San Jose, CA – On a June 25, in front of the Dr. MLK Jr. Library, hundreds of union city workers gathered for a rally to continue their fight for a decent contract with the city of San Jose. The workers are organized with IFPTE Local 21 and AFSCME Local 101, also known as the Municipal Employee’s Federation (MEF).

Workers held blue picket signs reading, “San Jose first,” “Invest in people,” and “Invest in affordability.”

Alyssa Grondahl of MEF spoke about how the city has been deprioritizing its workers, saying, “While city leadership talks about deficits and the challenges of the city budget, us workers are facing astronomical gas prices, skyrocketing housing costs, rising utility bills, and increasing workloads due to vacancies, removal of vacant positions, and general understaffing. The city keeps moving ahead with large projects and asking us to do more with less.”

Grondahl continued, “We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for fair wages, safe working conditions, and a contract that recognizes the value of the people who open and close this library every day.”

Mary Morse of IFPTE Local 21 brought attention to the city’s unfair “best and final” offer for their contract and how the union still wants to negotiate. Morse stated, “We are still at the bargaining table eager to keep negotiating in good faith, but that best and final offer is take it or leave it. Do we accept that? Hell no!”

The executive director of the South Bay Labor Council, Jean Cohen, also gave words of encouragement to the rallying workers.

The union members began a picket walk as the speaker program finished, chanting, “We are the union, the mighty, mighty union” and “When workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The union members present pledged to vote yes on a strike authorization vote.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor

San Jose, CA – On June 20, 200 members of the LGBTQ community and allies gathered at Saint James Park for the third annual San Jose’s People’s Pride. People’s Pride is a grassroots-organized event meant to celebrate community and fight back against the current attacks transgender people are facing from the Trump administration. Unlike some other Pride events in the Bay Area, Peoples Pride does not have any corporate sponsors, recognizing the rampant pinkwashing by corporations that are complicit in human rights abuses.

Throughout the festival portion of the event, small business vendors sold queer art and goods. Bands and DJs brought people together to dance and celebrate queer culture. This People’s Pride was the first year hosting a drag show, featuring Diane and Nikky Nicole.

People’s Pride also featured a silent auction with donated items from vendors. Items included art prints, jewelry and more. All of the proceeds went to compensate the performers, completely supplanting the need for corporate sponsors.

Along with the festivities, local organizations tabled. One such organization, South Bay Queer Solidarity, currently has a letter writing campaign to local hospitals that have not reinstated gender affirming care to youth after Trump threatened to punish hospitals that provided life-saving treatments to trans youth.

After the festival, attendees took to the streets of downtown San Jose. They marched from Saint James Park to Post Street, gathering support from onlookers along the way. Together, the protesters shared one common goal: to defend the queer community from Trump's anti-trans agenda.

Lyla Salinas of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “Attacks on trans healthcare have taken center stage in Trump’s anti-LGBTQ agenda. While 27 states have already enacted laws to limit gender affirming care for trans youth, Trump intends to ban this healthcare nationwide.”

Salinas continued, “This was never about protecting children. Attacks on trans youth chip away at the bodily autonomy of all trans people.”

Protesters chanted, “Trans rights are human rights, that's why we must fight!” as they marched through the streets. Em Tran, a member of Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University, stated that permission is not needed to stand against the transphobic attacks levied by the Trump administration, saying, “That’s why Pride is important. Pride started as a riot. Do you think Marsha P. Johnson asked for permission to start Pride?”

Tran continued, “It's not called the Stonewall ‘Wait-for-Permission-To-Do-It,’ it's called the Stonewall Riot.”

Tran further emphasized the importance of young people in this fight, saying, “I think it’s important especially for young people, for students, for us to stand united together against what the Trump administration has been doing against our queer siblings. Against our queer classmates.”

The event ended with cheers and a call for those interested in getting organized to get involved for next year.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Pride #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles

Gilroy, CA – On June 14. around 300 protestors hit the streets in Gilroy to protest against ICE’s plans to open a detention and processing center in the southern part of Santa Clara County near Gilroy, California. At around a million residents, San Jose is the largest city in Santa Clara County, one of the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. Local activists say the detention center will impact all Bay Area residents.

ICE’s plans to build a detention center in Gilroy began circulating amongst the San Francisco Bay Area residents earlier this year. Now that blueprints of the facility have come out, confirming that the 20,000 square foot facility will have the capability to hold detainees, local organizations are mobilizing to hit the streets and protest the construction site.

Huy Tran of the Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network warned, “The expanded facilities here in Gilroy are going to make ICE a worse threat by providing more holding cells and training more ICE agents to attack us.”

The construction of the Gilroy detention center comes at a time when detainees are launching hunger strikes in Delaney and Adelanto detention centers, in New Jersey and California.

Uriel Magdaleno of Community Service Organization San Jose condemned the conditions of the centers. “The Legalization for All network stands in unwavering solidarity with the hunger strikes,” stated Magdaleno. In the past year, there have been over 50 detainees’ deaths confirmed.

Magdaleno continued, “Conditions inside these facilities worsen daily, people are denied basic human rights.”

The day before the protest, Community Service Organization Oakland participated in a car caravan to California City in coordination with the Legalization for All network’s weekend of action against detention centers. At the Gilroy protest, Danny Celaya with CSO Oakland spoke to attendees about the previous day’s caravan.

