workers

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<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; In California, the state government currently spends more than $34 billion a year paying private contractors to do jobs that civil servants can perform for half the cost. Another $900 million of taxpayer funds is wasted annually propping up the state’s failed enterprise zone program. Common sense dictates that any proposal to balance the state budget begin here.</p>

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<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; I was “raised union.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; My mother, who immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua, worked the 3 p.m. to midnight shift at a toy factory after the birth of my younger twin sisters. She was a member of the United Rubber Workers, which later merged with the Steelworkers Union.</p>

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<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Vivimos momentos que hubieran enorgullecido a César Chávez. Por primera vez en décadas, los trabajadores del país han dicho “¡basta!” y exigido el respeto de quienes los emplean.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; En ésta nos jugamos todos los que no somos ricos o superricos nuestro futuro económico y nuestra capacidad de frenar a los enemigos de la salud de nuestras comunidades.</p>

<p><strong>Scripps Howard Foundation Wire</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hispanic-owned businesses are booming across the United States, specifically in the South.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Arkansas had a 160 percent increase in Hispanic-owned business, growing from 2,094 businesses in 2002 to 5,457 in 2007, according to a study released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.</p>

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<p><strong>Shafter, CA</strong> – As the March for California’s Future left Bakersfield, marchers trudged past almond trees just breaking into their spring blooms. From Shafter and Wasco across dozens of miles to the west, white and pink petals have turned the ground rosy, while branches overhead are dusted with the delicate green of new leaves.</p>