The Janus ruling
Today, the Supreme Court overturned more than four decades of precedent by making fair share fees for public sector workers unconstitutional in the Janus v. AFSCME case. This decision makes it easier for anti-worker extremists to divide working people and further…
Hey Google: Don’t displace us
Today we attended Google’s annual shareholder meeting in the company’s hometown of Mountain View to deliver a strong message to the company on behalf of San Jose. Shareholders driving to the meeting would have seen this banner over the 101 freeway,…
New renter laws in San Jose
Last week, the San Jose City Council voted to ban landlords from intimidating tenants by threatening to call immigration authorities, and ensured that tenants in rent-controlled apartment complexes pay only their fair share of utility bills. These welcome victories are on…
Our community plan for Google’s San Jose mega-campus
After nine months of conversations with San Jose communities, today a delegation of local children delivered our community plan to Google. These are the protections that we expect to be built in to any deal with Google over the development of…
Update on reforming Prop 13
We’re on track to make history by qualifying an initiative to reform Proposition 13 for the first time in 40 years. This is our opportunity to close commercial property tax loopholes and hold corporations accountable to paying their fair share for…
A win for good construction jobs
Last night, the San Jose City Council passed a groundbreaking set of policies to raise job quality and create career opportunities in construction, Silicon Valley’s second-fastest growing industry. These policies will help San Jose’s construction workers support their families, and provide…
Let’s make billionaires and corporations pay their fair share
In 1978, an underhanded tax law was passed to let huge corporations get away with paying artificially low commercial taxes. Forty years later, Proposition 13 has drained our state’s finances and deteriorated our public services. Billionaires and huge multinational corporations have…
Crisis and opportunity in Silicon Valley construction
Construction is one of the fastest growing industries in Silicon Valley, yet thousands of construction workers are being paid such low wages that they cannot afford to live in the communities they are helping to build. That is one of the…
Our visit to the Googleplex
On Wednesday, nearly a hundred San Jose workers, residents, and community leaders assembled at the Googleplex in Mountain View to tell Google: if you’re coming to San Jose, you need to be a good neighbor. From our town hall meetings and…
The Google no-show
On Monday more than 150 people packed Gardner Community Center in San Jose to air their concerns about Google’s proposed mega-campus project. We heard loud and clear your worries about sky-rocketing rents and uncertainty over whether Google would create good jobs…
Tuesday night…
On Tuesday night, our coalition of renters, advocates, and community organizations faced off against corporate landlords that have waged the biggest campaign against renters’ rights in recent San Jose history. Hundreds turned out at City Hall, testifying for hours about why…
Soaring rents and falling wages
As the tech boom has driven rents sky-high, renting families and seniors in San Jose have actually seen their incomes go down. That’s one of the key findings from “Soaring Rents, Falling Wages,” our new research brief we released today at…