“The conditions there [in California City detention center] are grotesque, inhumane and reports of guards dehumanizing detainees as dogs,” stated Celaya. “We need to continue to fight for immigrant rights and say down with detention centers.”

The protesters marched to the detention center construction site in Gilroy with banners that read “Stop ICE’s detention centers,” “Legalization for all,” and “Free Guillermo now,” referring to local community member Guillermo Medina Reyes who has been in detention since February of this year. The march concluded with a rally where Rebeca Armendariz of Community Agency for Resources Advocacy and Services stated, “We will be back.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #ImmigrantRights

San José, CA – On May 30, over 250 people gathered outside the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose to protest plans of an ICE processing and detention center in Gilroy and the reopening of FCI Dublin as an immigrant detention center.

“We haven’t seen as much ICE activity as we have seen in places like Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles,” said Jonathan Soria from Community Service Organization San Jose. “This is because there isn’t a detention center to hold our families here in the Bay Area.”

Since September of last year, the Trump administration has used Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents to carry out immigration enforcement operations across the country. As of November, the number of operations increased and their tactics became increasingly violent, with the deaths of community members seeing a sharp spike. Among these dead are Ismael Ayala Uribe, Oscar Duarte Rascón, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, and twelve more.

ICE and CBP activity reached its height during Operation Metro Surge, when agents were sent to Minnesota, culminating in the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

ICE and CBP operations in the Bay Area have included the detentions of Guillermo Medina Reyes and Ulíses Peña López, who were both taken into custody violently. Since then, reports of their holdings detail inhumane treatment, such as denial of medical attention, food, water and access to legal assistance.

“We’ve brought out hundreds outside of the San Francisco Immigration Court to demand that Guillermo be free, to demand that Guillermo be returned to his community in San Jose, because he deserves to be with his family, with his loved ones,” stated Dani Celaya, of Community Service Organization Oakland, to the people protesting at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

Community-oriented organizations, including CSO San Jose, CSO Oakland, and WCO for the People, a student-led activist group at San Jose’s WC Overfelt High School, rallied together to denounce the ongoing campaign against immigrants and the Chicano community in the Bay Area and across the country. The organizations have also mobilized people to turn out to San Jose City Hall and the San Francisco Immigration Court with these same demands.

The crowd marched from the Mexican Heritage Plaza all the way to the corner of Story and King, delivering chants, cheers,and speeches, highlighting the resistance towards an administration that is hostile towards and actively targets immigrants and the Chicano community.

#SanJoseCA #CA #ImmigrantRights

San Jose, CA – On Thursday June 11, San Jose Against War called an emergency action in response to Trump’s escalated bombing of Iran. The group of over 20 gathered outside of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose with signs reading “No to war on Iran, Lebanon, & Palestine” and “Money for people’s needs, not for war and genocide!” Participants waved Palestinian and Iranian flags in solidarity with the people and counties targeted by U.S.-Israeli forces.

Drusie Kazanova, a member of SJAW stated, “It has been 100 days since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing thousands, including over 100 schoolgirls in an attempt to topple the only state in the region capable of resisting their ceaseless violence and imperial aims.”

Kazanova continued, “Part of why negotiations have taken so long is due to Iran’s refusal to back down to Israeli terror that the United States continues to fund with our tax dollars.”

“We pushed the city council to vote on divestment in March of this year, and four city council members voted to keep using our city funds to fund these atrocities. [Council members] George Casey, Michael Mulcahey, David Cohen, and Anthony Tordillos. Just like Trump and Netanyahu, just like war profiteering corporations, these council members have blood on their hands!” said Kazanova.

John Duroyan of Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University (SDS SJSU) spoke on the students’ struggle for divestment from war profiteers saying, “Here at SJSU’s campus, they opened a ‘Campus Center for Civic and Social Good,’ but we call it ‘Campus Center for War and Genocide.’”

Duroyan continued, “Companies like Open AI are just one of the many companies that aid and abet Zionism, aid and abet U.S. invasion, U.S. war mongering, aid and abet Trump and his billionaire cronies. But we, the working people of America, the students of this campus, the students of campuses all across the world, just as we fought for Palestine in 2024, we’re continuing to fight now, and that fight doesn't stop until we’ve shut down those companies, kicked them off our campuses, kicked them out of our cities, until we’ve shut this brutal war machine down!”

Jack McCann of Freedom Road Socialist Organization reflected on the strength of the resistance to U.S. and Israeli aggression, and the weakness of Trump and his allies, saying, “Today, as we condemn U.S. aggression, let us honor the strength of the resistance, the bravery of people who stand strong in the face of overwhelming force, to assert their right to human dignity by any means necessary.”

McCann continues, “Trump is gambling our future for his own personal gain, and he is failing. The working people of the U.S. and the people of oppressed nations around the world share a common enemy: the monopoly capitalist class. In their desperation to secure resources, they sacrifice us all upon the altar of war to sacrifice for their selfish goals. The time is now to unite all who can be united to resist Trump and the ruling class’s attacks on the people of the world!”

Donna Wallach of SJAW described the nature of the abuses of the U.S. and Israel in the region. “Iran did not attack Israel. However, Israel has attacked Iran on numerous occasions. Bombing their nuclear facilities, assassinating scientists and government officials. And the USA has had horrendous sanctions on Iran for over a decade! [The] U.S.A and Israel target hospitals, medical people, journalists, homes, infrastructure. Iran targets military bases and installations.”

