead to declare an indefinite work stoppage — was supported by nearly 98% of the city’s educators who cast ballots during a weeklong vote. More than 5,200 of United Educators of San Francisco’s 6,000 members participated, according to the union.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If called, the strike would be the first in San Francisco since 1979, and threatens to upend school operations indefinitely. Superintendent Maria Su has said schools could not open safely without striking staff, and that — if campuses are forced to close — the academic year could be extended into the summer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The time is now for the district to act,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said in a statement. “What comes next is ultimately up to the district and their actions, but San Francisco educators are making it clear that we are more than willing to do everything we can for our community.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">UESF won’t strike until it receives a fact-finding report from a neutral party, part of a state-mandated mediation process between the district and union, next week. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Curiel said that the union is committed to reaching a deal that meets its core demands, including fully-funded dependent healthcare, wage increases and contract language affirming SFUSD’s sanctuary commitments for immigrants. Earlier this week, she said the district hasn’t indicated it plans to meet their requirements.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The district and the union remain very far apart. That is a driving concern,” Curiel told KQED. She said this week’s vote brings the union closer to a strike than it has been in 20 years.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The last time the union held a final strike vote like this week’s was in 2006. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">United Educators of San Francisco, which represents 6,000 teachers, paraeducators and other school staff, has been negotiating a new two-year contract with the district since March of last year. Educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The parties mutually agreed to move into a two-part mediation process in November. Last week, they wrapped up the second step of that mediation process without a deal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are disappointed to share that we did not reach an agreement with UESF after today’s fact-finding session,” Su said in a message to families Friday. “Despite the District’s creative suggestions, UESF did not offer any counter, and terminated our Fact Finding session at 4:30 p.m.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The district said it’s offered UESF 6% raises over three years — pay increases the union said are contingent on giving up extra preparation periods for advanced placement course teachers and a sabbatical program for veteran educators, which they don’t want to lose. SFUSD also said it offered a way to fully fund health benefits, but Curiel said the union has not gotten any such proposal in writing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12070455 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250318-PrivateSchoolRates-13-BL_qed.jpg']“These ideas did not go nearly far enough, and … came with huge concessions our team knew our members would never stand for,” the union said in a statement. “We remain prepared to hear any real solutions the district may formally bring to the table that will stabilize our district for our students, educators, and families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Curiel said the union is still willing to negotiate with the district, but that it “has not shown any actions that lead to actual attempts to avoid [a strike].”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Since] the last real proposal that we were passed, [it] has been months,” she continued. “The district could change that effort. We’re taking steps to be prepared.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the next week, the fact-finding panel, which is made up of a representative for the union, district and neutral chair, will issue its non-binding recommendations. The union also must choose to accept or reject a final offer from the district.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After that, it could call a strike at any time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not yet known which schools would shutter during a strike, or for how long. Su said in a message to families that SFUSD is committed to meeting its minimum number of instructional days, and could extend the academic year if necessary.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This is an incredible show of strength and unity,” the union said in a statement. “The urgency of our demands has never been clearer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In the next few weeks, the San Francisco Unified School District will send the union its final offer, the last step before a work stoppage. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco teachers are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">barrelling toward a strike\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, voting overwhelmingly this week to authorize one after months of unsuccessful labor negotiations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The vote — which gives union leaders the go-ahead to declare an indefinite work stoppage — was supported by nearly 98% of the city’s educators who cast ballots during a weeklong vote. More than 5,200 of United Educators of San Francisco’s 6,000 members participated, according to the union.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If called, the strike would be the first in San Francisco since 1979, and threatens to upend school operations indefinitely. Superintendent Maria Su has said schools could not open safely without striking staff, and that — if campuses are forced to close — the academic year could be extended into the summer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The time is now for the district to act,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said in a statement. “What comes next is ultimately up to the district and their actions, but San Francisco educators are making it clear that we are more than willing to do everything we can for our community.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">UESF won’t strike until it receives a fact-finding report from a neutral party, part of a state-mandated mediation process between the district and union, next week. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Curiel said that the union is committed to reaching a deal that meets its core demands, including fully-funded dependent healthcare, wage increases and contract language affirming SFUSD’s sanctuary commitments for immigrants. Earlier this week, she said the district hasn’t indicated it plans to meet their requirements.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The district and the union remain very far apart. That is a driving concern,” Curiel told KQED. She said this week’s vote brings the union closer to a strike than it has been in 20 years.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The last time the union held a final strike vote like this week’s was in 2006. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">United Educators of San Francisco, which represents 6,000 teachers, paraeducators and other school staff, has been negotiating a new two-year contract with the district since March of last year. Educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The parties mutually agreed to move into a two-part mediation process in November. Last week, they wrapped up the second step of that mediation process without a deal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are disappointed to share that we did not reach an agreement with UESF after today’s fact-finding session,” Su said in a message to families Friday. “Despite the District’s creative suggestions, UESF did not offer any counter, and terminated our Fact Finding session at 4:30 p.m.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The district said it’s offered UESF 6% raises over three years — pay increases the union said are contingent on giving up extra preparation periods for advanced placement course teachers and a sabbatical program for veteran educators, which they don’t want to lose. SFUSD also said it offered a way to fully fund health benefits, but Curiel said the union has not gotten any such proposal in writing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“These ideas did not go nearly far enough, and … came with huge concessions our team knew our members would never stand for,” the union said in a statement. “We remain prepared to hear any real solutions the district may formally bring to the table that will stabilize our district for our students, educators, and families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Curiel said the union is still willing to negotiate with the district, but that it “has not shown any actions that lead to actual attempts to avoid [a strike].”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[Since] the last real proposal that we were passed, [it] has been months,” she continued. “The district could change that effort. We’re taking steps to be prepared.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the next week, the fact-finding panel, which is made up of a representative for the union, district and neutral chair, will issue its non-binding recommendations. The union also must choose to accept or reject a final offer from the district.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After that, it could call a strike at any time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not yet known which schools would shutter during a strike, or for how long. Su said in a message to families that SFUSD is committed to meeting its minimum number of instructional days, and could extend the academic year if necessary.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This is an incredible show of strength and unity,” the union said in a statement. “The urgency of our demands has never been clearer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight",
"title": "Kaiser Strike Sees Thousands Walk Out in California, This Time With No End in Sight",
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"headTitle": "Kaiser Strike Sees Thousands Walk Out in California, This Time With No End in Sight | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A monthslong labor dispute over staffing and compensation at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> escalated into an open-ended strike beginning Monday, threatening to disrupt operations at dozens of hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of nurses, physical therapists, midwives and other health professionals voted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070263/union-of-31000-kaiser-workers-to-go-on-indefinite-strike\">walk off their jobs\u003c/a> for days or even weeks to pressure California’s largest private employer to concede ground on top union demands, at a time the industry faces financial headwinds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which represents about 31,000 employees, accuses Kaiser of squeezing patient care and staffing for revenue as it expanded to other states — a claim that the nonprofit organization denies, arguing it meets all staffing and safety requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picketers on Monday morning outside Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center, near the employer’s headquarters, said wages need to keep up with inflation and the cost of living after they accepted smaller pay raises during the pandemic. Many also participated in a larger \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060288/kaiser-strike-ends-sunday-as-union-and-management-plan-to-resume-wage-talks\">five-day strike\u003c/a> in several states in October as part of the Alliance of Healthcare Unions and a one-day walkout in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re fighting for our livelihoods, we’re fighting for patient care,” said Jessica Servin, a nurse anesthetist in San Francisco. She said patients are facing long waitlists for appointments and surgeries and struggling to get necessary care in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071030\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071030\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I believed their values and their mission statement,” said Servin, who joined Kaiser as a nurse almost 20 years ago. “It feels like they’re deviating from the foundation of why Kaiser was built. It feels kind of sad to be here and realize that Kaiser is choosing profit over patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said its health care workers earn more on average than those at other employers and dismissed claims that the quality of its patient care is at risk, pointing to a turnover rate that the organization said is much lower than it is for the rest of the industry. Executives said they aim to balance managing growing payroll costs with keeping care affordable for more than 12 million people Kaiser serves, most of them in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These negotiations come at a time when health care costs are rising, and millions of Americans are at risk of losing access to health coverage,” Lionel Sims, senior vice president of human resources at Kaiser Northern California, said in a statement. “This underscores our responsibility to deliver fair, competitive pay for employees while protecting access and affordability for our members. We’re doing both.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hospitals, emergency rooms, pharmacies and nearly all medical offices will remain open during the strike, while patients will be contacted in advance if their care is affected, according to Kaiser. The employer plans to reschedule some surgeries and other procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Disruptions could be larger in Southern California, where about 28,000 UNAC/UHCP members are based, making up the vast majority. The union represents just 2,800 members in Northern California, including physician assistants and speech therapists, and 200 in Hawaii.[aside postID=news_12070138 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/StoneWorkerGetty2.jpg']For months, the union has sought a 25% pay increase over a four-year contract, but management has stuck to its offer to raise wages by 21.5%, calling it the strongest compensation package in Kaiser’s national bargaining history. Since the October walkout, the employer said it reached tentative agreements with other Alliance unions, strengthening staffing and scheduling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is disheartening that UNAC/UHCP leaders continue to talk about improving care, when this strike, and their actions over the past several months, are really all about higher wages,” Sims said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, founded in 1945 in Oakland, employs more than 180,000 people in nine states and the District of Columbia. As a nonprofit health plan and care provider, Kaiser said it reinvests its revenue into running and improving its hospitals, clinics and community programs, emphasizing preventive medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company rebounded from a net loss of about $4.5 billion in 2022 to positive net income from operations and investments in later years, posting nearly $13 billion in 2024 and $8 billion for the first three quarters of 2025, according to its most recent financial results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Kaiser agreed to pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kaiser-permanente-affiliates-pay-556m-resolve-false-claims-act-allegations\">$556 million\u003c/a> to settle allegations that it defrauded Medicare to increase reimbursements by pressuring doctors in California and Colorado to alter medical records and add diagnoses after patient visits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Mason, UNAC/UHCP’s lead negotiator, said the company floated cutting retirement and health care benefits for newer union members, which would neutralize higher wages. He said management has also refused to bargain on proposals that would allow workers to give patients the care and time they need, though Kaiser disputes that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants to go to an appointment when you’re sick and feel like you’re being rushed because your provider has to get to the next patient and the next,” Mason said. “This strike is to ensure that patient care continues to be the best that it can be and that Kaiser doesn’t continue down this financial-lies path where they’re treating health care like a hedge fund.