SJSU Color

Spartan Daily ignores safety risks

Despite being a bicyclist and a former bike commuter I am still not convinced bicycles belong on the San Jose State University Campus. Many of the people who ride bicycles on the sidewalks at SJSU do so in ways that risk serious injury to themselves and others.

The Spartan Daily has ran stories lately showing bicyclists riding dangerously without helmets on campus. This is so unsafe California has a helmet law regarding this issue. Why has the SJSU campus newspaper not looked at the other side of the issue of bikes on campus? Why has the SJSU campus newspaper not considered the dangers posed by bicycles on campus sidewalks? Is this the Spartan Daily’s idea of fair and balanced reporting?

It is good that SJSU President Jon Whitmore rides his bike to SJSU. But it is bad, I think, that he is riding his bike on the sidewalks of campus. The risks of riding bicycles on sidewalks are well documented. Sidewalks are generally unsuitable to be used as bikeways for the following reasons:

• Sidewalks are generally not designed for cycling speeds. Cyclists must either reduce their speed or travel too fast for conditions.
• There is generally insufficient width for shared bicycle and pedestrian travel, particularly due to obstacles such as utility poles, signs, and street furniture that narrows the effective width of the sidewalk.
• Bicyclists face conflicts with motor vehicles at driveways and intersections. Motorists are generally not expecting a cyclist to cross their path from the sidewalk, and may not be looking for them.
• Traffic rules, such as obligations to yield, are unclear when cyclists ride on sidewalks, creating confusion and risk between pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.

In my opinion we are one mis-step, one inattentive moment away from a serious injury; or worse. Bikes belong on the road, not on the sidewalks of our campus.

[Related Blog With More Posts]

J.J. Jelincic for CalPers

I voted for J.J. Jelincic in the CalPERS’ Board Runoff Election. J.J. Jelincic has been endorsed by the California State University Employees Union for this CalPers seat.

Jelincic, is a very pro labor candidate for the CalPers seat. Jelincic is the past president of the California State Employees Association (CSEA), a labor group representing 140,000 active and retired state employees. Jelincic, a rank-and-file investment officer for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) since 1986, was elected president in November 2003. Jelincic has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga and has an M.B.A. in finance from Golden Gate University in San Francisco and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. The CFA® is to investments what the CPA is to accounting.

Jelincic started his union activism as a member of Oakland Teamsters Local 70 while working as a garbage collector and later a truck driver. He joined California state service in 1986 and became active in CSEA’s Civil Service Division, which is now known as SEIU Local 1000. He has represented the rank-and-file employees at CalPERS as a steward, chief steward and chapter president and also represented the 43,000 professional and financial state employees as chair of Unit 1 the bargaining team. He has been involved in discussions about pension formula and health care benefit design and provider network. He knows the key CalPERS personnel and how the System actually operates.

Union Meeting Photos

Last weekend I went to the California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) Board of Director’s Meeting in Sacramento. It was a huge event and I took many photographs. Here is just a small subset of those photos:

[Event Photos on Flickr]

Do furloughs even work?

By Steve Sloan

All of us who work for the state know the hardships imposed by furloughs on our families. We’re also aware of the impact on students of furloughs, reduced class sessions and increased fees. But, do furloughs work?

Furloughs are designed to save money and reduce layoffs. Furloughs may save some jobs, do they really save money? According to some recent studies and articles, it is possible state furloughs do not save much money.

David Greenwald of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, in a California Progress Report, said state furloughs save the general fund only 12 cents for every dollar cut in wages. Greenwald and others look at our state government furloughs in general. In addition to university employees our sister union, the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, represents 95,000 of the 193,000 state workers covered under the furlough program. Many of these workers are getting three furlough days a month, a 14 percent pay cut.

Ken Jacobs of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, in the policy brief The High Cost Of Furloughs wrote, “Whether imposed on employees paid from state, federal, or special funds, furloughs impact the broader economy in multiple ways. First, any reduction in pay is a reduction in spending in the local economy and will have a multiplier effect, resulting in private sector job loss and subsequent loss of tax revenues.”

Jacobs said, “It is poorly designed, if the goal is to provide savings to the general fund.” Jacobs, also the chair of the Labor Center said, “Key design problems include furloughing state workers in revenue-generating positions, continued accumulation of pension and benefit debt and inclusion of workers whose salaries are paid by the federal government and other special funds, in addition to the general fund.”