Wallach continued, “Israel is trying to steal more land, now from Lebanon to make Israel bigger of stolen land. Israel is attacking Iran because they want to devastate the Iranian economy. Also, the Israelis have this stupid notion that if the infrastructure and homes of the Iranian people are bombed, the Iranian people will blame their government, and they will try to overthrow their government. Iran has the right to defend itself, and it has the right to help Lebanon defend itself.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Iran #SJAW

Average prices for the working class have risen even faster, up 4.4% from a year earlier. This means that real wages, or the purchasing power of wages for U.S. workers, have fallen for the second month in a row, and are now 0.8% less than a year ago. This was enough to bring the average worker back to their purchasing power in January 2025, right before Trump took office for his second term.

Trump keeps repeating how great the economy is, which is true for him and his billionaire buddies, who own most of U.S. stocks, with the S&P 500, a broad measure of the stock market, up 22% since Trump took office.

Unfortunately for working people, more price increases are on the horizon. Prices of key commodities used in production, such as diesel fuel, fertilizer and helium, have also spiked, as much of their production was shipped through the strait of Hormuz. This will lead to higher prices for goods that are moved, food, and semiconductors. A measure of these so-called “intermediate goods,” goods that are manufactured but used to make other goods, or not sold to consumers, was up 6% year over year in April, again foretelling higher inflation to come.

In another sign of economic distress, America’s Car-Mart, Inc., a seller of used cars and lender to car buyers with limited incomes and/or poorer credit, said that it was looking for an emergency loan. The company is also preparing for a bankruptcy filing. This is just another sign that workers have been forced to buy used cars as new car prices march ever higher.

Stocks fell across the board, with the broad S&P 500 falling more than 1.5%, while the technology-heavy NASDAQ sank almost 2%. The drop in stock prices was also fed by news of renewed military clashes in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which boosted oil prices.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation

Job growth was concentrated in the hotel and restaurant industry, which added 70,000 net new jobs in May, making up 40% of the total job growth. Next came local government (excluding school jobs), with 55,000 more jobs, as healthcare added 35,000 new jobs. Together these three industries added almost 90% of net new jobs.

One problem is that this trend is not expected to last. Traveling and going out to eat are not necessities, and with more and more households being caught in a vise as prices rise faster than wages, spending, and thus jobs, are likely to slow. Local governments are facing budget pressures as cuts in federal spending trickle down to state and local governments. Finally, the Medicaid cuts in the Republican “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts for the rich and service cuts for the poor will speed up after the November elections, limiting the scope of future gains in healthcare jobs.

While the job numbers were strong, the number of long-term unemployed, who have been out of work for more than six months, rose by more than a third from a year ago. These workers now make up 27.5% of all the unemployed, as compared to only 20.4% a year ago.

Wage growth also slowed. In April, the year-over-year increase in wages was 3.6%, but in May, wages only increased by 3.4% over the previous year. The inflation rate measured by the Consumer Price Index is expected to rise to a 4.2% annual rate when the newest inflation numbers come out on Wednesday. This will widen the gap between prices rising faster, while wage growth is slowing down.

The strong job creation number combined with rising inflation caused bond prices to fall and their interest rates to rise on Friday. Since bonds pay a fixed interest payment, their price and the interest rate change in opposite directions. Bond interest rates have been rising since the being of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which in turn drives up other interest rates, including mortgages to buy homes.

The drop in bond prices and higher interest rates also spooked the stock market, with the technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 index down 5% on Friday, led by chipmaker stocks, which fell 10%. The broader S&P fell half as much, or 2.5%.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Jobs

That same day, the BEA also released a report on Personal Income and Outlays for April 2026. After-tax income, when adjusted for inflation, fell by 0.5%, the second month that income fell this year. While spending, also adjusted for inflation, rose by 0.1%, the fall in income meant the savings rate fell to only 2.6%, the lowest in four years.

The flip side of a lower average savings rate is the more people are borrowing more to make ends meet. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, more than 13% of credit card borrowers are 90 days or more behind on their payments, the highest rate in 15 years, when the economy was still struggling to recover from the 2008 Great Financial Crisis.

More than 10% of student loans are also 90 days or more late on payments. Student loans make up the greatest amount of consumer borrowing – more than credit cards or auto loans. Auto loans were not immune, with more than 5% of auto loan borrowers 90 days or more behind on payments, the highest in more than 20 years.

Not surprisingly, late borrowers were most likely among low-income households, followed by middle-income, and high-income households having the lowest rate, at less than half that of low-income borrowers. People are being squeezed by higher interest rates, higher balances (more than 20% of credit card users have balances of over $10,000), and paychecks shrinking from inflation.

Personal income and spending were both squeezed by higher inflation. The Personal Consumption Expenditures or PCE inflation rate rose to 3.8% from a year ago. This is the highest rate of inflation by this measure in three years. The PCE is the inflation rate watched by the Federal Reserve. With this inflation rate higher than the Fed’s 2% target for five years in row and now rising with higher gasoline prices because of Trump’s war on Iran, the Fed’s next interest rate change might be to raise interest rates, seeking to slow the economy and lessen pressure for higher prices.

