AB 938 passes Senate Education Committee
This week the California Senate Education Committee voted to approve AB 938 with five yes votes and two abstentions. CFT-sponsored AB 938 would raise state funding that would equate to raising TK-12 certificated and classified employee salaries by 50%.
In her remarks urging the senators on the committee to vote yes on the measure, Berkeley Federation of Teachers Vice President Regina Chagolla discussed how low pay impacts students.
“Whether it’s high turnover or people leaving the teaching profession, these unfilled positions negatively impact our students, especially our most vulnerable, like students with IEPs and students from low-income backgrounds,” she said.
AB 938 will now move on to the Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement Committee next week.
Data leak impacting hundreds of thousands of CalSTRS and CalPERS retirees and beneficiaries
Late last month both the CalSTRS and CalPERS systems announced that data from a third-party vendor had leaked, impacting hundreds of thousands of retirees and beneficiaries in both systems.
In total, cyber-attackers stole personal information from 769,000 CalPERS retired members, including names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates. The hackers also may have gotten the names of former or current employers, spouses or domestic partners, and children.
CalSTRS announced that the attack on the third-party vendor’s system contained the names, Social Security numbers, date of birth, and ZIP codes of approximately 415,000 CalSTRS retired members and beneficiaries.
According to representatives of both systems, there was no direct intrusion into either the CalPERS or CalSTRS systems and monthly benefits were not affected.
Both the CalSTRS and the CalPERS systems sent a letter dated the week of June 26 to impacted members and beneficiaries. The letter includes guidance and an external toll-free number to call with questions about the incident. If you are a retired member or beneficiary of either system, please check your mail to see if you have received a letter.
We will keep you posted with any future updates we receive from CalPERS and CalSTRS. For more information on CalSTRS data breach, click here. For more information on CalPERS data breach, click here.
In solidarity
Thousands of Unite Here hotel workers walk the picket line in Los Angeles. Solidarity with the thousands of Unite Here Local 11 members who walked the picket line this week in a three-day strike at hotels in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Contracts expired at midnight last Friday for 61 Southern California hotels represented by the union. Facing poverty wages, the union is seeking a $5 raise this year and a $3 boost in the next three years. While the three-day strike is completed, union leaders say that more strikes could be coming soon. Keep up to date with Unite Here Local 11 members and their struggle, and see how you can get involved, by following them on Twitter.