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071036\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sanne Jacobsen attends the strike at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sanne Jacobsen, a nurse anesthetist in Oakland, said providers are overbooked and left out of scheduling conversations. She said that the company has struggled to recruit and retain staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s delayed appointments, delayed surgeries… and in places like the clinics where people are getting physical therapy, those physical therapists don’t have adequate time to actually treat the patients well,” Jacobsen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffing ratios and wages became top concerns for health care workers as the sector has increasingly consolidated and executive pay has soared, according to labor experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 15,000 nurses at three major hospitals in \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/nursing-strike-new-york-5647ac366a8d067785b9cb4005204878\">New York\u003c/a> went on strike this month, and hundreds more in Grand Blanc, Michigan, remained at the picket line under freezing conditions. Nurses in five other states are threatening walkouts, according to the website \u003ca href=\"https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-strikes-list/\">nurse.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One factor in Kaiser’s reluctance to commit to additional payroll costs is an uncertain financial forecast under the Trump administration, said John Logan, who chairs the labor and employment studies program at San Francisco State University. Federal policies that are expected to increase the number of uninsured Americans could affect Kaiser’s bottom line.[aside postID=news_12069984 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-06-KQED.jpg']“Kaiser management wants to give itself as much flexibility and wants to avoid making concrete, enforceable commitments to the union in terms of staffing levels and working conditions that it might see are going to be a huge liability in that changing environment,” Logan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union points to Kaiser’s $66 billion in reserves as proof that it can afford improved staffing and benefits, though the company said that the funds are for long-term commitments such as pensions and building maintenance, not ongoing payroll increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, frontline employees want executives to invest more of the nonprofit organization’s financial income on its workforce and patient care, said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s clearly the case that Kaiser, by any metric, is taking in a lot of money,” Givan said. “It has very highly paid executives and the leaders of Kaiser are making choices about where to invest their money. And these frontline workers feel that a little bit more should be on the frontline and not elsewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacobsen, who’s a member of the union’s bargaining team, said the company’s negotiating behavior felt like “an investment bank that poses as a health care organization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For them to say that they can’t afford to pay us fair wages? I think we know where the greed is,” she said on the picket line on Monday. “It’s not out here on the line. It’s way up there in the corporate office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National negotiations that started in May were paused by Kaiser last month, after executives said the union threatened to release damning information about the company. The union then published \u003ca href=\"https://unacuhcp.org/caregivers/\">a report\u003c/a> on Kaiser’s financials, including linking the employer’s investments to Geo Group and CoreCivic, private prison companies that also run many immigration detention centers. Kaiser slammed the findings as a “collection of misrepresentation of facts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the weekend, Kaiser and the union met for negotiations, but workers said they weren’t productive and the strike will continue. The employer said it’s onboarding nurses, clinicians and other staff to work during the walkout, and reassigning some employees to work at strike locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The strike by a union representing 31,000 nurses, physical therapists, midwives and others at Kaiser Permanente comes amid a monthslong labor dispute over staffing and compensation.",
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"title": "Kaiser Strike Sees Thousands Walk Out in California, This Time With No End in Sight | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A monthslong labor dispute over staffing and compensation at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> escalated into an open-ended strike beginning Monday, threatening to disrupt operations at dozens of hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of nurses, physical therapists, midwives and other health professionals voted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070263/union-of-31000-kaiser-workers-to-go-on-indefinite-strike\">walk off their jobs\u003c/a> for days or even weeks to pressure California’s largest private employer to concede ground on top union demands, at a time the industry faces financial headwinds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which represents about 31,000 employees, accuses Kaiser of squeezing patient care and staffing for revenue as it expanded to other states — a claim that the nonprofit organization denies, arguing it meets all staffing and safety requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picketers on Monday morning outside Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center, near the employer’s headquarters, said wages need to keep up with inflation and the cost of living after they accepted smaller pay raises during the pandemic. Many also participated in a larger \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060288/kaiser-strike-ends-sunday-as-union-and-management-plan-to-resume-wage-talks\">five-day strike\u003c/a> in several states in October as part of the Alliance of Healthcare Unions and a one-day walkout in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re fighting for our livelihoods, we’re fighting for patient care,” said Jessica Servin, a nurse anesthetist in San Francisco. She said patients are facing long waitlists for appointments and surgeries and struggling to get necessary care in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071030\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071030\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I believed their values and their mission statement,” said Servin, who joined Kaiser as a nurse almost 20 years ago. “It feels like they’re deviating from the foundation of why Kaiser was built. It feels kind of sad to be here and realize that Kaiser is choosing profit over patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said its health care workers earn more on average than those at other employers and dismissed claims that the quality of its patient care is at risk, pointing to a turnover rate that the organization said is much lower than it is for the rest of the industry. Executives said they aim to balance managing growing payroll costs with keeping care affordable for more than 12 million people Kaiser serves, most of them in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These negotiations come at a time when health care costs are rising, and millions of Americans are at risk of losing access to health coverage,” Lionel Sims, senior vice president of human resources at Kaiser Northern California, said in a statement. “This underscores our responsibility to deliver fair, competitive pay for employees while protecting access and affordability for our members. We’re doing both.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hospitals, emergency rooms, pharmacies and nearly all medical offices will remain open during the strike, while patients will be contacted in advance if their care is affected, according to Kaiser. The employer plans to reschedule some surgeries and other procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Disruptions could be larger in Southern California, where about 28,000 UNAC/UHCP members are based, making up the vast majority. The union represents just 2,800 members in Northern California, including physician assistants and speech therapists, and 200 in Hawaii.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For months, the union has sought a 25% pay increase over a four-year contract, but management has stuck to its offer to raise wages by 21.5%, calling it the strongest compensation package in Kaiser’s national bargaining history. Since the October walkout, the employer said it reached tentative agreements with other Alliance unions, strengthening staffing and scheduling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is disheartening that UNAC/UHCP leaders continue to talk about improving care, when this strike, and their actions over the past several months, are really all about higher wages,” Sims said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, founded in 1945 in Oakland, employs more than 180,000 people in nine states and the District of Columbia. As a nonprofit health plan and care provider, Kaiser said it reinvests its revenue into running and improving its hospitals, clinics and community programs, emphasizing preventive medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company rebounded from a net loss of about $4.5 billion in 2022 to positive net income from operations and investments in later years, posting nearly $13 billion in 2024 and $8 billion for the first three quarters of 2025, according to its most recent financial results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Kaiser agreed to pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kaiser-permanente-affiliates-pay-556m-resolve-false-claims-act-allegations\">$556 million\u003c/a> to settle allegations that it defrauded Medicare to increase reimbursements by pressuring doctors in California and Colorado to alter medical records and add diagnoses after patient visits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Mason, UNAC/UHCP’s lead negotiator, said the company floated cutting retirement and health care benefits for newer union members, which would neutralize higher wages. He said management has also refused to bargain on proposals that would allow workers to give patients the care and time they need, though Kaiser disputes that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants to go to an appointment when you’re sick and feel like you’re being rushed because your provider has to get to the next patient and the next,” Mason said. “This strike is to ensure that patient care continues to be the best that it can be and that Kaiser doesn’t continue down this financial-lies path where they’re treating health care like a hedge fund.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071036\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-KAISER-STRIKE-BEGINS-MD-08-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sanne Jacobsen attends the strike at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sanne Jacobsen, a nurse anesthetist in Oakland, said providers are overbooked and left out of scheduling conversations. She said that the company has struggled to recruit and retain staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s delayed appointments, delayed surgeries… and in places like the clinics where people are getting physical therapy, those physical therapists don’t have adequate time to actually treat the patients well,” Jacobsen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffing ratios and wages became top concerns for health care workers as the sector has increasingly consolidated and executive pay has soared, according to labor experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 15,000 nurses at three major hospitals in \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/nursing-strike-new-york-5647ac366a8d067785b9cb4005204878\">New York\u003c/a> went on strike this month, and hundreds more in Grand Blanc, Michigan, remained at the picket line under freezing conditions. Nurses in five other states are threatening walkouts, according to the website \u003ca href=\"https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-strikes-list/\">nurse.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One factor in Kaiser’s reluctance to commit to additional payroll costs is an uncertain financial forecast under the Trump administration, said John Logan, who chairs the labor and employment studies program at San Francisco State University. Federal policies that are expected to increase the number of uninsured Americans could affect Kaiser’s bottom line.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Kaiser management wants to give itself as much flexibility and wants to avoid making concrete, enforceable commitments to the union in terms of staffing levels and working conditions that it might see are going to be a huge liability in that changing environment,” Logan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union points to Kaiser’s $66 billion in reserves as proof that it can afford improved staffing and benefits, though the company said that the funds are for long-term commitments such as pensions and building maintenance, not ongoing payroll increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, frontline employees want executives to invest more of the nonprofit organization’s financial income on its workforce and patient care, said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s clearly the case that Kaiser, by any metric, is taking in a lot of money,” Givan said. “It has very highly paid executives and the leaders of Kaiser are making choices about where to invest their money. And these frontline workers feel that a little bit more should be on the frontline and not elsewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacobsen, who’s a member of the union’s bargaining team, said the company’s negotiating behavior felt like “an investment bank that poses as a health care organization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For them to say that they can’t afford to pay us fair wages? I think we know where the greed is,” she said on the picket line on Monday. “It’s not out here on the line. It’s way up there in the corporate office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National negotiations that started in May were paused by Kaiser last month, after executives said the union threatened to release damning information about the company. The union then published \u003ca href=\"https://unacuhcp.org/caregivers/\">a report\u003c/a> on Kaiser’s financials, including linking the employer’s investments to Geo Group and CoreCivic, private prison companies that also run many immigration detention centers. Kaiser slammed the findings as a “collection of misrepresentation of facts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the weekend, Kaiser and the union met for negotiations, but workers said they weren’t productive and the strike will continue. The employer said it’s onboarding nurses, clinicians and other staff to work during the walkout, and reassigning some employees to work at strike locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Union of 31,000 Kaiser Workers to Go on Indefinite Strike",
