California NOW

Monday's Action Checklist

American Reclamation is a family-owned recylcing and solid waste company in El Monte.  However, Teamsters Local 396 who has been helping the employees form a union says employees are badly treated and that management is fighting unionization.  Dozens of employees of the city-contracted trash-hauler are rallying for change in what they say are dismal working conditions and environmentally detrimental and illegal practices.  Workers say rats and roaches are in the company's bathrooms and break areas. They also allege that the management team ignores employee safety hazards and have detailed the lack of adequate training and safety features on trash trucks.  Take Action NOW: Click here to watch a video and learn how you can help.

31 Republican Senators - all men - voted last week against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  We cannot simply ignore those 31 votes against women.  Voters need to know the names of these 31 and MoveOn has made it super simple for us to do just that through social media.   Take Action NOW:  Click here to ensure that the names of those 31 senators are spread like wildfire through our social media channels.

Parents have enough on their plates; we shouldn't need a degree in chemistry to pick safe toys and safe food for our children. That’s why we need comprehensive chemical reform today.  Scientific studies demonstrate that toxic chemicals we are exposed to every day can significantly increase the risk of developing childhood cancers, infertility, and learning and developmental disabilities.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to sign the petition urging senators to pass the Safe Chemical Act.

Monday's Action Checklist

The Supreme Court could very well repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act.  And unfortunately, too many women don't understand what's at stake.  There's so many benefits to women and the more people know about what's in the bill, the more likely they are to support it and use those great new benefits.  Right now - when healthcare is in the news - we need to share these facts with all the women we know.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to read the top 5 health care benefits for women and then share the list with everyone you know through social media.

What are all those chemicals in your lipstick and in your child's shampoo? Some of them are linked to cancer, birth defects, infertility and other health problems. We need your help to convince Congress that the beauty industry needs a safety makeover!  The Safe Cosmetics Act (H.R.2359) gives consumers, parents and environmental health advocates a real chance at national legislation that will eliminate harmful chemicals from the products women, men and children put on their bodies every day.  Take Action NOW:  Tell your Representative that safe cosmetics are important to you and ask them to support the Safe Cosmetics Act.

Farm workers are still dying from heat. In fact, since California issued its 2005 heat regulations to keep farm workers from dying of extreme heat, preventable farm worker deaths have continued at about the same pace as before. Since the state has failed to enforce its heat standards, we're joining the UFW in supporting AB 2346 (Butler) , the Farm Worker Safety Act. This allows farm workers themselves to be able to enforce mandatory shade and drinking water requirements by taking delinquent employers to court.  The measure would also make growers jointly liable along with farm labor contractors they hire if contractors fail to supply farm workers with shade and water when temperatures soar.  This bill does not impose any costs on taxpayers.  Take action NOW:  Click here to sign a letter to Labor and Employment Committee Chair Sandre Swanson asking him to support this bill.

"Pink slime" is a term used to describe a food additive made from spare beef trimmings that are treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill off E. Coli, salmonella, and other possible bacteria. Until women spoke out, it was in grocery stores, school cafeterias, and restaurants across the nation. In fact, an article published just a week or two ago noted, "ABC cited a former U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist in saying that 70% of supermarket ground beef contained the additive."  Although some stores like Kroger and Safeway have stopped selling pink slime and many schools have said they'll stop purchasing meat containing it, pink slime is still unlabeled and being sold in many grocery stores. Take Action NOW:  Tell the USDA and FDA to get pink slime out of ALL ground beef now, or at very least to require labels to list it as an ingredient so that we can decide whether or not to buy it for our families.

Cesar Chavez was instrumental here in California, leading the historic non-violent movement for farm worker rights with Dolores Huerta where they built a movement of poor working people that extended beyond the fields and into cities and towns across the nation.  Cesar inspired farm workers and millions of people who never worked on a farm to commit themselves to social, economic and civil rights activism.  His legacy, like the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., continues to educate, inspire and empower people from all walks of life.  Take Action NOW:  Support proposed legislation to make his birthday observed nationally on the fourth Friday of every March as "Cesar E. Chavez Day."

Monday's Action Checklist

After hundreds of thousands of angry calls and letters to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, they reversed their politically motivated decision to cut funds to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings. Unfortunately, our work is not yet done.  Komen refuses to commit to funding breast screening and mammogram referrals at Planned Parenthood beyond this year.  Take Action NOW:  Sign the petition to the Komen foundation demanding they commit to continue funding breast screenings at Planned Parenthood.