Workers are also being squeezed by the fact that a larger share of the economy is going to corporate profits, which mainly benefits the top 1% of households who own half of all corporate stocks. The profit share rose to 12.1%, the highest since 1950. At the same time, the labor share, paid to workers, sank to just 51% of income, the lowest since records started in 1947. This growing divide between labor and capital can explain why more and more people are struggling to make ends meet and taking on more and more debt, while the stock market, which is ultimately based on corporate profits, is hitting new record highs.

A big chunk of the increase in the share of income going to capital in the form of profits is because of tax changes, including the 2017 tax bill and the 2025 “big beautiful bill” that cut taxes for higher income households and businesses. Labor unions are also struggling, with barely 10% of all workers in union jobs, down from more than 30% in 1950. Cuts to social programs, such as food stamps and Medicaid are also putting downward pressure on wages.

Typically, a slowing economy would raise the unemployment rate. The oil price increase in 1973 contributed to a recession and higher unemployment, while at the same time inflation rose. Today, oil prices, gasoline, diesel and jet fuel made from oil, as well as helium and fertilizer that are by products or made from oil, are all on the rise. However despite the slowing economy and job growth, so far the unemployment rate has just crept up from 4.0% when Trump took office in 2025, to 4.4% in April 2026, the last month reported on. At the same time, more people have “dropped out” of the labor force, that is, they have given up on working or looking for work. The Labor Force Participation Rate has been going down from 62.5% in February 2025, the first full month of the Trump administration, to 61.8% in April 2026. If these folks had continued to look for work, the official unemployment rate would have been 5.3% in April, a much bigger jump from the beginning of the Trump administration.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation

San Jose, CA – On May 16, around 150 people gathered at the Santa Clara County Government Center to celebrate the county’s 25th annual Palestinian Cultural Day. The event, sponsored by the county supervisors and the Palestinian Heritage Committee, celebrates the 30,000 Palestinian-Americans living in Santa Clara County and their contributions to the South Bay community.

The event began with the raising of the Palestinian and American flags in front of the County Building, as each country’s national anthem played.

The opening speaker was Samir Laymoun, longtime Palestinian community leader and lead organizer of Palestinian Cultural Day since its inception. “A trauma passed down through every single generation. Today our hearts break because the violence has reached a terrifying depth. Israel is not just taking Palestinian lives. It is trying to kill the very soul of Palestine.”

Laymoun continued, “The deliberate destruction of schools and universities aims to silence our children's dreams. This is a cruel attempt to make us forget and erase our history. Here in California, Palestinian students' stories and history of Palestine are censored in K-12 under vague controversial issue policies and laws such as AB 715.”

16-year-old Mariam Al-Tamimi spoke about her personal experiences with this censorship at her

high school. Al-Tamimi wrote an article for her school newspaper about underrepresented students, including Palestinian students. “The moment that I mentioned Palestine in the article, the Zionists in my class immediately pushed back, ready to silence me, as if my article wasn't already advocating for those who are silenced. They complained endlessly to the principal until the principal finally decided to take out the article, which I had worked on for weeks, in mere seconds.”

“However, this didn't silence me. Instead, I was determined to publish my article. “I was able to publish my article in the Silicon Valley Voice, a professional newspaper,” Al-Tamimi continued. “That moment made me realize that they wouldn't work so hard to silence us if we didn't matter.”

Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Jennifer Zacharia stated, “Civil rights laws created to protect the most vulnerable and marginalized among us are being distorted and wielded as well. These attacks on our schools, wrapped in a misrepresentation of antisemitism, are naked efforts to silence both Palestinians and advocates for our liberation. These measures aim to criminalize teaching our history, impugn and make suspect our identity and culture, and quell dissent about the occupation, apartheid, and genocide that define how Zionism has been enacted on the lives and bodies of Palestinians.”

Zacharia continued, “We are dehumanized and told that our existence can only take muted, quiet, hollow shapes that don't offend those who work tirelessly to negate us. But we are still here. We are building institutions and solidarity, and we are cultivating hope and imagination.”

The event concluded with a performance by Al-Juthoor Dabke, with attendees joining in at the end to dance together.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

San Jose, CA – On May 15, over 50 people in downtown San Jose to commemorate the 78th year since Al Nakba, “The Catastrophe,” where 750,000 Palestinians were violently displaced by Zionist forces for the establishment of the apartheid state of Israel.

Chants included, “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” Protesters held signs reading, “We will not be complicit, San Jose divest from genocide” and “Silicon Valley has blood on their hands.”

Haddy Barghouti of Students for Justice in Palestine at San Jose State University spoke to the crowd about the fearful existence that he and his family endured in Palestine. He implored the crowd, “We cannot stay silent. We have to continue using our voices, telling our stories and speaking for the [Palestinian] people who are living in fear every day.”

Dyon Capote of Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America addressed the crowd, “Nakba Day should not just be a commemoration but also an acknowledgment of the tribulations the Palestinians have endured but they have never given up their dreams of a free Palestine and neither should we!”

Dina Saba, president of Democrats for Palestinian Rights, highlighted the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to uphold Israel, saying, “78 years of our hard-earned money funding Israel’s atrocities!”

Jack McCann from San Jose Against War commended the brave Palestinian resistance and emphasized that the struggle is local as well, saying, “It is our duty here, in the belly of the beast, to honor their sacrifice, to join in the BDS movement and to fight for a free Palestine!”

McCann continued, “This is why San Jose Against War is waging a struggle at city council, demanding an end to complicity in the crimes of the genocidal Zionist entity. Until we succeed, there is blood on our hands, especially council members who recently voted not to divest from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon: George Casey, Michael Mulcahey, David Cohen, and Anthony Tordillos. Shame!”