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"content": "\u003cp>The union representing 31,000 nurses, rehab therapists, pharmacists and other specialty health care professionals at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> plans to go on an open-ended strike at hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii, it said this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After both sides hit a wall in their months-long contract talks, the walkout is set to begin Jan. 26 at nearly 20 Kaiser hospitals and 200 clinics, with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be on strike until we reach an agreement,” said Brian Mason, a negotiator for the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. He warned that the strike will likely cause delayed or canceled surgeries and appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UNAC/UHCP is part of an alliance of health care unions negotiating with Kaiser for a new set of national and local contracts. In October, about 61,000 members of the alliance \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060288/kaiser-strike-ends-sunday-as-union-and-management-plan-to-resume-wage-talks\">staged a five-day, multi-state strike\u003c/a> to demand wage and staffing increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talks resumed after the walkout, but they broke down in mid-December when Kaiser negotiators accused UNAC/UHCP leaders of not bargaining in good faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVpegM9XML4\">statement issued on YouTube\u003c/a>, chief human resources officer Greg Holmes said a union official threatened to release “evidence of illegal, unethical and reputationally damaging information about Kaiser Permanente” unless both sides reached an acceptable agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963437\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963437\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A large group of people line the sidewalk in front of a large building.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser workers strike in front of a sign at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2023 \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/labor-relations/alliance-national-bargaining/media-statements/kaiser-permanente-statement-on-a-path-forward-in-alliance-bargaining\">proposed moving forward\u003c/a> with contract negotiations at a local level with other unions in the alliance — a move that prompted UNAC/UHCP to file an unfair labor practice charge at the National Labor Relations Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union accused Kaiser of trying to bypass the agreed-upon national bargaining process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, it posted \u003ca href=\"https://unacuhcp.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ProfitsOverPatients_2026.pdf\">a report online\u003c/a> alleging that the Kaiser Permanente Group Trust, which manages pension funds for employees, invested in CoreCivic and the GEO Group, private prison companies that run detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[aside postID=news_12069414 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_022-KQED.jpg']“When Kaiser claims it cannot afford meaningful improvements and summarily rejects proposals that would enhance patient care and health care provider well-being, its financial priorities merit detailed scrutiny,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has not replied to an email message seeking questions about the union’s claim and its financial investments. Other unions in the alliance are not participating in the upcoming strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alliance has been seeking a 25% wage boost over four years for employees, saying they are underpaid. Kaiser, which maintains that workers already earn above-market wages, has drawn the line at 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The difference, which adds up to roughly $300 million a year in salary costs, is what Kaiser said could force it to raise rates among its 12.6 million members, most of them in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union representatives maintain that Kaiser can meet their demands given its profits and an estimated $66 billion in reserves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The walkout at nearly 20 Kaiser hospitals and 200 clinics is set to begin Jan. 26, with no end in sight. A union leader warns of delayed or canceled surgeries and appointments. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The union representing 31,000 nurses, rehab therapists, pharmacists and other specialty health care professionals at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> plans to go on an open-ended strike at hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii, it said this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After both sides hit a wall in their months-long contract talks, the walkout is set to begin Jan. 26 at nearly 20 Kaiser hospitals and 200 clinics, with no end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be on strike until we reach an agreement,” said Brian Mason, a negotiator for the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. He warned that the strike will likely cause delayed or canceled surgeries and appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UNAC/UHCP is part of an alliance of health care unions negotiating with Kaiser for a new set of national and local contracts. In October, about 61,000 members of the alliance \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060288/kaiser-strike-ends-sunday-as-union-and-management-plan-to-resume-wage-talks\">staged a five-day, multi-state strike\u003c/a> to demand wage and staffing increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talks resumed after the walkout, but they broke down in mid-December when Kaiser negotiators accused UNAC/UHCP leaders of not bargaining in good faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVpegM9XML4\">statement issued on YouTube\u003c/a>, chief human resources officer Greg Holmes said a union official threatened to release “evidence of illegal, unethical and reputationally damaging information about Kaiser Permanente” unless both sides reached an acceptable agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963437\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963437\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A large group of people line the sidewalk in front of a large building.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-OAKLAND-MD-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser workers strike in front of a sign at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 2, 2023 \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/labor-relations/alliance-national-bargaining/media-statements/kaiser-permanente-statement-on-a-path-forward-in-alliance-bargaining\">proposed moving forward\u003c/a> with contract negotiations at a local level with other unions in the alliance — a move that prompted UNAC/UHCP to file an unfair labor practice charge at the National Labor Relations Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union accused Kaiser of trying to bypass the agreed-upon national bargaining process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, it posted \u003ca href=\"https://unacuhcp.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ProfitsOverPatients_2026.pdf\">a report online\u003c/a> alleging that the Kaiser Permanente Group Trust, which manages pension funds for employees, invested in CoreCivic and the GEO Group, private prison companies that run detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When Kaiser claims it cannot afford meaningful improvements and summarily rejects proposals that would enhance patient care and health care provider well-being, its financial priorities merit detailed scrutiny,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has not replied to an email message seeking questions about the union’s claim and its financial investments. Other unions in the alliance are not participating in the upcoming strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alliance has been seeking a 25% wage boost over four years for employees, saying they are underpaid. Kaiser, which maintains that workers already earn above-market wages, has drawn the line at 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The difference, which adds up to roughly $300 million a year in salary costs, is what Kaiser said could force it to raise rates among its 12.6 million members, most of them in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union representatives maintain that Kaiser can meet their demands given its profits and an estimated $66 billion in reserves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "stone-industry-proposes-self-policing-as-california-weighs-artificial-stone-ban",
"title": "Stone Industry Proposes Self-Policing as California Weighs Artificial Stone Ban",
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"content": "\u003cp>Facing a proposal in California to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">ban the use of a popular countertop material\u003c/a> linked to a growing lung disease killing stonecutters, industry representatives said they are taking steps to self-police and tackle the crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artificial stone is linked to an aggressive form of silicosis among workers who have inhaled toxic silica dust generated when cutting and shaping slabs of the material, also known as engineered stone or quartz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The International Surface Fabricators Association, with support from large artificial stone manufacturers, has resurfaced plans to establish a private certification program overseen by the industry to ensure only fabrication shops following required safety measures handle the controversial slabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group aims to begin piloting business certification in Southern California, the nation’s silicosis epicenter, as early as this summer, according to testimony by ISFA’s CEO Laurie Weber to California regulators on Thursday in Sacramento. The audit and training program, which would be expanded statewide later in the year, aims to protect workers without banning artificial stone, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that bans happen when systems fail, and we’re here to help fix the system,” Weber said. “We want an opportunity to sit at the table and talk about how to solve this together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Close to 500 stonecutters have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11969381/california-regulators-to-vote-on-emergency-rules-for-stonecutters-safety\">contracted the incurable disease\u003c/a> in California, including 54 who’ve undergone lung transplants and 27 who have died since 2019, according to tracking efforts by state health authorities. Nearly all those sick are Latino men, many of them immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064718\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of a pair lungs with silicosis used in a Cal/OSHA presentation slide about the disease, and rising number of cases in California, at a public meeting on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Museomed via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Occupational safety experts say mounting scientific evidence shows that engineered stone dust is much more dangerous than that released by marble and other natural stones, though large U.S. manufacturers of the factory-made material, such as Cambria, dispute that assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A medical association petitioned the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board last month to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067166/health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease\">prohibit dust-producing tasks\u003c/a> on engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica, including slicing and polishing. According to the Western Occupational Environmental Medicine Association, a ban would encourage the use of safer substitutes now sold in the U.S. and Australia by some manufacturers, such as Caesarstone and Cosentino. Australia prohibited the sale of engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The clock is ticking as we discuss, as we try this and that. Why are we protecting this cosmetic material for which there is a particularly appropriate and excellent substitute?” Dr. Robert Blink, an occupational medicine doctor in San Francisco and the association’s former president, said during the board meeting in response to ISFA’s licensing plan. “Why are we doing this while we’re waiting for people to die?”[aside postID=news_12069714 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/StoneworkerGetty.jpg']The testimony came a day after Cambria and other beleaguered industry representatives testified before a U.S. House subcommittee in support of a bill that would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069714/as-california-silicosis-cases-rise-engineered-stone-industry-seeks-immunity-in-dc\">immunize their companies\u003c/a> from hundreds of lawsuits by sick stoneworkers. \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5437/text\">H.R. 5437\u003c/a>, introduced by California Rep. Tom McClintock last September, would prohibit civil lawsuits against stone slab manufacturers or sellers for harm resulting from the alteration of their products and dismiss pending claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Schult, Cambria’s chief legal officer, traveled from the Washington, D.C., hearing to the board meeting in Sacramento. The Minnesota-based company accounts for 40-50% of artificial stone produced in the U.S., though most of the material is imported from other countries, she said. Cambria, which also owns fabrication shops, has not yet developed alternatives to its high-silica artificial stone products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll do my very best to be here going forward as well so that we can work on this together,” Schult told the regulators. “Quartz slab products can be cut safely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weber said the industry pushed for a licensing system to be included in a state bill that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033036/california-bill-moves-forward-protect-stonecutters-deadly-disease\">went into effect this year\u003c/a>, which reinforces workplace protections to prevent silicosis. She said it’s unclear why the bill’s final version did not include a certification initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033047\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone fabricator places his hand on a table that he cut at his home in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, California approved the nation’s strictest rules to try to protect stonecutters. But the sophisticated measures, which prohibit the dry cutting of engineered stone to suppress dust and require employers to provide workers with respirators that can cost more than $1,000 each, are unfeasible for most fabrication businesses, according to employers and workplace regulators. About 95% of countertop fabrication shops that Cal/OSHA inspectors have visited were not following the required protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates who have surveyed and informed stonecutters about silica hazards in the Los Angeles area said they doubted an industry certification initiative would help protect many from the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The challenge here is that the industry wants to essentially police itself under the proposal that they presented today,” Maegan Ortiz, who directs the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, said. “I think if history has shown us anything, big industries do not do very well at that.\u003cem>”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicosis has also been found among stoneworkers in Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Washington and other states where engineered stone is cut, though medical experts believe the illness is severely underreported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As California regulators consider banning high-silica engineered stone linked to deadly silicosis, countertop manufacturers and industry groups are proposing a voluntary certification program to regulate fabrication shops and avoid stricter state action.