Next Issue Jan. 24

See you in San Francisco and Santa Cruz

Take Action to Regulate Cancer Causing Telone

BY MARK WELLER

The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is planning an unscientific and racist regulation of the third most used pesticide in the Monterey Bay region: the cancer-causing fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D, brand name Telone). Telone is banned in 34 countries.

If DPR isn't going to ban 1,3-D, it must at the very least implement a regulation that limits people's exposure to the legal lifetime cancer risk threshold designated by the scientists at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) that is breathing air concentrated with 1,3-D at less than 0.04 parts per billion (ppb).

But DPR, has instead created regulations and plans that assume our human species has multiple lifetime cancer risk levels. If you are a child or you live near fields, then DPR says you can be exposed to 1,3-D in the air at 0.56 ppb on average over a lifetime. However, if you work or go to school near a field applied with 1,3-D, DPR considers your lifetime cancer threshold is, indeed, OEHHA's 0.04 ppb. If you work directly in the field where 1,3-D is applied, well, DPR hasn't figured out what your cancer risk is, yet. It's insane.

As we know, there is only one human species, one people. All of us must be protected to the same standards, and with 1,3-D that standard is air concentrated with less than 0.04 ppb.

Who suffers most from DPR's ridiculous and cruel policies? Latino and Indigenous communities who live and work near ag fields in hugely disproportionate numbers. It's a racist policy. 

Who benefits most? The manufacturer Dow AgroSciences, which has argued for years that the lifetime cancer risk threshold should be — you guessed it —0.56 ppb. More money for Dow; more cancer for us.

If DPR can get away with this nonsensical, racist policy, they will keep doing it with other pesticides. We must stop DPR now. 

Make your voice heard. For the most impact, attend and speak at the in-person hearing on Jan 16, 5:45-8pm, at the Steinbeck Center, 1 Main St. in Salinas. Please let us know if you will join us.

Also, you may email DPR HERE. The public comment deadline is Jan. 24.

Click HERE to sign on with your organization.

Click HERE to Vote for Food Not Bombs for Best Local Hero

BY SARAH RINGLER

Good Times is taking votes for their 50th Anniversary Best of Santa Cruz 2025. Food Not Bombs won last year for their tireless work around homeless issues. Help them win again and get some acknowledgement for all that they do.

Voting ends Jan. 19 at midnight. https://www.goodtimes.sc/best-of-ballot/#/gallery/467419224/

RTC Awarded $19.5 Million for Coastal Rail Trail

BY SARAH RINGLER

The $19.5 million grant from US Department of Transportation to the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, RTC, will fund 8 miles of the Coastal Rail Trail between Pacific Ave. in Santa Cruz and Rio Del Mar Blvd. in Aptos. The grant money will be combined with state and 2016 Measure D money to fully fund a dedicated bike and pedestrian corridor that goes through the most densely populated areas on the county.

It's Cold Outside

BY BRENT ADAMS



Warming Center Program's robust Hypothermia Protection Project is going strong, but we need your help to sustain it through this winter season. Our programs are 100% community supported and this work receives no sustaining funds from city, county, state or federal government. We are a community of caring individuals who take responsibility for each other and ensure that not one person must suffer extreme cold outside.

Warming Wednesday is 12-3pm at 150 Felker St.. At the river side gate, anyone who sleeps outside can obtain a tent, blankets, jackets, shoes, clothing, hygiene items, first aid supplies, etc. Many items are purchased new including: tents, blankets, men's pants, underwear, beanies and gloves, umbrellas, rain ponchos, handwarmers and hygiene stuff. You might imagine how expensive this project can be, given that most people will need to revisit this program multiple times this season.

Donated items can go to the Donation Barrel at REI Sports, Commercial Way and 150 Felker St. where there is a Donation Portal through the fence.