Drusie Kazanova of FRSO San Jose said, “The people of Palestine and their allies have not given up in their fight for national liberation, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stands with them!”

Kazanova continued drawing the connection between the working and oppressed people in the U.S. and the oppressed people of Palestine, saying, “[We] share the same enemy: the U.S. imperialists. The FRSO is committed to the call for an independent Palestine. We are marching today and we will march every Nakba Day until Palestine is finally free!”

Salem Ajlouni, board member of Human Agenda, stated, “A free Palestine is part of the struggle for a just U.S.”

Fadi Saba, a Palestinian-American teacher, stated, “Gaza and Palestine is the moral compass of the world. It is ‘Free Palestine’ until Palestine is free.”

The protest began at the Dr. MLK Jr. library and marched through the streets of downtown to a busy pedestrian corridor, San Pedro Square, to chant loudly and continue the program before marching back to the library.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #SJAW #Palestine

The increase in the PPI means that consumer prices will be heading even higher in the future. For example, the price of diesel fuel, used in trucking, farm and warehouse equipment, was up 12.6% in just one month, adding to the cost of food and almost all goods that are shipped by trucks. The wholesale cost of transport by truck rose 8.1% in April as compared to March. Air freight costs also rose, but by a “smaller” amount of 3.6% for the month.

Major companies such as Whirlpool, a maker of appliances, announced a 10% price increase in April, and another 4% to be imposed in July.

Parts of the PPI report also feed into the Personal Consumption Expenditure, or PCE, price report that is coming out May 28. The PCE price index is the inflation measure followed by the Federal Reserve Bank, which traditionally raises interest rates when inflation rises.

With inflation rising, bond prices are falling, since inflation erodes the fixed interest payments that bonds pay. This means that the interest rate on bonds is going up; for example, the ten-year U.S. Treasury bond before the war on Iran was 4.02%, and it is now 4.46%. The ten-year U.S. Treasury bond is a benchmark that impacts other loan interest rates. For example, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was just below 6% right before the war started, is now at 6.45%. Rising mortgage interest rates mean larger loan payments, reducing even more the affordability of buying a home.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation

The rising costs of energy drove the increase in prices, on the backs of higher fuel prices as a result of Trump’s war on Iran. Gasoline prices were up 28.4% over a year ago. Electricity rates were up 6.1% from a year ago.

These higher prices mean that the purchasing power of workers’ incomes, or what economists call real income, fell in April as compared to March, and also fell compared to a year ago. Using another measure of prices paid by workers, the CPI-W, real wages or hourly earnings fell 0.3% in April from March, and fell 0.2% as compared to a year ago.

There were also signs that higher fuel and energy prices are spreading to goods and services that use a lot of energy to produce. With diesel fuel prices up over 60% from a year ago according to the AAA (American Automobile Association), transportation costs are showing up in the higher prices for food, up 0.5% in April as compared to no increase in March. Airline fares have soared, up more than 20% as compared to April 2025, as jet fuel prices have almost doubled.

While economists often refer to the “core” rate of inflation, which takes out food and energy costs as they are more variable month to month, this means that the actual rate of inflation for lower and middle income households is actually greater than the headline (total) inflation, since those consumers spend more of their income on necessities like food, gasoline and electricity.

With Trump polling at all-time lows, with 70% of people disapproving of him on the economy, Congress is proposing to suspend the federal gasoline tax. However, the tax is only 18 cents a gallon, or about 4% of the current national average price. But with gasoline up more than 40% since the war started, this would at most offset 10% of the increase. Further, the gasoline tax is an excise tax that the seller pays, so there is no way to ensure that the gasoline sellers pass on the tax cut to drivers.

With no end in sight to the war that is blocking the flow of oil, gas, fertilizer, sulfur (used in industry) and helium (used in a lot of tech industries), higher prices are likely to spread to more and more goods and services.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation #Featured

The employment report, based on a survey of businesses, was strong relative to the weak hiring in 2025, with 115,000 new jobs created. There were still pockets of weakness, with government jobs declining by 8000, making April the seventh month in a row of job losses by government workers. Manufacturing also lost jobs, down by 2000 jobs.

However, the survey of households showed more weakness, with the labor force participation rate declining by 0.1%. Without this decline, the unemployment rate would have gone up. The unemployment rate was also held down by a big jump in self-employed workers, many of whom, like rideshare drivers, are really a new type of temp workers. Last, but not least, the broadest measure of unemployment, which includes people who gave up looking for work and people working part-time who can’t find full-time jobs, rose to the highest this year, at 8.2%.

Workers’ compensation, including wages, benefits and taxes paid by the employer, rose 3.1% in the first three months of the year (January to March) according to another BLS report issued Thursday, May 7. But prices rose even faster, meaning that real compensation, or the purchasing power of workers’ wages and benefits, actually fell by one half of one percent, or 0.5%, during these same three months.

This meant that the share of total output in the economy that goes to workers was only 54.1% in the first quarter, the lowest since these records began almost 80 years ago, in 1947. With more of the share of the economy going to corporate profits, rent, interest and small business income, it is no wonder that more and more people feel that the rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer.