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Facing a proposal in California to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">ban the use of a popular countertop material\u003c/a> linked to a growing lung disease killing stonecutters, industry representatives said they are taking steps to self-police and tackle the crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artificial stone is linked to an aggressive form of silicosis among workers who have inhaled toxic silica dust generated when cutting and shaping slabs of the material, also known as engineered stone or quartz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The International Surface Fabricators Association, with support from large artificial stone manufacturers, has resurfaced plans to establish a private certification program overseen by the industry to ensure only fabrication shops following required safety measures handle the controversial slabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group aims to begin piloting business certification in Southern California, the nation’s silicosis epicenter, as early as this summer, according to testimony by ISFA’s CEO Laurie Weber to California regulators on Thursday in Sacramento. The audit and training program, which would be expanded statewide later in the year, aims to protect workers without banning artificial stone, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that bans happen when systems fail, and we’re here to help fix the system,” Weber said. “We want an opportunity to sit at the table and talk about how to solve this together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Close to 500 stonecutters have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11969381/california-regulators-to-vote-on-emergency-rules-for-stonecutters-safety\">contracted the incurable disease\u003c/a> in California, including 54 who’ve undergone lung transplants and 27 who have died since 2019, according to tracking efforts by state health authorities. Nearly all those sick are Latino men, many of them immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064718\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of a pair lungs with silicosis used in a Cal/OSHA presentation slide about the disease, and rising number of cases in California, at a public meeting on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Museomed via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Occupational safety experts say mounting scientific evidence shows that engineered stone dust is much more dangerous than that released by marble and other natural stones, though large U.S. manufacturers of the factory-made material, such as Cambria, dispute that assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A medical association petitioned the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board last month to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067166/health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease\">prohibit dust-producing tasks\u003c/a> on engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica, including slicing and polishing. According to the Western Occupational Environmental Medicine Association, a ban would encourage the use of safer substitutes now sold in the U.S. and Australia by some manufacturers, such as Caesarstone and Cosentino. Australia prohibited the sale of engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The clock is ticking as we discuss, as we try this and that. Why are we protecting this cosmetic material for which there is a particularly appropriate and excellent substitute?” Dr. Robert Blink, an occupational medicine doctor in San Francisco and the association’s former president, said during the board meeting in response to ISFA’s licensing plan. “Why are we doing this while we’re waiting for people to die?”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The testimony came a day after Cambria and other beleaguered industry representatives testified before a U.S. House subcommittee in support of a bill that would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069714/as-california-silicosis-cases-rise-engineered-stone-industry-seeks-immunity-in-dc\">immunize their companies\u003c/a> from hundreds of lawsuits by sick stoneworkers. \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5437/text\">H.R. 5437\u003c/a>, introduced by California Rep. Tom McClintock last September, would prohibit civil lawsuits against stone slab manufacturers or sellers for harm resulting from the alteration of their products and dismiss pending claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Schult, Cambria’s chief legal officer, traveled from the Washington, D.C., hearing to the board meeting in Sacramento. The Minnesota-based company accounts for 40-50% of artificial stone produced in the U.S., though most of the material is imported from other countries, she said. Cambria, which also owns fabrication shops, has not yet developed alternatives to its high-silica artificial stone products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll do my very best to be here going forward as well so that we can work on this together,” Schult told the regulators. “Quartz slab products can be cut safely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weber said the industry pushed for a licensing system to be included in a state bill that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033036/california-bill-moves-forward-protect-stonecutters-deadly-disease\">went into effect this year\u003c/a>, which reinforces workplace protections to prevent silicosis. She said it’s unclear why the bill’s final version did not include a certification initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033047\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone fabricator places his hand on a table that he cut at his home in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, California approved the nation’s strictest rules to try to protect stonecutters. But the sophisticated measures, which prohibit the dry cutting of engineered stone to suppress dust and require employers to provide workers with respirators that can cost more than $1,000 each, are unfeasible for most fabrication businesses, according to employers and workplace regulators. About 95% of countertop fabrication shops that Cal/OSHA inspectors have visited were not following the required protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates who have surveyed and informed stonecutters about silica hazards in the Los Angeles area said they doubted an industry certification initiative would help protect many from the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The challenge here is that the industry wants to essentially police itself under the proposal that they presented today,” Maegan Ortiz, who directs the Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, said. “I think if history has shown us anything, big industries do not do very well at that.\u003cem>”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicosis has also been found among stoneworkers in Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Washington and other states where engineered stone is cut, though medical experts believe the illness is severely underreported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>With less than five months until \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s primary election for governor, no candidate has emerged as the consensus choice of the most powerful force in state Democratic politics: organized labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta, a longtime labor ally, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069366/attorney-general-rob-bonta-announces-he-wont-run-for-governor\">announced this week\u003c/a> he would not run for governor, despite behind-the-scenes encouragement from many in the state’s labor movement. His decision increased the likelihood that no single candidate will be able to consolidate labor support, even as a handful of unions have already made early endorsements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is probably the least clear, most muddled gubernatorial primary field we’ve seen in California in more than half a century,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC and UC Berkeley. “There are several candidates with solid labor credentials, but no one who stands out to a point where you see unions flocking to them the way you have in most past campaigns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unions remain the lifeblood of Democratic campaigns in the state, Schnur said. The groups bankroll independent political committees that typically spend tens of millions of dollars on television ads and mailers, and their network of members provides favored candidates with a ready-made field operation to knock on doors and make phone calls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not since 1990, when Dianne Feinstein defeated John Van de Kamp in the Democratic primary, has labor’s chosen candidate for governor in California failed to make the general election. Union support was a key force in the competitive primary victories of Gray Davis in 1998, Phil Angelides in 2006 and Gavin Newsom in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are eight high-profile Democrats and two Republicans vying in June’s primary, in which the top two finishers advance to November, regardless of party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030712 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) smiles as she prepares to address supporters at an election night party on March 5, 2024, in Long Beach, California. \u003ccite>(Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the Democrats can already tout notable endorsements from unions and labor groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter has won the backing of the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, is supported by the State Building and Construction Trades, California State Association of Electrical Workers, and the Peace Officers Research Association of California — which is also endorsing Republican Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, former Attorney General Xavier Becerra is endorsed by the California State Council of Laborers.[aside postID=news_12069366 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg']But many of the state’s largest and most powerful labor groups are still evaluating the field. That includes the California Labor Federation, SEIU, the California Teachers Association and the California Nurses Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s possible to get that kind of coalescing behind one candidate,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the Labor Federation. “We have almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the current field of candidates … we have people who have had long relationships with organized labor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Federation will hold an endorsement vote at its pre-primary convention in March. Large unions typically have an executive team or board of directors that vet candidates through interviews and written questionnaires, before making a recommendation to a larger body of delegates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Topping the wish list for many union leaders is a governor who will be willing to raise new revenue for the state through taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals. Democrats are divided over an effort by a health care workers’ union to place a measure on the November ballot that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070052/proposal-to-tax-billionaires-ignites-a-political-fight-in-california\">would enact a 5% tax\u003c/a> on Californians with more than $1 billion in assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But holding union-friendly positions will only get the candidates so far. Labor leaders want to put their chips behind a candidate who can win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064925\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Eric Swalwell speaks during a press conference after a rally in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The challenge is when there’s so many folks in it, a big part of our calculus always has to be the ability to run a campaign to differentiate yourself and make it into the runoff,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No frontrunner has emerged in public polling to date. A \u003ca href=\"https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-new-poll/\">December poll\u003c/a> from Emerson College found Bianco, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, Republican commentator Steve Hilton and Porter closely bunched at the top of the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the Labor Fed’s requirement of a supermajority vote among delegates for an endorsement, Gonzalez acknowledged the union could end up issuing a multi-candidate endorsement — or even agree to simply label some candidates “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to be who can win, who is open to discussions and working with the unions,” Gonzalez said. “And sometimes it’s just the old-school — who you’d rather have a beer with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976259\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/GettyImages-1679108716-scaled-e1762375365136.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1352\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorena Gonzalez speaks on stage at the SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Solidarity March and Rally on Sept. 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(David Livingston/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At this point in the 2018 campaign, Newsom had already captured the support of many large unions. In the months leading up to the primary, teachers, nurses and state employee unions poured in about $8 million in outside spending to support Newsom in the face of an onslaught of pro-charter school spending backing Villaraigosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The universe of big political spenders who could line up against organized labor has only grown since that campaign, said Andrew Acosta, a Democratic strategist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot more groups these days that have the potential to [spend]: crypto, AI, all these other groups that really didn’t exist in 2018 that now have a pretty big footprint in California,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If no candidate is able to consolidate labor endorsements in the coming months, unions may instead focus their spending on competitive primaries for Congress and other statewide elections — or use their financial clout to attack any pro-business Democrats (such as San José Mayor Matt Mahan or Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso) who could enter the race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe they all say, ‘We’re OK with these three [candidates] but this one we really don’t like,’” Acosta said. “But they have other priorities — they have ballot measures labor is pushing, so they don’t have an unlimited amount of money to play in all these things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With less than five months until \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s primary election for governor, no candidate has emerged as the consensus choice of the most powerful force in state Democratic politics: organized labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta, a longtime labor ally, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069366/attorney-general-rob-bonta-announces-he-wont-run-for-governor\">announced this week\u003c/a> he would not run for governor, despite behind-the-scenes encouragement from many in the state’s labor movement. His decision increased the likelihood that no single candidate will be able to consolidate labor support, even as a handful of unions have already made early endorsements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is probably the least clear, most muddled gubernatorial primary field we’ve seen in California in more than half a century,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC and UC Berkeley. “There are several candidates with solid labor credentials, but no one who stands out to a point where you see unions flocking to them the way you have in most past campaigns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unions remain the lifeblood of Democratic campaigns in the state, Schnur said. The groups bankroll independent political committees that typically spend tens of millions of dollars on television ads and mailers, and their network of members provides favored candidates with a ready-made field operation to knock on doors and make phone calls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not since 1990, when Dianne Feinstein defeated John Van de Kamp in the Democratic primary, has labor’s chosen candidate for governor in California failed to make the general election. Union support was a key force in the competitive primary victories of Gray Davis in 1998, Phil Angelides in 2006 and Gavin Newsom in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are eight high-profile Democrats and two Republicans vying in June’s primary, in which the top two finishers advance to November, regardless of party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12030712 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/AP25069706250720-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) smiles as she prepares to address supporters at an election night party on March 5, 2024, in Long Beach, California. \u003ccite>(Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the Democrats can already tout notable endorsements from unions and labor groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter has won the backing of the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, is supported by the State Building and Construction Trades, California State Association of Electrical Workers, and the Peace Officers Research Association of California — which is also endorsing Republican Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, former Attorney General Xavier Becerra is endorsed by the California State Council of Laborers.