Even some conservatives question furloughs. Dr. John Sullivan in the employee-recruiting forum ERE.net wrote the post Employee Furloughs Can Be a Bad Alternative to Layoffs. He said, “While the tool may be popular and widely used, that doesn’t make it effective or the best choice.”

Sullivan cites many reasons for this conclusion including productivity loss, morale decline over loss of income and increased workload, increased employee stress, higher error rates, angry customers, possible lawsuits over furloughs, loss of good employees who react to furloughs by leaving and a general decrease in innovation.

Sullivan said, “It’s hard to plan ahead and think of innovations when your job security is up in the air.”

I got my flu shot!

Did you?

SJSU Rally for Higher Education on October 12

Meet and greet Torrico & Garamendi

Assemblyman and Assembly Majority Leader, Alberto Torrico, and Lt. Governor John Garamendi

By: Liz Cara for the SJSU-CFA Executive Board

Alberto Torrico will use this day to initiate his campaign to pass AB 656, the oil severance task dedicated to higher education. All campus unions, UC, Community Colleges, and K12 students are supporting this measure and this event.

The meet and greet is Monday Oct 12 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in the University Room of the SJSU Student Union followed immediately by a rally from 12 noon – 1 p.m., 7 Th Street Plaza.

This is the kick-off event for a week of action at each of the 23 CSU campuses. This event will have a high media presence and will be crucial for solutions to the CSU budget crisis.

Please support this event and Alberto Torrico’s bill sponsored by CFA to bring in one billion dollars each year to public higher education. To request flyers, call CFA at (408) 924-6501 or e-mail calfac@sjsu.edu. Use your anger about furloughs, job cuts, fewer classes, and less students and show your support at this event.

From South Bay Labor Council (SBLC):

Amy Dean to speak Oct. 12

Amy Dean, former SBLC head, to speak about her new book

Amy Dean, the youngest person and first woman head of a major labor federation when she was elected in 1993 as executive officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, will speak as part of Working Partnerships Leadership Network’s Social Innovators Series on Monday, Oct. 12. She founded Working Partnerships USA in 1995.

Dean, co-author of “A New New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement,” will be joined in her conversation by Cindy Chavez, current executive director of Working Partnerships USA and executive officer of the Labor Council.

The 5:30 p.m. event will be held at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hall at 2125 Canoas Garden Ave. Hearty refreshments will be served and those wishing to attend should RSVP to Chase Inman at (408) 269-7872 or by e-mail to chase@atwork.org by Monday, Oct. 5.

This is the second event in the Social Innovators Series, sponsored by PG&E and co-hosted by the American Leadership Forum.

No progress toward safety

The problem with HPV’s at SJSU
I am not against bicyclists, or bicycling, but I am seriously against the very dangerous use of them. I am an avid cyclist. I know that cycling, even done carefully, can result in serious injury or death. Life is full of risk. I am not against anything that involves a risk, but I am against unnecessary needless risk. Risk needs to be taken carefully, that is why we have “Risk Management” at SJSU.

I am against what I feel is a grossly dangerous unmanaged risk situation. That is why I have been complaining for years about how bicycles and other human powered vehicles (HPVs) are currently being used, and I think abused, on the sidewalks at SJSU.

I am a union steward and have filed grievances. I will continue to file grievances, complain, document and make public what I feel is a danger as long as I am able, or the problem gets fixed!

The ironic thing is I am not only advocating for the pedestrians at SJSU, I feel I am advocating for the safety of the cyclists, skateboarders and other users of HPVs at SJSU.

I have been in a serious bicycle accident. Everyday I suffer pain and discomfort from that accident. I know what that feels like and I know what knowing that the pain will NEVER go away feels like. Judging by the way some people who use HPVs navigate the campus, I doubt many of them do.

In my opinion, so far the university has done nothing to manage the risk on our campus.

[More on this topic]

[More photos here]

SJSU offers faculty training on furlough days

How can the university on one hand offer events to faculty on furlough days, like this one, when The CSU/CFA Faculty Furlough Agreement requires that prior to the start of their assignment for any term, faculty must certify in writing that they will not work on the assigned furlough day?

Do faculty who attend the training get an automatic letter of reprimand, or do their managers?