The growing divide between haves and have-nots can also be seen in the contrast between the latest Consumer Sentiment report by the University of Michigan and the booming stock market. The Consumer Sentiment report, which covers the period of April 21 to May 4, fell to an all-time low of 48.2. This drop reflected consumers’ expectation of inflation to rise. Expectations are that inflation will jump over the next year from 3.3% over the last 12 months to 4.5% over the next 12 months. This will further reduce the purchasing power of workers’ wages.

In contrast, the stock market, as measured by the broad S&P 500 Index, is at an all-time high. The stock market is being driven by corporate profits and the fast-growing wealth of those at the top. In particular, semiconductor chip stocks have risen to about 15% of total stock market value, even higher than during the 2000 dot-com stock market bubble.

How have sales and business profits held up with so many working-class households struggling amid soaring gasoline prices? On one hand, more and more consumer spending is based on high-income households as the economic divide in terms of income and wealth continues to grow. On the other hand, lower and middle income households, mainly the working class, are borrowing more to make ends meet. The Federal Reserve report on consumer credit, released yesterday, May 7, shows that credit card borrowing increased at the fastest rate since the last bout of inflation, in 2022.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Jobs #Unemployment #Featured

San Jose, CA – On May 7, dozens of community members gathered at Hillview Branch Library for a panel discussion led by rank-and-file union members and organizers about the state of the labor movement in the South Bay.

The panel members included Ariya Amin of San Jose Teachers Association; Armando Barbosa of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265; Nancy Mendoza of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, and Philip Nguyen of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Service Employees International Union Local 521.

The discussion centered around the importance of unions, local struggles against school and store closures, ICE, and the fight against the Trump administration’s attacks on workers.

“Unions are essential to us harnessing our collective power. We will always be up against forces that are opposed to that, so it is essential to be organized,” said Amin, “As teachers, our working conditions directly affect our students. We not only advocate for ourselves, but our students and their families.”

“The union is important because it gives the working class a voice at the table,” stated Barbosa, “We think about entering into a labor non-physical warfare, because that’s what we’re really up against. We are in battle. The contract is our sword and our shop stewards are our defense mechanisms.”

Nancy Mendoza highlighted the effects of the Trump administration on organizing Cardenas grocery store workers, “Cardenas workers, a lot of them came on a parole visa, so they all got laid off. Trump suspended their visas and they were unable to work.”

Cardenas, however, took advantage of the situation to circumvent the union’s organizing efforts. Mendoza added, “Cardenas grocery store tells the workers that we work with ICE. That’s a big one, so now we’re giving them cards for Know Your Rights and we’re holding classes for them to attend so they know their rights for when they face ICE.”

The event concluded with a short Q and A session and opportunities to socialize.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor

Last July, the Trump administration increased work requirements for people who are getting food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Since then, almost 3.5 million people have been dropped from SNAP, or 8% of the total. But in some states, such as Arizona, the number of people getting food aid fell by almost half.

This is despite the official government estimate that almost 50 million people, or almost 14% of households, are “food insecure,” meaning that they have to cut back on how much they eat, or reduce the quality of their food. This is even more severe among households with children, where 18% are considered food insecure.

When the Republican Congress did not extend federal subsidies for private health insurance that were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, premiums soared. People in Republican-led states that did not expand Medicaid – older people, those with middle incomes – were hit the hardest. Initial sign-ups fell by more than a million people, but millions more are being dropped after not paying the higher premiums, which could increase tenfold or more.

Before the cuts, 8% of Americans, or 27 million people, did not have any health insurance at all. Almost 40% of Americans depend on government health insurance, mainly Medicare (for seniors and disabled) and Medicaid (for lower incomes). In addition, there are the Veterans Administration and the subsidized ACA marketplace, which are also government funded. While statistics for this year and the impact of the cuts won’t be available until the fall of 2027, the number of Americans without any health insurance is rising.

Finally, foreclosures on homeowners still paying their mortgages rose 26% over a year ago, to the highest level in six years. In the first three months of 2026, almost 120,000 foreclosures were filed by lenders against homeowners who fell behind on their payments. Partly this is because of the end of mortgage protections for borrowers passed during COVID-19, but homeowners with mortgages are also under pressure from higher home insurance premiums and property taxes.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy

San Jose, CA – On May 1, 1500 people gathered in East San Jose for the annual San Jose May Day march. This year marked 20 years since May Day was revived in the United States with the 2006 immigrant rights megamarches in protest of the racist, anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill. This year, the May Day march began at the intersection of Story and King, an historic center of the Chicano community in San Jose and the same starting location as the 2006 march.

Local singer and songwriter Miguel Trujillo kicked off the opening rally with several songs about the struggles of workers and immigrants.

Louie Rocha, one of the original lead organizers of the 2006 May Day march and retired CWA worker, spoke to the crowd, “Over 200,000 marched and that march started from right here at Story and King Roads. The thousands of marchers included workers, mothers, fathers, families, students, small business owners, to support a fair immigration policy and to also demand respect for those that toil for jobs and services that are least desired.”

“Millions more marched across the country that day. On that day young and old were united. On that day every color in our community was present and marched united for justice. The people watched over the people. HR 4437 ultimately did not pass Congress. We need to keep organizing,” Rocha continued.

This year, as in 2006, the May Day march was joined by walkouts by hundreds of high school students. In all, seven San Jose high schools held walkouts to join the march.