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But many of the state’s largest and most powerful labor groups are still evaluating the field. That includes the California Labor Federation, SEIU, the California Teachers Association and the California Nurses Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s possible to get that kind of coalescing behind one candidate,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the Labor Federation. “We have almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the current field of candidates … we have people who have had long relationships with organized labor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Federation will hold an endorsement vote at its pre-primary convention in March. Large unions typically have an executive team or board of directors that vet candidates through interviews and written questionnaires, before making a recommendation to a larger body of delegates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Topping the wish list for many union leaders is a governor who will be willing to raise new revenue for the state through taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals. Democrats are divided over an effort by a health care workers’ union to place a measure on the November ballot that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070052/proposal-to-tax-billionaires-ignites-a-political-fight-in-california\">would enact a 5% tax\u003c/a> on Californians with more than $1 billion in assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But holding union-friendly positions will only get the candidates so far. Labor leaders want to put their chips behind a candidate who can win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064925\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-70-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Eric Swalwell speaks during a press conference after a rally in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The challenge is when there’s so many folks in it, a big part of our calculus always has to be the ability to run a campaign to differentiate yourself and make it into the runoff,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No frontrunner has emerged in public polling to date. A \u003ca href=\"https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-new-poll/\">December poll\u003c/a> from Emerson College found Bianco, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, Republican commentator Steve Hilton and Porter closely bunched at the top of the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the Labor Fed’s requirement of a supermajority vote among delegates for an endorsement, Gonzalez acknowledged the union could end up issuing a multi-candidate endorsement — or even agree to simply label some candidates “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to be who can win, who is open to discussions and working with the unions,” Gonzalez said. “And sometimes it’s just the old-school — who you’d rather have a beer with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11976259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11976259\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/GettyImages-1679108716-scaled-e1762375365136.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1352\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorena Gonzalez speaks on stage at the SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Solidarity March and Rally on Sept. 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(David Livingston/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At this point in the 2018 campaign, Newsom had already captured the support of many large unions. In the months leading up to the primary, teachers, nurses and state employee unions poured in about $8 million in outside spending to support Newsom in the face of an onslaught of pro-charter school spending backing Villaraigosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The universe of big political spenders who could line up against organized labor has only grown since that campaign, said Andrew Acosta, a Democratic strategist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot more groups these days that have the potential to [spend]: crypto, AI, all these other groups that really didn’t exist in 2018 that now have a pretty big footprint in California,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If no candidate is able to consolidate labor endorsements in the coming months, unions may instead focus their spending on competitive primaries for Congress and other statewide elections — or use their financial clout to attack any pro-business Democrats (such as San José Mayor Matt Mahan or Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso) who could enter the race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe they all say, ‘We’re OK with these three [candidates] but this one we really don’t like,’” Acosta said. “But they have other priorities — they have ballot measures labor is pushing, so they don’t have an unlimited amount of money to play in all these things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-forever\">California Forever\u003c/a>, the company behind a plan to build a new city in Solano County, announced its latest proposal on Thursday to make progress on another ambitious initiative: revitalizing the area’s shipbuilding industry with the goal of creating thousands of jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The real estate development corporation and Nimitz Group, which owns Vallejo’s Mare Island, are urging the federal government to designate the California Delta a “Maritime Prosperity Zone,” a designation created by President Donald Trump last year. The zone would span the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers through Suisun and San Pablo bays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This proposal responds directly to the national imperative to rebuild America’s maritime industrial base,” said Jan Sramek, founder & CEO of California Forever. “Solano County, and the broader California Delta region, are uniquely positioned to become a bridge between the past and the future of shipbuilding in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes as California Forever continues to pursue a deal for Suisun City to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043295/suisun-city-proposes-annexing-most-of-california-forevers-new-city\">annex much of its land\u003c/a> where it intends to build a mega-development in rural Solano County and develop a 2,100-acre \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048321/california-forever-wants-to-build-a-manufacturing-town\">advanced manufacturing operation\u003c/a> nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The billionaire-backed company, one of the largest landowners in the county, said designating the delta area a Maritime Prosperity Zone could mean tax incentives and coordinated federal support, along with long-term maritime and industrial investment for the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036285\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036285\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Forever first announced its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037142/california-forevers-shipbuilding-plans-need-more-details-solano-county-officials-say\">interest in shipbuilding\u003c/a> last March after Trump formed the White House Office of Shipbuilding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April, he signed an executive order for the purpose of “restoring America’s maritime dominance,” which called for creating a framework for Maritime Prosperity Zones and an action plan to build up shipbuilding capacity and the maritime industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has eyed Collinsville, a small town in an unincorporated area across the delta from Pittsburg, as a potential shipbuilding site. But partners of this week’s proposal say it extends beyond that effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With something like shipbuilding, you really want to catalyze the entire region,” said Chris Rico, the president and CEO of Solano Economic Development Corporation, which is backing the proposal.[aside postID=news_12059985 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED.jpg'] “If you’re looking at Collinsville … they understand that they’re going to need Benicia and Vallejo and even across the water in Pittsburg and Bay Point and Antioch. They all rise together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That appears to address pushback California Forever got when it announced plans for the “Solano Shipyard” last year. While the county has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037142/california-forevers-shipbuilding-plans-need-more-details-solano-county-officials-say\">supportive of expanding the shipbuilding industry\u003c/a>, it told the organization at the time that it needed more information before it could support the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents have pushed for investment to restore such operations to go toward Mare Island, which was the first naval base on the Pacific Ocean and operated for nearly 150 years before it was decommissioned in 1996.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rico said building up the maritime industry throughout the county could create thousands of jobs in shipbuilding as well as industries along the supply chain. Currently, he said, 100,000 residents leave Solano County for work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To have the possibility to have those kinds of living-wage jobs here where people could live and work close to home, that’s really what we’ve been driving towards,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear what the exact incentives of a designated Maritime Prosperity Zone would be, but Trump’s April order said the zones would provide “opportunities to incentivize and facilitate domestic and allied investment in United States maritime industries and waterfront communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12048457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1048\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-1536x805.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Solano Foundry would be located in an area previously designated for “industry and technology” within the new city. It would also be close to Collinsville, where the company wants to build a shipyard. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The zones are expected to operate similarly to \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/opportunity-zones\">Opportunity Zones\u003c/a>, which spur investment in specific low-income areas by offering tax incentives to investors. Trump’s executive order suggests that places in a Maritime Prosperity Zone would also get regulatory relief from the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bipartisan members of Congress have also introduced the SHIPS for America Act, with the goal of revitalizing shipbuilding and strengthening U.S. maritime security. That bill would establish a “\u003ca href=\"https://garamendi.house.gov/media/press-releases/garamendi-kelly-senators-young-and-kelly-introduce-ships-america-act\">Maritime Security Trust Fund,\u003c/a>” which would reinvest maritime fees into “security programs and infrastructure supporting maritime commerce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s been an acknowledgement across the aisle that [the U.S.] not building ships is a national security issue, so we’re building on the backs of that work,” Rico said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Corey Cook, the vice president and CEO of Cal Poly Maritime Academy in Vallejo, the proposal this week highlights the Bay Area’s interest in being at the forefront of that work. He said the region has a long history of shipbuilding. According to California Forever, Northern California supported more than 220,000 shipbuilding jobs during World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023512\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023512\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sculptures and defunct cranes occupy the waterfront facing the Napa River on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are active shipyards still throughout the Bay Area. We want to position ourselves so that once the Department of Commerce comes out with guidelines around the Maritime Prosperity Zones, that we’re ready to articulate our region’s interests in being designated,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university, which is supporting California Forever’s proposal, expects to be a partner in preparing the workforce that a larger maritime industry will require, Cook said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We prepare Coast Guard-licensed deck officers and engineers. We also prepare students who are going to end up operating shipyards and can be involved in logistics, planning and ports and the whole realm of maritime operations,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cook said the school would be looking to partner with community colleges and other California State University campuses, along with K-12 schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-forever\">California Forever\u003c/a>, the company behind a plan to build a new city in Solano County, announced its latest proposal on Thursday to make progress on another ambitious initiative: revitalizing the area’s shipbuilding industry with the goal of creating thousands of jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The real estate development corporation and Nimitz Group, which owns Vallejo’s Mare Island, are urging the federal government to designate the California Delta a “Maritime Prosperity Zone,” a designation created by President Donald Trump last year. The zone would span the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers through Suisun and San Pablo bays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This proposal responds directly to the national imperative to rebuild America’s maritime industrial base,” said Jan Sramek, founder & CEO of California Forever. “Solano County, and the broader California Delta region, are uniquely positioned to become a bridge between the past and the future of shipbuilding in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes as California Forever continues to pursue a deal for Suisun City to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043295/suisun-city-proposes-annexing-most-of-california-forevers-new-city\">annex much of its land\u003c/a> where it intends to build a mega-development in rural Solano County and develop a 2,100-acre \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12048321/california-forever-wants-to-build-a-manufacturing-town\">advanced manufacturing operation\u003c/a> nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The billionaire-backed company, one of the largest landowners in the county, said designating the delta area a Maritime Prosperity Zone could mean tax incentives and coordinated federal support, along with long-term maritime and industrial investment for the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036285\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036285\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Forever first announced its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037142/california-forevers-shipbuilding-plans-need-more-details-solano-county-officials-say\">interest in shipbuilding\u003c/a> last March after Trump formed the White House Office of Shipbuilding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April, he signed an executive order for the purpose of “restoring America’s maritime dominance,” which called for creating a framework for Maritime Prosperity Zones and an action plan to build up shipbuilding capacity and the maritime industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has eyed Collinsville, a small town in an unincorporated area across the delta from Pittsburg, as a potential shipbuilding site. But partners of this week’s proposal say it extends beyond that effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With something like shipbuilding, you really want to catalyze the entire region,” said Chris Rico, the president and CEO of Solano Economic Development Corporation, which is backing the proposal.