Sacramento, CA – On Friday, December 4, 2009, the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) will unveil a new photographic exhibition, Red Menace! The Sacramento Conspiracy Trial of 1935. The exhibition documents Communist farm labor organizers on trial in Sacramento for attempting to “overthrow the government.” The evening will include an address about the trial by Dr. Kathryn Olmstead, a professor in the History Department at the University of California, Davis. The exhibition reception with light refreshments begins at 6:00 p.m., while the lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. at CSH (551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd, Sacramento). Tickets are $10.00 a person and must be purchased in advance at CSH or by callin

Hours before Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was forcefully exiled to Costa Rica on June 27, he met with seven delegates from Sacramento. The seven were: Bill Camp, executive secretary for the Sacramento Central Labor Council (SCLC); Bud McKinney, a sheet mill worker; Chris Bender, a union representative; Greg Larkins, president of IBW Local 340 and a political organizer for the SCLC; Arturo Aleman, a consultant, Kate Allen, a graduate student at UCLA and summer intern for the SCLC and Dion Archuleta, a canner at Campbell Soup in South Sacramento. The following is an account of their experiences in Honduras over a three-day period in which an alleged coup d’état took place. Background

Sacramento, CA Friday, May 1, 2009 Several Sacramento Police officers formed a blockade at the front entrance of the Five Fifty Five building on Capitol Mall today as demonstrators gathered to let their voice be heard by Bank of America officials. The downtown branch of Bank of America is located on the ground floor of the Five Fifty Five building. Bank personnel guarded the back ally entrance to be sure that those entering were there for bank business and not part of the demonstration. At this location the demonstrators were voicing their opinion of alleged misuse of bailout funds handed to the banks, and calling for the CEO of BofA to step down. When we attempted to question bank offici

April 12, 2009 New health care union grows in Sacramento By Seth Sandronsky Employees at nursing homes in Sacramento, Woodland and Pacifica, operated by North American Health Care, Inc., left the Service Employees International Union to join the new National Union of Healthcare Workers on March 17. “The new union tells us the truth about our contract negotiations with the employer,” said Ulette Bloomer, a cook and union steward on the night shift at Valley Skilled Nursing Home, by Sacramento’s UCD Medical Center. “SEIU was not honest about that and kept giving us the runaround.” The former SEIU employees, 350 in all, are the first-ever members of NUHW. They will remain covered by the cu

By Kathleen Haley A controversial federal bill that would change the way employees join unions won the support of three Sacramento City Council members Tuesday. Sacramento’s law and legislation committee -- made up of four city council members -- backed the federal bill known as the Employee Free Choice Act. The legislation would give employees “more freedom,” said Councilman Steve Cohn, a member of the committee. Sacramento “should be on board supporting it,” Cohn said. The EFCA would revamp current procedures for joining labor unions. Supporters argue that the bill bolsters employee protections in disputes and gives employees the ability to unionize through a method of signing cards