The leadership of UNITE-HERE Local 11, the militant hotel workers union seeking to recall Anaheim Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava, has been consistently increasing members’s dues and giving themselves salary raises, according to a new report that reviewed the union’s annual filings with the U.S. Department of Labor. Local 11 Co-President Ada Briceno, for example, has increased her salary every year since the beginning of the COVID pandemic shutdown – when most of her members were unemployed. She currently makes a salary of $138,229, which is 22% higher than the $112,565 she was paid at the ..read more

The Orange Unified School District Board of Education voted last week to fill two vacancies by appointment. The vacancies in Areas 4 and 7 resulted from the recent removal of Trustees Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma in a recall election in which the state and local teachers unions played an outsized role. The recall results flipped the power balance on the seven-member Board of Education, putting teachers union-friendly Trustees Kris Erickson, Andrea Yamasaki and Ana Page in the majority. READ: How Will OUSD Board of Education Handle Two Vacancies Stemming From Recall? Trustee Erickson n ..read more

There are two vacancies on the Orange Unified School District Board of Education stemming from the successful recall of Trustees Rick Ledesma and Madison Miner on March 5 in a recall campaign spearheaded by teachers unions and the Democratic Party of Orange County. OUSD includes Anaheim Hills. Prior to the recall, the OUSD Board was controlled by a four member majority that was politically conservative and charter school-friendly and opposed by three union-friendly trustees: Kris Erickson, Ana Page and Andrea Yamasaki. Now, Erickson, Page and Yamasaki are in the driver’s seat. Tonight, the rem ..read more

Originally published in the Orange County Register on April 4, 2024. Despite a federally preemptive law that went into effect last year to crack down on organized retail theft, California is now working to introduce its own version in a way that could harm the small business community this state has worked so hard to support. The federal INFORM Consumers Act, which went into effect June of 2023, requires online marketplaces to “verify and share information on third-party sellers that handle a high volume of transactions on their platforms in an effort to deter bad actors from selling stolen or ..read more

Hotel workers union UNITE-HERE Local 11 partnered with a political organization funded by infamous cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried to qualify a wage-and-work-rules measure targeting Glendale hotels in 2022. Bankman-Fried, who was co-founder and president of cryptocurrency trader FTX, was sentenced last month to 25 years in federal prison for defrauding customers of billions of dollars. A UNITE-HERE Local 11-controlled campaign committee took a $150,000 contribution from an entity controlled and funded by Bankman-Fried, and then later funneled 80% of those funds into Local ..read more

Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Board of Directors has greenlit a collective bargaining agreement with the union representing workers in OCTA’s Operations Division, recognizing the pivotal role of Facilities Technicians and Parts Clerks in sustaining Orange County’s transit operations. The agreement, negotiated with the Transportation Communications Union/International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers (TCU), entails substantial wage hikes ranging from 11% to 13% over the next three years, commencing from April 1. Expressing gratitude for TCU’s collaborative approach ..read more

Anaheim’s ongoing efforts to combat crime and urban decay took a significant step forward with the demolition of the former Anaheim Lodge motel on Beach Boulevard this Tuesday. This marks the third motel demolition since 2021 and the fourth since 2002, all part of the city’s long-term strategy to revitalize Beach Boulevard into a more hospitable and pedestrian-friendly area. The removal of the Anaheim Lodge paves the way for the development of affordable apartments and townhomes, in conjunction with the adjacent Covered Wagon site, which was acquired by Anaheim in 2022 and demolished in 2023 ..read more

Mayor Ashleigh Aitken recently told a group of Anaheim Democrat activists that she opposes the “weaponized” recall campaign being waged against her “duly elected” colleague Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava by UNITE-HERE Local 11 – the militant hotel workers union that is one of Aitken’s major political allies. While speaking at the February 1 meeting of the Anaheim Democrat Club, Aitken was asked her position on the Rubalcava recall. Aitken responded that she opposed it, saying Rubalcava has been “duly elected.” “If you want my opinion personally, I am absolutely against it and support my counc ..read more

Militant hotel workers union UNITE-HERE Local 11’s petition to recall Anaheim Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava has qualified and the Anaheim City Council has set June 4 of this year as the date for the election. However, qualifying a recall is one thing – winning one under a new state law that took effect last year is another matter. Two recall elections in the past six months in Orange County may offer some insights into Rubalcava’s prospects. The successful recall of state Senator Josh Newman in 2018 spurred state Democrats to pass a number of laws designed to make it more difficult for voters ..read more

An attempt by the teachers union and local education establishment to two recall conservative Trustees Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma from the Orange Unified School District Board of Education appears to be succeeding, although the margin between the “yes” and “no” vote totals has diminished. OUSD includes the Orange, Villa Park, Anaheim Hills and portions of Garden Grove and Santa Ana. The recall was winning by a wide margin of 17 points after the initial returns, which were heavily weighted toward early vote-by-mail ballots: This post on X by the Democratic Party of Orange County ..read more