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “If you’re looking at Collinsville … they understand that they’re going to need Benicia and Vallejo and even across the water in Pittsburg and Bay Point and Antioch. They all rise together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That appears to address pushback California Forever got when it announced plans for the “Solano Shipyard” last year. While the county has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037142/california-forevers-shipbuilding-plans-need-more-details-solano-county-officials-say\">supportive of expanding the shipbuilding industry\u003c/a>, it told the organization at the time that it needed more information before it could support the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents have pushed for investment to restore such operations to go toward Mare Island, which was the first naval base on the Pacific Ocean and operated for nearly 150 years before it was decommissioned in 1996.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rico said building up the maritime industry throughout the county could create thousands of jobs in shipbuilding as well as industries along the supply chain. Currently, he said, 100,000 residents leave Solano County for work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To have the possibility to have those kinds of living-wage jobs here where people could live and work close to home, that’s really what we’ve been driving towards,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear what the exact incentives of a designated Maritime Prosperity Zone would be, but Trump’s April order said the zones would provide “opportunities to incentivize and facilitate domestic and allied investment in United States maritime industries and waterfront communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12048457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1048\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-1536x805.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Solano Foundry would be located in an area previously designated for “industry and technology” within the new city. It would also be close to Collinsville, where the company wants to build a shipyard. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The zones are expected to operate similarly to \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/opportunity-zones\">Opportunity Zones\u003c/a>, which spur investment in specific low-income areas by offering tax incentives to investors. Trump’s executive order suggests that places in a Maritime Prosperity Zone would also get regulatory relief from the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bipartisan members of Congress have also introduced the SHIPS for America Act, with the goal of revitalizing shipbuilding and strengthening U.S. maritime security. That bill would establish a “\u003ca href=\"https://garamendi.house.gov/media/press-releases/garamendi-kelly-senators-young-and-kelly-introduce-ships-america-act\">Maritime Security Trust Fund,\u003c/a>” which would reinvest maritime fees into “security programs and infrastructure supporting maritime commerce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s been an acknowledgement across the aisle that [the U.S.] not building ships is a national security issue, so we’re building on the backs of that work,” Rico said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Corey Cook, the vice president and CEO of Cal Poly Maritime Academy in Vallejo, the proposal this week highlights the Bay Area’s interest in being at the forefront of that work. He said the region has a long history of shipbuilding. According to California Forever, Northern California supported more than 220,000 shipbuilding jobs during World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023512\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023512\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00190-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sculptures and defunct cranes occupy the waterfront facing the Napa River on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are active shipyards still throughout the Bay Area. We want to position ourselves so that once the Department of Commerce comes out with guidelines around the Maritime Prosperity Zones, that we’re ready to articulate our region’s interests in being designated,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university, which is supporting California Forever’s proposal, expects to be a partner in preparing the workforce that a larger maritime industry will require, Cook said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We prepare Coast Guard-licensed deck officers and engineers. We also prepare students who are going to end up operating shipyards and can be involved in logistics, planning and ports and the whole realm of maritime operations,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cook said the school would be looking to partner with community colleges and other California State University campuses, along with K-12 schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "as-california-silicosis-cases-rise-engineered-stone-industry-seeks-immunity-in-dc",
"title": "As California Silicosis Cases Rise, Engineered Stone Industry Seeks Immunity in DC",
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"content": "\u003cp>Facing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">hundreds of lawsuits by sick workers\u003c/a> in California, a major U.S. artificial stone manufacturer and other industry representatives testified in support of a bill in Congress that would immunize their companies from liability during a Republican-led hearing on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artificial stone is linked to an aggressive form of an incurable lung disease diagnosed in more than 480 California stonecutters who inhaled toxic silica dust released when slicing and polishing the popular kitchen countertop material. Dozens have undergone lung transplants and 27 people have died from silicosis since 2019, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">state health authorities\u003c/a>. Reported cases nationwide are expected to surge as awareness and surveillance increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5437/text\">H.R. 5437\u003c/a>, introduced by Republican Rep. Tom McClintock last September, would prohibit civil lawsuits against stone slab manufacturers or sellers for harm resulting from the alteration of their products, such as to make kitchen and bathroom countertops and other construction surfaces. The bill would also dismiss hundreds of pending lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industry representatives, led by Minnesota-based Cambria, told lawmakers they are being unfairly targeted for damages they attribute to downstream employers at countertop fabrication shops that fail to follow required worker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rather than hold the bad actors accountable, the lawsuits are being filed against dozens of innocent stone slab manufacturers,” Rebecca Schult, Cambria’s chief legal officer, said. “The wrong parties are being sued, and the lawsuits are overwhelming good companies throughout our industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republican members of the House Judiciary subcommittee seemed sympathetic to the companies’ plight. They denounced job safety regulators for insufficient enforcement and focused many of their questions on the impacts of mounting litigation and insurance costs for businesses, which jeopardize industry jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033047\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone fabricator places his hand on a table that he cut at his home in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gary Talwar, vice president of Natural Stone Resources, said the Los Angeles area distribution company his family owns faces 65 silica lawsuits and higher insurance premiums. Many small operations are struggling to keep their doors open as well, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As far as a small business, I bring product in, I put it in a warehouse, and I ship it out. Once it leaves my warehouse, I don’t know who cuts it, how they cut it, or what happens,” Talwar said. “There’s hundreds of, maybe thousands of companies across the country, just like myself, that are being hammered with lawsuits. We’re fighting for our lives, and we can’t afford it anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the two-hour hearing, Democrats slammed H.R. 5437 as a proposal seeking special treatment for artificial stone manufacturers and distributors and preventing injured workers from accessing justice in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Congress would make a millionaire CEO’s problems go away just like that, while the workers who cut, grind, polish, and install this dangerous product struggle to make ends meet, struggle to stay alive,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, referring to Cambria’s CEO, Marty Davis, whose campaign donations have benefitted President Donald Trump and GOP candidates.[aside postID=news_12066901 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251115-DEADLY-LUNG-DISEASE-MD-04-KQED-2.jpg']Artificial stone, also known as engineered stone or quartz, can contain more than 90% crystalline silica. Resins and other chemicals added to the factory-made slabs contribute to making engineered stone dust \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067166/health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease\">more dangerous than dust from natural stones\u003c/a> such as granite or marble, according to doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cambria faces 400 lawsuits from stoneworkers for silica-related injuries, most of them in California, Schult said. Other major manufacturers facing lawsuits, such as Israel-based Caesarstone and Cosentino, headquartered in Spain, have developed low or no-crystalline silica alternatives. But Cambria, which owns a quartz mine that supplies its high-silica products, has not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said the courts should determine whether manufacturers have any responsibility for the impact of their products on stoneworkers. In one of the two cases against Cambria and other manufacturers that went to trial, the company was found \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-07/jury-finds-stone-companies-at-fault-in-suit-by-countertop-cutter-with-silicosis\">partially liable\u003c/a> in a $52.4 million verdict for failing to adequately warn of the hazards. Cambria appealed the jury decision. In a separate case, a jury ruled in favor of the defendant manufacturers, a decision that is also on appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are looking for categorical absolute immunity in all of these cases,” Raskin said in a testy exchange with Schult. “On your definition, there’s no defect on the product, right? So how could you ever be held liable?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cambria has emerged as a vocal opponent of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067166/health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease\">doctor’s petition\u003c/a> last month asking California to ban cutting and polishing of artificial stone. The Western Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association said such a ban would encourage the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oshsb/documents/petition-609.pdf\">use of safer substitutes\u003c/a> developed by some manufacturers for the Australian market. That country was the world’s first to prohibit the sale and use of high-silica artificial stone in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schult said Cambria’s own fabrication shops have cut artificial stone safely for more than 20 years, without a single silicosis case. A Cambria safety video played at the start of the hearing showed state-of-the-art facilities that use robotic machines to cut slabs in glass-enclosed areas. The company told KQED that Cambria’s fabrication practices include the use of handheld devices, but declined to specify how many of its cutting tasks are done by the robotic machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator wears a mask to help protect against airborne particles, which can contribute to silicosis, at a shop on Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some silicosis experts and employers doubt the sophisticated and expensive measures needed to safely handle engineered stone are feasible or affordable for most fabrication shops, which are typically small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA inspectors have found that about 95% of the fabrication operations they’ve visited were not following all of the state’s safety rules. California’s regulations, the nation’s strictest, require artificial stone to be cut or polished with machines that cover the material’s surface in water to suppress dust. Employers must also provide workers with sophisticated respirators that can cost more than $1,000 each, and a ventilation system to clean the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Nevin, an attorney at Brayton Purcell LLP representing hundreds of stonecutters, said that workers are contracting silicosis in even the most sophisticated fabrication facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This epidemic starts and stops with crystalline silica artificial stone. It is entirely the uniquely toxic product that is the problem, not ‘a few bad actors’ in the countertop fabrication process,” Nevin told KQED in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all of the sick stoneworkers in California are Latino men, many of them undocumented immigrants. McClintock, whose district includes parts of California’s Central Valley, said fabrication shops that violate worker protections undercut law-abiding competitors while regulators fail to enforce existing rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12064718 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of a pair of lungs with silicosis used in a Cal/OSHA presentation slide about the disease, and rising numbers