Homecare Worker Organizing in California: An Analysis of a Successful Strategy

This paper examines the challenges facing California homecare workers in their historic struggle to unionize from the 1980s through the 90s. Three inter-related components were critical to their ultimate success: 1) grassroots organizing, 2) changing policy at the state and county level and 3) working in coalition with groups of senior and disabled care recipients. Now that the union repre-sents more than 100,000 workers, consolidation of those victories involves challenges such as developing leadership among the new membership and strengthening the labor-consumer coalition that will be critical to further improvements in homecare services and working conditions. This campaign has already had significant impact on the structure of this emerging workforce, and will have long-term effects on social policy for care of the elderly and dis-abled. The economic and political influence of American labor unions hassuffered greatly over the past several decades, and one reason for this has been a steadily declining rate of union membership. Union members currently make up 13.5 % of the workforce, which compares to a high of 35 % in 1954. In 1995, the AFL-CIO launched a program to reverse this trend by prioritizing organizing of the unorganized, and encouraging af-filiated unions to spend at least 30 % of their budget on organizing. How-ever, in spite of significant efforts by some unions to recruit new mem-bers, union density has continued to decline (Bureau of Labor Statistics

Automatic segmentation and quantification of electron micrographs: Extracellular components

Extracellular glycosaminoglycans when precipitated by tannic acid, appear in electron micrographs as amorphous reticulate masses or fragments sometimes finely beaded and often associated with collagen fibrils. An algorithm for automatic classification, segmentation, and quantification of the amount of tannic acid-precipitable material (TAPM) and collagen in electron microscopic images is presented. Small patches of a region are initially located and the patch boundaries are traced using a binary contour tracing algorithm. The patches are then grown out and merged together to form one large area. This area is classified using a two-dimensional feature vector into one of two classes: a region with TAPM and collagen, or one with cell bodies and/or processes. Once these areas are classified and segmented, the distribution of TAPM is measured. The algorithm was tested on several TAPM images displaying varying amounts and configurations of TAPM with good results. It may also be adapted to process other electron microscopic images containing elements of interest which have complex or amorphous form.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25488/1/0000029.pd

Promoting Integrated Approaches to Reducing Health Inequities among Low-Income Workers: Applying a Social Ecological Framework

Nearly one of every three workers in the United States is low-income. Low-income populations have a lower life expectancy and greater rates of chronic diseases compared to those with higher incomes. Low- income workers face hazards in their workplaces as well as in their communities. Developing integrated public health programs that address these combined health hazards, especially the interaction of occupational and non-occupational risk factors, can promote greater health equity. We apply a social-ecological perspective in considering ways to improve the health of the low-income working population through integrated health protection and health promotion programs initiated in four different settings: the worksite, state and local health departments, community health centers, and community-based organizations. An example of successful approaches to developing integrated programs in each of these settings is described. Recommendations for improved research, training, and coordination among health departments, health practitioners, worksites and community organizations are proposed

Manipulation of Plant Defense Responses by the Tomato Psyllid (Bactericerca cockerelli) and Its Associated Endosymbiont Candidatus Liberibacter Psyllaurous

Some plant pathogens form obligate relationships with their insect vector and are vertically transmitted via eggs analogous to insect endosymbionts. Whether insect endosymbionts manipulate plant defenses to benefit their insect host remains unclear. The tomato psyllid, Bactericerca cockerelli (Sulc), vectors the endosymbiont “Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous” (Lps) during feeding on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Lps titer in psyllids varied relative to the psyllid developmental stage with younger psyllids harboring smaller Lps populations compared to older psyllids. In the present study, feeding by different life stages of B. cockerelli infected with Lps, resulted in distinct tomato transcript profiles. Feeding by young psyllid nymphs, with lower Lps levels, induced tomato genes regulated by jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) (Allene oxide synthase, Proteinase inhibitor 2, Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase 5, Pathogenesis-related protein 1) compared to feeding by older nymphs and adults, where higher Lps titers were found. In addition, inoculation of Lps without insect hosts suppressed accumulation of these defense transcripts. Collectively, these data suggest that the endosymbiont-like pathogen Lps manipulates plant signaling and defensive responses to benefit themselves and the success of their obligate insect vector on their host plant

GREEN BUILDINGS, GOOD JOBS, SAFE JOBS: SOCIAL JUSTICE PATHWAYS TO A SUSTAINABLE LOS ANGELES

This report explores ways to effectively   implement the Ordinance to enhance the environment, support community economic development and promote the health and wellbeing of workers and building users. The recommendations herein are designed to provide guidance to the Program Director and the policymakers, community, labor and environmental representatives who will comprise the City Task force and Advisory Council with the goal of creating a model program that can be adapted in other cities, in the private sector, and beyond

Good, Green, Safe Jobs: The Los Angeles Green Retrofit and Workforce Program

On April 8, 2009, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to the Los Angeles Administrative Code establishing the Green Retrofit and Workforce Program. The Ordinance will lead to green retrofits of more than 1,000 city buildings and a workforce development policy that creates career pathways into good, green, safe jobs, targeting those in low-income neighborhoods.The result of a two-year campaign, the Ordinance was developed by the Los Angeles Apollo Alliance, convened by Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) in 2006 and comprised of more than 25 local community, labor and environmental organizations within the city of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Apollo Alliance put forth the Green Jobs Ordinance in an effort to locally meet environmental and economic development goals set out by the New Apollo Program, a national program intended to increase the clean energy economy and decrease energy bills for families and business. Nationwide, buildings account for almost three-quarters of electricity consumed and over a third of overall energy use. They contribute an estimated 38% of carbon dioxide emissions, leaving a large carbon footprint in urban areas. Locally, the Ordinance is in line with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s 2007 Green LA Climate Action Plan designed to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in Los Angeles to 35 percent below their 1990 levels by 2030