Topic: Elections
November 4 is our opportunity to elect an ally and defeat a self-appointed reformer
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The CFT’s priorities in the November 4 General Election are straightforward: Reelect Tom Torlakson Superintendent of Public Instruction, elect Betty Yee for State Controller and pass Propositions 45 and 47.
In the remaining weeks before the election, we need all of our members to get involved with their local unions and their central labor councils. We have to approach this election as if the future of public education depends on it, because it does.
Vote June 3 Primary Election: Educators work to reelect Tom Torlakson
Educators work to reelect Tom Torlakson
The Primary Election on June 3 includes a number of candidates, but no races are more important for educators than those for governor and superintendent of public instruction.
Gov. Brown partnered with CFT to pass Proposition 30 in November 2012, providing new resources for strapped schools and colleges after seven years of devastating cuts.
Don’t sign! State initiative attacks public employee pensions
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is mounting a major attack on educators’ pensions. He has filed a voter initiative with the Secretary of State and may start collecting signatures in early 2014 to qualify it for the November ballot.
Educators score local ballot box victories
Coalition building proves critical to electoral success
“We phone-banked until we couldn’t talk any more,” reported Pamela Ford, president of the Antelope Valley College Federation of Classified Employees, in describing how her local union worked with campus faculty and community allies to elect Barbara Gaines, a middle school principal, to the board of trustees in this conservative high desert region.
CFT celebrates election victory with Progressive Convening and looks forward
Courage Campaign Chair Rick Jacobs and CFT President Joshua Pechthalt hold up a cake painted with California map frosting before Progressive Convening attendees in Los Angeles celebrated the Prop 30 victory by consuming it.
The meeting included representatives from the Reclaiming California’s Future coalition and dozens of other organizations. The group analyzed the election results and began to plan for the next steps in making California a better place to live.
CFT members lead in passing Prop 30, defeating Prop. 32
Working with coalition partners, the union helps reach millions of Californians
Voters in California sent a powerful message on Election Day, passing Proposition 30 which raised income taxes on top earners to support public education — the first major tax increase since passage of the revenue-cutting Proposition 13 almost 35 years ago.
Nearly nine in ten CFT members, 87 percent, voted for Prop. 30, the merger of CFT’s Millionaires Tax and Gov. Brown’s original initiative, according to a post-election poll commissioned by the California Labor Federation.
Yes on Prop. 30: Tax the wealthy to raise money for schools and colleges
In the last four years, our schools and colleges have been hit with $20 billion in cuts, have lost 30,000 faculty members, and now have class sizes that are among the largest in the country.
No on Prop. 32: Don’t let billionaires take away our voice
California voters appear poised to reject a November ballot measure that would ban political contributions by payroll deduction, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they opposed Proposition 32, which would eliminate the main fundraising tool of unions. Just 36 percent said they supported the measure.
Chicago strike models winning political strategy for California election victory
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The Chicago Teachers Union strike gave a shot in the arm to education unions and all of labor. CTU reawoke a labor movement lacking confidence that it could take a militant stand and win.
Yes on revenue measure, No on Special Exemptions Act
The popular CFT-sponsored Millionaires Tax merged with the governor’s revenue proposal this spring to become the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012 on the November ballot.
The measure will generate $9 billion in vital funding per fiscal year. About 85 percent of the revenue will come from the highest income tax brackets.
Deceptive ballot proposition is another corporate power grab
The latest in a string of ballot measures claiming to limit special interest money in politics will appear on the November ballot. This is yet another attempt to deceive voters into passing a law that benefits wealthy corporate interests at the expense of workers and unions. It is nothing but a corporate power grab, the kind California voters have already rejected twice first in 1998 and again in 2005.
No on Proposition 32
It's not what it seems
Proposition 32, a measure appearing on the November statewide ballot, is not what it seems. While it claims to be about “stopping special interests” the measure actually exempts corporate special interests and Super PACs from its proposed rules.
Instead, Prop 32 would give even more power to the wealthy and well-connected to influence elections, control government and weaken our state’s middle class, while drastically reducing the ability of unions to represent their members and address workers’ needs through the political process.
Yes on 30: The Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012
Proposition 30, the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act, is on the November 6 ballot. Along with Proposition 32, it is the most important issue facing California voters among the many ballot measures.
The passage of Proposition 25 will help make California a working state
The members and leaders of CFT see that California’s education system, and our jobs, are placed at grave risk by a faltering economy, chronic late state budgets, and a paralyzed political process. On November 2, the rest of California agreed with us.
Voters passed Proposition 25, changing state budget approval to a majority, ending the tyranny of a two-thirds vote and the partisan groups that benefit from a revenue-starved government.
Proposition 25 passes
CFT-backed candidates elected
CFT members are heartened as their endorsed candidates for statewide office all came in winners on November 2, and Proposition 25 made it across the finish line with a substantial and game-changing victory for democracy in the state budget process.