of cases in California, at a public meeting on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Museomed via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It appears they’re just turning a blind eye to law-breaking by sweatshops that are breaking our immigration laws, labor, health and safety laws, exposing their employees to the dust that causes silicosis,” McClintock told Schult. “And it appears that instead of enforcing the law against these illegal practices, the Democrats prefer to drive you out of business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not the only state facing a growing silicosis problem. Dozens of additional cases have been identified in Washington, Utah, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and other states where engineered stone is being cut. David Michaels, a former assistant secretary at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, believes thousands more silicosis cases across the country have not been reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lawsuits play an important role in public health protection. If lawsuits by workers with silicosis are prohibited, these manufacturers will make no effort to prevent more workers from dying or becoming disabled by silicosis,” Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We shouldn’t be discussing immunity from litigation. We should be discussing banning this product to make it safe for workers, and that would protect the manufacturers and the distributors as well,” he added. “We should not allow the carnage to continue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, fabrication workers not yet diagnosed with silicosis sued Cambria and other major manufacturers and distributors in federal court in San Francisco, seeking to require the companies to pay for medical monitoring for all California workers exposed to artificial stone dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Facing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">hundreds of lawsuits by sick workers\u003c/a> in California, a major U.S. artificial stone manufacturer and other industry representatives testified in support of a bill in Congress that would immunize their companies from liability during a Republican-led hearing on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artificial stone is linked to an aggressive form of an incurable lung disease diagnosed in more than 480 California stonecutters who inhaled toxic silica dust released when slicing and polishing the popular kitchen countertop material. Dozens have undergone lung transplants and 27 people have died from silicosis since 2019, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">state health authorities\u003c/a>. Reported cases nationwide are expected to surge as awareness and surveillance increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5437/text\">H.R. 5437\u003c/a>, introduced by Republican Rep. Tom McClintock last September, would prohibit civil lawsuits against stone slab manufacturers or sellers for harm resulting from the alteration of their products, such as to make kitchen and bathroom countertops and other construction surfaces. The bill would also dismiss hundreds of pending lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industry representatives, led by Minnesota-based Cambria, told lawmakers they are being unfairly targeted for damages they attribute to downstream employers at countertop fabrication shops that fail to follow required worker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rather than hold the bad actors accountable, the lawsuits are being filed against dozens of innocent stone slab manufacturers,” Rebecca Schult, Cambria’s chief legal officer, said. “The wrong parties are being sued, and the lawsuits are overwhelming good companies throughout our industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republican members of the House Judiciary subcommittee seemed sympathetic to the companies’ plight. They denounced job safety regulators for insufficient enforcement and focused many of their questions on the impacts of mounting litigation and insurance costs for businesses, which jeopardize industry jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033047\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone fabricator places his hand on a table that he cut at his home in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gary Talwar, vice president of Natural Stone Resources, said the Los Angeles area distribution company his family owns faces 65 silica lawsuits and higher insurance premiums. Many small operations are struggling to keep their doors open as well, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As far as a small business, I bring product in, I put it in a warehouse, and I ship it out. Once it leaves my warehouse, I don’t know who cuts it, how they cut it, or what happens,” Talwar said. “There’s hundreds of, maybe thousands of companies across the country, just like myself, that are being hammered with lawsuits. We’re fighting for our lives, and we can’t afford it anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the two-hour hearing, Democrats slammed H.R. 5437 as a proposal seeking special treatment for artificial stone manufacturers and distributors and preventing injured workers from accessing justice in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Congress would make a millionaire CEO’s problems go away just like that, while the workers who cut, grind, polish, and install this dangerous product struggle to make ends meet, struggle to stay alive,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, referring to Cambria’s CEO, Marty Davis, whose campaign donations have benefitted President Donald Trump and GOP candidates.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Artificial stone, also known as engineered stone or quartz, can contain more than 90% crystalline silica. Resins and other chemicals added to the factory-made slabs contribute to making engineered stone dust \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067166/health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease\">more dangerous than dust from natural stones\u003c/a> such as granite or marble, according to doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cambria faces 400 lawsuits from stoneworkers for silica-related injuries, most of them in California, Schult said. Other major manufacturers facing lawsuits, such as Israel-based Caesarstone and Cosentino, headquartered in Spain, have developed low or no-crystalline silica alternatives. But Cambria, which owns a quartz mine that supplies its high-silica products, has not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said the courts should determine whether manufacturers have any responsibility for the impact of their products on stoneworkers. In one of the two cases against Cambria and other manufacturers that went to trial, the company was found \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-07/jury-finds-stone-companies-at-fault-in-suit-by-countertop-cutter-with-silicosis\">partially liable\u003c/a> in a $52.4 million verdict for failing to adequately warn of the hazards. Cambria appealed the jury decision. In a separate case, a jury ruled in favor of the defendant manufacturers, a decision that is also on appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are looking for categorical absolute immunity in all of these cases,” Raskin said in a testy exchange with Schult. “On your definition, there’s no defect on the product, right? So how could you ever be held liable?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cambria has emerged as a vocal opponent of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067166/health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease\">doctor’s petition\u003c/a> last month asking California to ban cutting and polishing of artificial stone. The Western Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association said such a ban would encourage the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oshsb/documents/petition-609.pdf\">use of safer substitutes\u003c/a> developed by some manufacturers for the Australian market. That country was the world’s first to prohibit the sale and use of high-silica artificial stone in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schult said Cambria’s own fabrication shops have cut artificial stone safely for more than 20 years, without a single silicosis case. A Cambria safety video played at the start of the hearing showed state-of-the-art facilities that use robotic machines to cut slabs in glass-enclosed areas. The company told KQED that Cambria’s fabrication practices include the use of handheld devices, but declined to specify how many of its cutting tasks are done by the robotic machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator wears a mask to help protect against airborne particles, which can contribute to silicosis, at a shop on Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some silicosis experts and employers doubt the sophisticated and expensive measures needed to safely handle engineered stone are feasible or affordable for most fabrication shops, which are typically small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA inspectors have found that about 95% of the fabrication operations they’ve visited were not following all of the state’s safety rules. California’s regulations, the nation’s strictest, require artificial stone to be cut or polished with machines that cover the material’s surface in water to suppress dust. Employers must also provide workers with sophisticated respirators that can cost more than $1,000 each, and a ventilation system to clean the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Nevin, an attorney at Brayton Purcell LLP representing hundreds of stonecutters, said that workers are contracting silicosis in even the most sophisticated fabrication facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This epidemic starts and stops with crystalline silica artificial stone. It is entirely the uniquely toxic product that is the problem, not ‘a few bad actors’ in the countertop fabrication process,” Nevin told KQED in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all of the sick stoneworkers in California are Latino men, many of them undocumented immigrants. McClintock, whose district includes parts of California’s Central Valley, said fabrication shops that violate worker protections undercut law-abiding competitors while regulators fail to enforce existing rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12064718 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251119-Miners-Lung-silicosis-01-KQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of a pair of lungs with silicosis used in a Cal/OSHA presentation slide about the disease, and rising numbers of cases in California, at a public meeting on Nov. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Museomed via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It appears they’re just turning a blind eye to law-breaking by sweatshops that are breaking our immigration laws, labor, health and safety laws, exposing their employees to the dust that causes silicosis,” McClintock told Schult. “And it appears that instead of enforcing the law against these illegal practices, the Democrats prefer to drive you out of business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not the only state facing a growing silicosis problem. Dozens of additional cases have been identified in Washington, Utah, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and other states where engineered stone is being cut. David Michaels, a former assistant secretary at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, believes thousands more silicosis cases across the country have not been reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lawsuits play an important role in public health protection. If lawsuits by workers with silicosis are prohibited, these manufacturers will make no effort to prevent more workers from dying or becoming disabled by silicosis,” Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We shouldn’t be discussing immunity from litigation. We should be discussing banning this product to make it safe for workers, and that would protect the manufacturers and the distributors as well,” he added. “We should not allow the carnage to continue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, fabrication workers not yet diagnosed with silicosis sued Cambria and other major manufacturers and distributors in federal court in San Francisco, seeking to require the companies to pay for medical monitoring for all California workers exposed to artificial stone dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Solano County Public Service Workers Launch 2-Day Strike",
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"headTitle": "Solano County Public Service Workers Launch 2-Day Strike | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Thousands of Solano County workers launched a two-day strike Tuesday, after monthslong negotiations have yielded little progress on new labor agreements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 2,000 employees who walked off the job include social workers, engineers and administrative staff working under contracts that lapsed in October. They’re asking for higher wages and better benefits to ease what they say is a recruitment and retention crisis that’s harming both employees and residents in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside a county social services building in Fairfield on Tuesday morning, workers chanted and walked the picket lines. Among them was Richard Livingston Jr., a supervisor at Solano County Older and Disabled Adult Services who has worked for the county for 26 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he’s been through contract fights before, Livingston noted that four unions have come together this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So you have workers, supervisors, managers; you have physicians; you have custodial; you have professional, technical; all these folks are here together,” Livingston said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you take care of the workers, the people that take care of the people, you’re taking care of the people,” he continued. “There’s a lot of people who work here in Solano County who said they can’t afford to live here now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069602\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters hold up signs calling for fully funded mental health services during a Solano County workers strike on Jan. 13, 2026, in Fairfield. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Linda Cheesman, a supervisor in Solano County’s General Services department, said in a statement that workers are stretched thin and services are delayed because of hundreds of vacant positions, adding that the county’s employees are under “serious strain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“County workers want to help build a Solano for all, but we need the county to meet us with a fair and equitable contract so we can attract and retain the staff our community relies on,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1021, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists are bargaining separate contracts, but social worker Elizabeth Harrison said many of their core demands are the same: better retention rates and recruitment efforts to ease chronic understaffing in county departments.