Jonathan Soria, one of the leading student organizers for the walkouts, spoke to the crowd at Story and King, “As a first generation Mexican American, who comes from a background of hard-working immigrants, I am here to say: this country was built by immigrants, and they are here to stay – este país fue construido por inmigrantes, y están aquí para quedarse.”

Soria continued, “My parents as well as many other immigrants went through so much in hopes of giving their children a chance at life that they never received. We are tired of the racism that we have endured in this country. The oppression we have suffered. So now we are here to let it be known that we will no longer tolerate the same treatment. Going forward we will continue to make our voices heard and fight for our people.”

Jessica Aviles from Community Service Organization San Jose stated, “We are currently facing an administration that’s pitting the working class against each other. They cut federal funding towards resources like medical, SNAP benefits and many more that are necessary to our communities and increase funding for ICE and DHS who are terrorizing our immigrant communities.”

Aviles continued, “They’re doing all of this while telling us that the immigrants are at fault when in reality it’s just an excuse for the system that is failing us all. We may ask ourselves, why are they trying to keep us apart? The answer is plain and simple – because when we fight, we win. We all have to keep showing up because the fight is far from over. We have to be there for our communities so they can remain strong.”

The crowd marched from Story and King to San Jose City Hall, stopping along the way for chanting and more speeches. There were many union contingents, including ATU 265, SEIU 2015, LiUNA 270, CWA District 9, California Fast Food Workers Union, UFCW 5, and the South Bay Labor Council. The crowd changed, “ICE out!” and “El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!” People waved a variety of flags, from Mexico, to Palestine, to Iran.

At San Jose City Hall, the program continued as attendees checked out resource tables from local community organizations. The event concluded with cultural performances, including folkorico dancers and live music.

San Jose May Day is organized annually by the San Jose May Day Coalition.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor #ImmigrantsRights #MayDay

San José, CA – On April 29, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) in SJSU held a vigil in front of the Victory Statue to honor the lives of the Toboso 19. The Toboso 19 were murdered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on April 23 in Barangays Salamanca, Toboso, and Negros Occidental. A total of 653 residents and 168 households were displaced from Barangays Salamanca and San Jose.

At the vigil, paper roses and candles were set up before the portraits in a beautiful display of solidarity with the martyrs. In a statement released before the vigil, LFS called for “justice for Lyle Prijoles and the victims of the Toboso massacre,” “accountability from the AFP and corrupt Philippine government” and “an end to the U.S.-backed violations of human rights in the Philippines.”

The statement continued, “We are deeply inspired by Ka Lyle’s courage and his genuine love for the toiling Filipino masses. He chose to go to Negros not as an outsider, but to listen, to learn from the people, and to help bring their lived experiences and struggles to light despite knowing the dangers of their militarized situation.”

Throughout the event, LFS students and community members spoke about Lyle Prijoles, one of the martyrs, who was part of LFS at San Francisco State University and was referred to as an exemplary comrade who shared his lessons and experience to organizers and youth alike. A colleague spoke about his love for Star Wars and his passion for worldbuilding and applying its principles to working conditions in the Philippines.

Best friend and fellow organizer Ash Santosh spoke on how he saw Lyle Prijoles like a mentor figure who helped him with every single step of the way and proved himself to be a very humble person in his life. “He tried to make things better and was so instrumental in pushing for people to believe in a brighter future. May we live like Lyle.”

Justher Guttierez gave a personal account of Errol Wendel, who organized alongside them. “Errol was a really funny person who kept a fun atmosphere. He showed me that as an organizer you don’t have to change what kind of person you are,” she recalled. “He was always inquisitive and curious to know the conditions of people’s struggles and lived alongside them. The government is so afraid of activists that it will kill the people they claim to serve, and we will not stop organizing.”

Trizha Aquino from Pilipino Laban sa Korapsyon (PILAK) shared their own experiences in immersion work as they worked alongside Errol Wendel.

“One of the pieces of advice he gave to me is to study the land struggles in different parts of the Philippines so that when you meet a new contact you can ask them where they’re from and connect it to the three big problems,” Aquino said. “When visiting some locals, I would see him off to the side asking some nanays how they were doing and if anything was bothering them. I could tell he was deeply loved and trusted by the masses. It only goes to show how important it is to immerse yourself with the masses.”

Kalyani Blackwell of LFS also spoke about systemic discrimination against the Negrense people in the Philippines, saying, “The farmworkers of Negros produce over half of the country’s sugar and contributes about 90 million to the national GDP annually. Despite that, farmworkers work on a contract system called ‘pakyawan’, where they work 12 hours of backbreaking work a day with no paid overtime.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #StudentMovement #International #Philippines #Toboso19

While the United States produces more diesel fuel than it consumes, the difference is exported. With prices of diesel fuel much higher in many countries, this can pull up the prices of diesel fuel here in the United States.

The price of diesel has not had much of an impact on consumer prices, which rose almost 1% in March over February and 3.3% from a year earlier. But many businesses use diesel fuel for their trucks, farm equipment and construction equipment. Big corporations have begun to increase their prices to try to offset this. For example, the fuel surcharge for UPS rose to 27%, up from 21% before the war started.

But smaller businesses, like independent truckers, are often not able to do this. This means that their margins and income are cut, or they drive less, again cutting their revenue. Small farmers are also feeling the squeeze, not only with diesel prices, but prices of fertilizer are also up.