Donate funding support: At warmingcenterprogram.com or write a check and send to: Warming Center Program

PO Box 462 Santa Cruz, CA 95061

Contact:

Emergency Homeless Hotline: (831) 246-1234. Office: (831) 588-9892

warmingcenterprogram@gmail.com IG: @warmingcenterprogram

Train to Resist Actions By ICE

BY SARAH RINGLER

Your Allied Rapid Response, YARR, is planning a "Skills for Rapid Responders Training" Jan. 12, 3-5pm at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St.. The building is wheelchair accessible.

YARR's mission is to use "our bodies, tactics and resources to document, resist and prevent action by ICE, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or other repressive forces that would harm our fellow human beings."

The focus of the training will be "Legal Observation." This is a great opportunity for newer responders to build community and feel prepared to show up for community members needing our support, as well as for more seasoned responders to brush up on their skills. This is the first of a group of trainings; others will follow including De-escalation Skills for Responders.

YARR can be emailed HERE.

Bilingual Teach-In Series on Palestine Solidarity Begins

BY PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CENTRAL COAST

Palestine Solidarity Central Coast is starting a series of bilingual teach-ins to be held in Santa Cruz and in Watsonville. The first of the series is on the topic of "Resisting Zionist Repression: How Zionism Infiltrates Our Communities." The class in Santa Cruz will be held Jan. 11, 11am-1pm at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Santa Cruz 612 Ocean St.. The Watsonville teach-in will be Jan. 12, 11am-1pm at Somos, 112 E. Beach St., Watsonville.

The community, as well as students, are invited. All knowledge levels are welcome. It is for all of us.

Discussion topics:

• Financial coercion
• Threats and smears
• How Zionists build power

Pre-register HERE or just show up on the day.

Concerned About Education and a Vibrant, Pluralistic Community?

BY UNHAE LANGIS

In case you haven’t heard, we’re dealing with our own version of the backlash against critical race theory in our county. In 2021, California became the first state in the nation to require high schoolers to take at least one semester of ethnic studies to graduate, starting in the 2026-27 academic year. That same year, the Pajaro Valley Unified School board approved a contract with Community Responsive Education (CRE), a for-profit consultant firm founded by San Francisco State University professor Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales and other ethnic studies instructors, to provide guidelines for ethnic studies curricula at the district’s three high schools.

The CRE contract was not renewed last year because the California Legislative Jewish Caucus (which include Dawn Addis, vice-chair, and Gail Pellerin) lodged baseless allegations that CRE was anti-Semitic. Teachers need the crucial CRE training because they are not experts in ethnic studies teaching. We cannot have political leaders of one ethnic group undermining others. For info, see Sentinel article. 

The Pajaro Valley for Ethnic Studies and Justice has a few calls to action. Please share them widely within your network and, if you can, attend the first board meeting of the year on Jan. 15.

1. Please sign our petition to the new school board in support of CRE. You can also send the petition to friends with the link bit.ly/pvesj-petition-2025   

2. Email the board and superintendent requesting CRE be put on the meeting agenda. Find our template for the email here or share with friends at bit.ly/pvesj-email-2025

3. Come out in person with us at the board meeting on Jan. 15. We are looking to show up with numbers to show this new board, of which more than half have been replaced, that the community will not give up on bringing back CRE. It currently looks as if this meeting is set to begin public session at 6pm and will be at the PVUSD Boardroom at 294 Green Valley Road, Watsonville. Pre-election board members Olivia Flores and Misty Navarro have been elected as president and vice-president, respectively, and so we still expect to have a fight ahead of us to push for reinstatement of CRE. 

Jan. 20 - Santa Cruz March for the Dream

CONTRIBUTED BY NAACP SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

MLK Jr. People's March for the Dream has become a powerful tradition, symbolizing the ongoing pursuit of justice, equality, and civil rights for all in Santa Cruz County. 

The march will begin at 10am on Mon., Jan. 20, at Pacific Ave. and Cathcart St., Santa Cruz, and will culminate in a program at the Civic Auditorium, 11am – noon. Please note that the march will happen rain or shine.