[aside postID=news_12068383 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/001_KQED_Oakland_HighlandHospital_041152020-1020x680.jpg']“The bottom-line to that is … we’re talking about having a community that deserves fully staffed, safe and reliable public services,” Harrison, who is a member of SEIU Local 1021, said. “If we cannot get retention and recruitment under control, then what we have is as many people come in the front door to be hired as people go out the back door. They leave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harrison, who has been an adult protective services social worker in the county for 13 years, said that vacant positions in her department means she and other employees have unmanageable caseloads and rising rates of burnout, while some of their clients experience long wait times for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we have positions like mine, or [in] public works or agriculture, the chronic understaffing puts all of us at risk,” she told KQED. “People have growing safety concerns for the workers and the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unions are asking for higher wages and better benefit coverage to encourage people to come to work for the county, and to stay for longer periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069601\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069601\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Union members and supporters march through downtown Fairfield as Solano County workers went on strike after contract talks with the county stalled on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not primarily the wages and the benefits, but those things play a part in retention and recruitment which then plays a part in having high quality public services. It all ties together,” Harrison told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Tazamisha Alexander, a benefits eligibility specialist for the county and a member of her union’s negotiating team, said Tuesday on the picket line that talks with the county have been difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The county hasn’t really negotiated anything,” Alexander said. “The previous contract, there was a back-and-forth. We talked about things. That’s why we didn’t have to go out. This time around, it’s just been a bunch of no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county said it’s offered a proposal that includes salary increases, higher insurance contributions and additional benefits totalling over $90 million, and is weighing the union’s requests with its current fiscal outlook and “ongoing budget pressures.” In negotiations, officials have emphasized the “need to balance fair compensation with the County’s responsibility to maintain essential services and fiscal sustainability for the community,” the county said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Megan Richards, a management analyst in the Solano County Administrator’s Office, said the county is anticipating possible cost increases to run federal programs like Medicare or CalFresh, which are implementing new work requirements and other qualification restrictions and could shift additional administrative tasks to the county level. She also said Solano faces uncertainty in state and federal budget plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Akbar Bibb, a member of SEIU Local 1021, speaks to a crowd of county workers and supporters during a strike rally outside the Solano County Government Center on Jan. 13, 2026, in Fairfield. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike that began Tuesday is directly over the county’s approach to bargaining after the unions jointly filed unfair labor practices charges with the state over the issue in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You go into a negotiation and you expect to have some movement back and forth, some real talks and real negotiations, but they’ve stalled,” Harrison said. “For lack of better words, it’s a waste of time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers formed strike lines beginning at 7 a.m. Tuesday outside both the county’s Health and Social Services and administrative building in Fairfield, with others planned near county worksites in Vallejo, Vacaville and Cordelia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The action was expected to have rippling impacts on county services Tuesday and Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Health and Human Services said most of its divisions will be open for emergency response, but appointments will be rescheduled, and some services will be delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069632\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069632\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A striking Solano County worker leads Solano County workers through downtown Fairfield during a strike march over contract negotiations on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lynch Canyon Open Space and Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space will both be closed, while other beaches and county parks remain open. The Fairfield Civic Center Library will remain open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., while other locations will be closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, other services could still be delayed, and closures could occur, the county said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contract negotiations are ongoing, and the parties could return to the bargaining table at any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re looking to do is make sure that we have real movement and real respect at the bargaining table, and we have not experienced that from our employer here at Solano County,” said Harrison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rsgirldaisy/?hl=en\">\u003cem>Daisy Nguyen\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Workers gathered Tuesday outside of the county’s administrative building in Fairfield, and county worksites in Vallejo, Vacaville and Cordelia. \r\n",
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"title": "Solano County Public Service Workers Launch 2-Day Strike | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Thousands of Solano County workers launched a two-day strike Tuesday, after monthslong negotiations have yielded little progress on new labor agreements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 2,000 employees who walked off the job include social workers, engineers and administrative staff working under contracts that lapsed in October. They’re asking for higher wages and better benefits to ease what they say is a recruitment and retention crisis that’s harming both employees and residents in Solano County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside a county social services building in Fairfield on Tuesday morning, workers chanted and walked the picket lines. Among them was Richard Livingston Jr., a supervisor at Solano County Older and Disabled Adult Services who has worked for the county for 26 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he’s been through contract fights before, Livingston noted that four unions have come together this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So you have workers, supervisors, managers; you have physicians; you have custodial; you have professional, technical; all these folks are here together,” Livingston said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you take care of the workers, the people that take care of the people, you’re taking care of the people,” he continued. “There’s a lot of people who work here in Solano County who said they can’t afford to live here now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069602\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069602\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_010-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters hold up signs calling for fully funded mental health services during a Solano County workers strike on Jan. 13, 2026, in Fairfield. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Linda Cheesman, a supervisor in Solano County’s General Services department, said in a statement that workers are stretched thin and services are delayed because of hundreds of vacant positions, adding that the county’s employees are under “serious strain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“County workers want to help build a Solano for all, but we need the county to meet us with a fair and equitable contract so we can attract and retain the staff our community relies on,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1021, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists are bargaining separate contracts, but social worker Elizabeth Harrison said many of their core demands are the same: better retention rates and recruitment efforts to ease chronic understaffing in county departments.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The bottom-line to that is … we’re talking about having a community that deserves fully staffed, safe and reliable public services,” Harrison, who is a member of SEIU Local 1021, said. “If we cannot get retention and recruitment under control, then what we have is as many people come in the front door to be hired as people go out the back door. They leave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harrison, who has been an adult protective services social worker in the county for 13 years, said that vacant positions in her department means she and other employees have unmanageable caseloads and rising rates of burnout, while some of their clients experience long wait times for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we have positions like mine, or [in] public works or agriculture, the chronic understaffing puts all of us at risk,” she told KQED. “People have growing safety concerns for the workers and the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unions are asking for higher wages and better benefit coverage to encourage people to come to work for the county, and to stay for longer periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069601\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069601\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Union members and supporters march through downtown Fairfield as Solano County workers went on strike after contract talks with the county stalled on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not primarily the wages and the benefits, but those things play a part in retention and recruitment which then plays a part in having high quality public services. It all ties together,” Harrison told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Tazamisha Alexander, a benefits eligibility specialist for the county and a member of her union’s negotiating team, said Tuesday on the picket line that talks with the county have been difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The county hasn’t really negotiated anything,” Alexander said. “The previous contract, there was a back-and-forth. We talked about things. That’s why we didn’t have to go out. This time around, it’s just been a bunch of no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county said it’s offered a proposal that includes salary increases, higher insurance contributions and additional benefits totalling over $90 million, and is weighing the union’s requests with its current fiscal outlook and “ongoing budget pressures.” In negotiations, officials have emphasized the “need to balance fair compensation with the County’s responsibility to maintain essential services and fiscal sustainability for the community,” the county said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Megan Richards, a management analyst in the Solano County Administrator’s Office, said the county is anticipating possible cost increases to run federal programs like Medicare or CalFresh, which are implementing new work requirements and other qualification restrictions and could shift additional administrative tasks to the county level. She also said Solano faces uncertainty in state and federal budget plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_SOLANO-COUNTY-STRIKE-_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Akbar Bibb, a member of SEIU Local 1021, speaks to a crowd of county workers and supporters during a strike rally outside the Solano County Government Center on Jan. 13, 2026, in Fairfield. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The strike that began Tuesday is directly over the county’s approach to bargaining after the unions jointly filed unfair labor practices charges with the state over the issue in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You go into a negotiation and you expect to have some movement back and forth, some real talks and real negotiations, but they’ve stalled,” Harrison said. “For lack of better words, it’s a waste of time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers formed strike lines beginning at 7 a.m. Tuesday outside both the county’s Health and Social Services and administrative building in Fairfield, with others planned near county worksites in Vallejo, Vacaville and Cordelia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The action was expected to have rippling impacts on county services Tuesday and Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Health and Human Services said most of its divisions will be open for emergency response, but appointments will be rescheduled, and some services will be delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069632\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069632\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011326_Solano-County-Strike-_GH_017_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A striking Solano County worker leads Solano County workers through downtown Fairfield during a strike march over contract negotiations on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lynch Canyon Open Space and Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space will both be closed, while other beaches and county parks remain open. The Fairfield Civic Center Library will remain open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., while other locations will be closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, other services could still be delayed, and closures could occur, the county said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contract negotiations are ongoing, and the parties could return to the bargaining table at any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re looking to do is make sure that we have real movement and real respect at the bargaining table, and we have not experienced that from our employer here at Solano County,” said Harrison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rsgirldaisy/?hl=en\">\u003cem>Daisy Nguyen\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"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 />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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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",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"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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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"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"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/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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"id": "here-and-now",
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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.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
"subscribe": {
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"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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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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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",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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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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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"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",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"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": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"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": {
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"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)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"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": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"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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"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",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
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