These higher costs will trickle up to consumers. While there was scant evidence of this in March, some price increases are likely in April and even more after that. While a big part of Trump’s election campaign in 2024 was him saying he was going to fight inflation, his tariff increases that began on so-called “Liberation Day” in April 2025, and then the war on Iran, have already pushed the Consumer Price Index to the highest rate since Trump took office.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation #Iran

San Jose, CA – On April 22, Earth Day, over a dozen SJSU students led by Students for a Democratic Society disrupted the campus’ newly opened “AI Center for Civic and Social Good.”

The center opened on March 3 at Dr. Martin Luther King Library and is co-sponsored by the city of San Jose. The center also had the backing of several notable war profiteers, primarily Nvidia, Alphabet and OpenAI. Nvidia and OpenAI both have multi-million dollar contracts with the Department of War, and Alphabet has offered considerable technological support to Israel.

At 1:15 p.m., Students for a Democratic Society gathered outside the MLK Library and began a noise demonstration, aided in their efforts by a drummer. Chants included “AI Center, off our campus!” and “Admin plays with AI while Palestinian children die!”

Most chants drew attention to the complicity of AI corporations in U.S. warmongering, and how those same companies collaborate with SJSU.

While the disruption was happening, some SJSU students entered the library and hung a banner over the AI center, covering the signage which read “AI Center for Civic and Social Good,” and replacing it with the more fitting, “AI Center for War and Genocide.” SJSU administration was present and filmed the students, and about half an hour later they called custodial staff to remove the banner.

The program continued outside with a few speakers. Tim Phan from FRSO spoke on SDS’s ongoing negotiations with university administration and how they connected to the action.

“For the past year since [SDS’s] campaign against Lockheed Martin and companies complicit in genocide, they have demanded a meeting with President Cynthia,” Pham said. “And so far, she has refused to budge.”

Ethan Maruyama, SDS’s Social Committee chair stated, “The common denominator between these companies is that they are providing technology to help the U.S. and Israel surveil and kill civilians; your tuition money is funding this. As students, we want money for jobs and education, not for war and deportation.”

San Jose Against War member and former SDSer Jack McCann told the crowd, “Today marks two years since students at Cal Poly Humboldt occupied a building, fought off the police, and held the campus for a week demanding an end to Israel’s genocide and an end to university investments in companies complicit in this genocide.”

McCann continued, “Today, SJ State partners with companies complicit in the most horrific crimes against humanity. OpenAI provides software to the Israeli military that makes their weapons even more deadly. Nvidia provides the necessary hardware for this to happen. Google provides services for Israel to host their kill lists on. Is this what they mean by ‘Civic and Social Good?’”

The action called attention to AI companies’ many connections with U.S. war and Israeli apartheid, and a part of SDS SJSU’s larger, two-year campaign to pressure SJSU admin to cut ties with war profiteers. SDS is certain to continue mounting disruptions until the university administration finally decides to negotiate on their demands: no tech for genocide, and cut ties with war profiteers.

#SanJoseCA #CA #StudentMovement #SDS #AI

San Jose, CA – On Saturday, April 18, over 20 people gathered in front of the Microsoft office in Mountain View to protest the company’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine, ICE’s deportation operations as well as their development of AI data centers causing ecological destruction.

Protestors held signs like, “San Jose: Divest from Alphabet and Microsoft” and “We will not be complicit.” Organizers hung up a large banner saying, “No U.S. tax $$ for Israeli occupation.” The crowd chanted, “Free Palestine” and “Microsoft you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide!”

Jack McCann, member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the crowd highlighting how Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people also destroyed their ecology and water infrastructure.

McCann said, “Israel could not commit crimes on this massive scale without the digital infrastructure to collect and store data on who to kill next. Microsoft helps Israel by providing this technology that is essential to their crimes.”

Nassim Nouri of the Santa Clara County Green Party stated, “We have a government that is taken over by billionaires – by corporations like [Microsoft] – that put profit over people, planet and peace! They think nothing of taking lives and shedding blood of the people locally through ICE and abroad through Israel.”

Marcel Knightly of San Jose Against War said, “This is not just about data centers and contracts, it is about a system where corporations profit from war abroad and extraction at home, it’s about working-class communities being forced to sacrifice their water, electricity, health and dignity to executives can expand their empires.”

Philip Nguyen, member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke on how the climate crisis is built into the capitalist system, saying, “Endless wars and the sharpening climate crisis are both the natural outcome of the capitalist system, which is driven by unrestrained profit with no regard for human life or the future of our planet, and working and oppressed people all over the world will be the ones to suffer the consequences.”

Nguyen continued, “And that means that all working and oppressed people must unite to take on our common enemy once and for all. We must build a militant, fighting movement against these evil corporations and corrupt politicians and their endless wars.”

To commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day, Donna Wallach of San Jose Against War read quotes from an article describing the torture and sexual violence that Palestinian prisoners experience in Israeli prisons.

John Duroyan from Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University (SJSU) spoke to the crowd, saying, “The number one emitter in the world is the U.S. military, and we must never forget that the climate struggle is inseparable with the anti-war struggle. Now SJSU is working with known war-profiteer Alphabet to open an ‘AI Center for Social Good’ on campus which the students will be mobilizing against.”

The crowd continued to chant outside the office building and cars driving by honked in solidarity.

#SanJoseCA #CA #EarthDay #AntiWarMovement #Environment #Palestine #SJAW #Divestment #Microsoft