We are seeking sponsors, volunteers, and groups to march with us. Click her to become a March sponsor; click here to sign your group up to march; click here to volunteer to help at the March. Or just visit our website.

Fight Back, Jan. 19 in San Francisco

BY MARK GINSBERG

The day before Inauguration Day, Jan. 19, people from across Northern California will come together in San Francisco to demand a future that centers on the needs of the people over the interests of the wealthy elite. With voices raised for workers’ rights, immigrant rights, environmental justice, and an end to the genocide in Gaza, we will stand for working people, not a billionaire’s agenda-from the local to the global, from defending people at home to ending the U.S. war machine. If you or your organization would like to endorse the SF action, please reach out to answer@answersf.org.

We also encourage our supporters to attend the SF MLK Day march the following day, on Jan. 20, 9:30am at 700 4th St., San Francisco.

Jan. 2025 Labor Notes COMPLIMENTS OF LABOR NOTES

Poultry Bosses Benefit from Trump’s Threats

BY MAGALY LICOLLI Dec. 11, 2024 

Even before he takes office, the Trump victory has given more power to poultry corporations. They’re using the political environment to intimidate workers. I’ve been organizing with poultry processing workers in Arkansas for 10 years, and I see a high risk that the (already awful) working conditions will get worse.

In some small plants, fewer than half the workers are documented. More than half are hired through a contractor who brings in undocumented people. They don’t get the same benefits, like holidays and overtime pay, and they’re paid less while enduring the same risks.

As corporations struggle to find workers, we’re seeing an increase in child labor and even human trafficking using H-2A and H-2B visas. Just recently we helped a case of four trafficking survivors in a turkey plant in Huntsville, Arkansas. The case is still under investigation by the FBI and other agencies.

The workers say they were hired through a sourcing company from Guatemala to work for a construction company in Chicago under an H-2B visa. When they arrived, they were told the job was no longer available, and sent to work in the Arkansas poultry plant instead. Those visas aren’t supposed to be used for that type of job.

During Trump’s last term he massively increased these “guest worker” programs, where your visa is tied to your job. The programs are characterized by rampant abuse. If workers try to organize, employers threaten that they will lose their visas and be sent home.

If they expand temporary visas to the meat processing industry, as Trump tried to do before, the results would be catastrophic. We’ve already seen thousands of cases where the human rights of farmworkers are abused under guest worker programs: those who speak up are retaliated against. It’s modern-day slavery—they need more vulnerable workers because working conditions are getting worse every day.

We’re also concerned that the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) program may disappear. This program allows workers to file for temporary visas if their employer violates their rights, whether through wage theft, safety violations, discrimination, or punishment for collective action.

The program had a low profile during the Biden administration—they didn’t do much to make it accessible or encourage workers to file claims. However, it’s an important tool to empower the workforce, since the climate of fear makes organizing undocumented workers extremely difficult. We need to fight to keep DALE and make it stronger.

People have asked me whether we expect massive raids of the plants, where many people are arrested and deported. Trump threatened the same thing last time, but we didn’t see raids in Arkansas because the poultry industry has a lot of power in the state, and the companies are eager for vulnerable workers. We only saw one raid in a processing plant in Mississippi.

However, it’s not just about deportations. I’ve heard directly from workers that supervisors in some poultry plants are already beginning to use this political environment to spread the word that they’re not going to give bathroom breaks to Hispanic workers, only white workers; they’re getting more racist towards immigrants. This makes it a more hostile environment to organize, since workers are divided against each other.

The more that people are afraid to organize, the more the bosses will take advantage to create worse working conditions. I expect they will be pushing people to work faster—increasing the health and safety risks, and further violating workers’ rights and dignity.

Magaly Licolli is director of Venceremos, an organization of poultry workers, and a Labor Notes board member.

