By Hannah Brandt On Thursday, September 29, just days after the October edition of Community Alliance was published, I attended the public bargaining meeting for the Fresno Teachers Association. [...] Continue Reading
Labor
Federal Labor Board Orders New Kaiser Election after Finding SEIU Guilty of “Coercive” Conduct that “Interfered with Employees’ Freedom of Choice”
A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge has recommended throwing out the results of last year’s election between the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and the [...] Continue Reading
Walmart Expanding at Our Expense
“If I think too much about all of those Chinese factories where all the stuff in a Wal-Mart is made, I get that woozy feeling you get when you see ducks covered in crude oil.” —Douglas [...] Continue Reading
National Day of Action “We Are One” March
On April 4, more than 350 Fresno residents, union members and supporters marched to express their opposition to attacks on basic rights such as those occurring in Wisconsin and several other states. [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Fresno Police Chief Accused of Racism A lawsuit, filed in Fresno Superior Court in February, says that Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer’s ringtone for Cynthia Sterling, an African-American former City [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Mayor’s Privatization Scheme Defeated Fresno’s commercial solid waste workers won an important victory when City Council members voted 4-3 to stop a privatization effort led by Mayor Ashley [...] Continue Reading
The 18th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Celebration
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not [...] Continue Reading
Martin Luther King Day in Fresno 2011
An Antiwar Speech, a Strange Pronouncement by the Police Chief, and more. . . [...] Continue Reading
From the Editor
There are days when I feel like I’m living in a parallel universe. For example, take the 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr., Day march in downtown Fresno, which I attended. The contradictions that held that [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Valley Vineyard Targets Indigenous Workers “Stupid Indians.” “Indians are of no use.” “Indians don’t understand anything or how to do anything.” According to the United Farm Workers (UFW) union, [...] Continue Reading
George “Elfie” Ballis: A Personal Recollection
Few residents of Fresno County earn freestanding obituaries in the Washington Post, as did George Ballis when he died last month. That obit recounted an interesting but odd career, with moments of [...] Continue Reading
Smiling Seriously: Creative Genius at Work
[Editor: This article was originally printed in the October 2004 Community Alliance newspaper.] If you are a progressive political activist in Fresno, you have seen him with his video camera at your [...] Continue Reading