A few items from January's Labor Notes Newswatch column:

Inequality is even worse than you think. A new analysis from Inequality.org finds that the collective wealth of the top 12 billionaires now exceeds $2 trillion. Their collective wealth has soared by $1.3 trillion since the pandemic began in March 2020 — even after union-hater Elon Musk spent $200 million to elect Donald Trump. (That's less than one-tenth of one percent of his personal wealth.) How much is $2 trillion? A worker making $20 an hour would need to work 48 million years to earn that much. But don't worry; it'll probably trickle down any day now!

Workers in a Philadelphia store have filed to become the first unionized Whole Foods. They will vote Jan. 27 on whether to join Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW). Whole Foods, which was bought by Amazon in 2017, has made no secret of its contempt for unions: former CEO John Mackey likened them to herpes, and in 2020 the company deployed a heat map to track which stores were at high risk of organizing. Workers say they're organizing against strict productivity metrics, constant surveillance, understaffing, and stagnant wages. "We cannot really afford to buy our groceries at Whole Foods," one told the Guardian.

Soli-dairy-ty forever. Three hundred workers at Ben & Jerry's two Vermont ice cream production facilities have ratified their first contract, including a 16% raise and paid parental leave. They won recognition in early 2024 through a card-check neutrality agreement where the employer acknowledges that a majority have signed union cards. The production workers are members of UFCW Local 371; restaurant workers at the Ben & Jerry Shop in Burlington organized with Workers United 2033 and won a first contract last January.

ILLUSTRATION FROM THE OLD MONTHLY PLANET IN THE 1980S BY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

3-17 Afternoon

BY WOODY REHANEK  

This attic is an interesting

place to see the world from,

what with rainspecked glass

& the pebbled maple's hide.

The grass holds miniature

forests, woods thick

with single flat blades.

The grass speaks rib-language

using green blood, snail tracks

& sun-drenched afternoons.

The day's a waking hieroglyph.

******  

PHOTO TARMO HANNULA

A yellow-rumped warbler takes a perch in an apple tree in Pajaro Village in Watsonville.

Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - Covid Cases Dropping

By SARAH RINGLER

The California Department of Public Health and Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly release data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county as well as information on influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Mpox. Since cases of Covid are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.

The three graphs below were updated on Jan. 8.

The first graph is the Effective Reproductive Number. When the line rises above one, it shows that the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. 

The second graph below shows data that the Health Department collects for Covid from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county.



The third graph below shows hospitalizations.

PHOTO BY TARMO HANNULA

Fashion Street - A commercial jet soars past the Discovery Museum in San Jose.

Labor History Calendar - Jan. 10-23, 2025

a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget

Jan. 10, 1859: Birth of Francisco Ferrer, libertarian educator.

Jan. 11, 1908: General Strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Jan. 11, 1912: IWW Bread and Roses strike begins in Lawrence, Mass. and ends March 14.

Jan. 12, 1928: Police raid IWW hall in Walsenburg, Colorado to break strike.

Jan. 12, 1933: Failed anarchist uprising and reprisal massacre at Casas Viejas, Spain -23 peasants dead. 

Jan. 13, 1957: Death penalty decreed for strikers in Hungary.

Jan. 13, 1993: 3,500 Cathay Pacific flight attendants strike against overtime in Hong Kong. 

Jan. 14, 1914: IWW Fork-Suhr trial begins in Marysville, CA.

Jan 14, 1970: Spanish government drafts 55,000 postal workers to crush strike.

Jan. 14, 1995: Pennsylvania Court rules ok to fire workers for being gay.

MLK Day Jan. 15, 1919: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg murdered in Berlin. 

Jan. 15, 1919: Three-day general strike for 8-hour day won in Peru. 

Jan. 16, 1919: Argentine general strike crushed in blood; hundreds killed.

Jan. 17, 1915: Lucy Parsons leads hunger strike in Chicago; Ralph Chaplin writes his most famous labor song, “Solidarity Forever” for the march.

Jan. 18, 1984: General strike demands end to military rule in Uruguay.

Jan. 18, 1996: General strike in Bolivia demands living wage.

Jan. 18, 2022: General strike demands democracy in Sudan.

Jan. 19, 18112: Luddites burn Oatlands Mill in Yorkshire, England.

Jan. 19, 2023: I million workers strike across France to protest raising retirement age.

Jan. 20, 1932: El Salvador government murders 30,000 peasants to end uprising.

Jan. 20, 1986: Motor blockade closes Hormel plant.

Jan. 20, 1997: International dock strike backs Liverpool dockers.

Jan. 20, 2017: Neofascists shoots, nearly kills protesting Wobbly in Seattle. 

Jan. 21, 1946: 750,000 steel workers walk out, largest strike in US history up to that time.

Jan. 21, 1999: Romanian miners protesting austerity battle police, 130 injured.

Jan. 21, 2017: More than 1 million join marches against Trump agenda. 

Jan. 22, 1849: Birth of Terrence Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor.

Jan. 22, 1905: Czarist troops kill 500, wound 3,000 in St. Petersburg — Bloody Sunday.

Jan. 23, 1960: 5-week general strike against austerity ends in defeat in Belgium. 

Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.

“Does the history of tyranny apply to the United States? Certainly the early Americans who spoke of “eternal vigilance” would have thought so.”

Timothy Snyder

PHOTO BY SARAH RINGLER

Out of This World - Seniors hanging out at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing in the winter of 2019.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Pumpkin Salad

By SARAH RINGLER

Pumpkins are from the squash family, indigenous to the Americas, although they grow all over the world. They are one of the “Three Sisters” of Native American culture joining corn and beans as staple foods. They were also planted together to keep weeds away and provide nutrients for each other. Earliest records of people eating squash come from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The name comes from the Greek word, “pepon” which means “large melon”. In French it became “pompom” and finally it came to be called pumpkin in the United States. 

Not only is the flesh edible but also the flowers and the seeds. Wash and dry the seeds and put on an oiled pie tin, sprinkle a bit of salt and roast carefully at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes. 

An odd thing about pumpkins is their connection to things that have little to do with food. For example, the jack-o’-lanterns comes from a tradition in Great Britain and Ireland where vegetables were carved into lanterns. Although turnips are usually used, immigrants to the United States took advantage of the larger and easier to carve pumpkins and made them into vegetable lanterns. In the mid 1800s the fall harvest of pumpkins combined with the vegetable lantern to become one of the icons of Halloween.

Pumpkins has also appeared in literature: as a coach in “Cinderella”, as a headless horseman in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, and as favorite foods in “Harry Potter” and “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” novels.

And here is pumpkin as a salad. Creamy goat cheese and peppery arugula make a nice counter point to the warm rich taste of pumpkin. 

Baked pumpkin salad

1 edible pumpkin or butternut squash of about 5 pounds

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

¼ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup olive oil

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

8 ounces chevre, or goat cheese

1 large bunch arugula, cleaned and dried

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the pumpkin or squash. Cut out the stem and put it into a roasting pan. Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes until the flesh is soft when you insert a knife into it. 

While the pumpkin is cooking, wash and dry the arugula. 

Then, make the mint salad dressing. Put the chopped mint in a small bowl. Add the vinegar and whisk to mix. While whisking the vinegar, gradually pour in the olive oil in a smooth stream about the diameter of a pencil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When the pumpkin is cooked, let it stand for about 5 minutes. Then slice it in half and put it on a large serving tray. Scrape out the seeds and tough fibers. Divide the goat cheese in half and crumble into each half. Spread the arugula on top of the cheese. Pour half of the salad dressing over that. 

With a large metal spoon stir some of the pumpkin meat into the cheese, arugula and dressing. Gently scrape the flesh from the shell combining the mixtures in the two pumpkin halves. Pour over the rest of the dressing and serve while warm. Serves 8. You can also serve half the pumpkin for one meal and reheat and serve the other half later.

Submit a story, poem or photo of your art that you think would be of interest to the people of Santa Cruz County. Try and keep the word count to around 400. Also, there should be suggested actions if this is a political issue. Submit to coluyaki@gmail.com

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Thanks, Sarah Ringler