Before leaving office, Governor Schwarzenegger made the unfortunate decision to permit the use of the cancer-causing pesticide, methyl iodide to be sprayed on our state's strawberries.  For over a year, Governor Brown has refused to reverse that action, saying that the decision must rest with the incoming head of Department of Pesticide Regulation. That person, Brian Leahy, has just been appointed.   More than 85% of the country’s strawberries are grown in California so actions here will have national implications. It may give the EPA a new opportunity to re-evaluate this chemical that has no safe place in agriculture.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to ask Dr. Leahy for immediate action on methyl iodide.

A few months ago, we all heard Warren Buffet complain that his secretary was in a higher tax bracket than he was.  During the State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to fix this injustice, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island stepped up in a big way. He has introduced legislation - called the "Paying a Fair Share Act" - that would require people making more than a million dollars a year to pay a minimum of 30% of their income in taxes.  Senator Whitehouse is standing up to champion the cause of the 99% and we should show him he has our support.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to thank Senator Whitehouse for his leadership on correcting an injustice.

Sexual and reproductive health is intimately tied to every woman’s quality of life. Women spend most of their youth and into midlife trying to manage their reproductive health needs, mostly related to pregnancy, childbirth and contraception.  As a part of their ongoing campaign to understand the factors that contribute to Black women’s and Latinas’ decisions about contraception, Black Women's Health Imperative has created a surveyfor Black women and Latinas, ages 18 - 34, across the U.S.  The survey continues until February 13, 2012.  To take the brief survey, click here.

Monday's Action Checklist

The California Domestic Workers Coalition, representing thousands of childcare providers, caregivers and housekeepers from around the state, along with labor and community supporters, are pursuing the passage of AB 889, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.  This bill will provide equal pay for equal work for thousands of Californians who have been excluded from basic labor protections for decades.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to sign the petition asking state legislators to support AB 889.

Arsenic and mercury residues from power plant air pollution are ending up on our fruits (and in our fruit juice), in our water ways, and in our fish. These toxins, in turn, end up in consumer products like the apple juice boxes that we give our kids. This is one of the key reasons why it’s so important we strengthen clean air protections for pollutants.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to sign the petition asking President Obama and the EPA to move forward with a strong Mercury and Air Toxins rule to defend public health and protect our children from toxic arsenic and mercury.

After 4 years of marketing research, LEGO has come to the conclusion that girls want LadyFigs, a pink Barbielicious product line for girls, so 5 year-olds can imagine themselves at the café, lounging at the pool with drinks, brushing their hair in front of a vanity mirror, singing in a club, or shopping with their girlfriends.  LEGO doesn't seem to understand that little girls like minifigs. They also like Star Wars and Harry Potter, and they like being creative and making up stories that involve adventures and good and evil and things blowing up.  Take Action NOW:  Sign this letter to LEGO telling them that narrow stereotypes associated with pink and blue simply box kids in from an early age and that raising healthy girls and boys is all about creating a wide range of possibilities and options.

Dow Chemical is currently requesting an unprecedented USDA approval: a genetically engineered (GE) version of corn that is resistant to 2,4-D, a major component of the highly toxic Agent Orange. Agent Orange was the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. in Vietnam, and it caused lasting ecological damage as well as many serious medical conditions in both Vietnam veterans and the Vietnamese.  Take Action NOW:  Click here to tell the USDA to do its job and reject 2,4-D resistant GE corn

It's 2012 - Let's Get to Work!

Actually, California NOW has already been hard at work.  We spent 2011 collaborating with our allies from the Reproductive Justice (RJ) community who understand that simply legalizing birth control and abortion services does not ensure that EVERY woman - regardless of race or class - has access to the reproductive health services that she would like to use.

The truth is, there's no reproductive justice in legalizing birth control but then making women in rural communities drive an hour to get it because the one local pharmacist in their town can refuse to provide it.  There's no reproductive justice in allowing the only hospital available to a large community to offer substandard care to women by invoking religious principles.  There's no reproductive justice in our state government allowing known toxins to be sprayed in our strawberry fields that, when inhaled by female farm workers, cause late-term miscarriages.  And there's no reproductive justice if a tank of gas prevents a woman from ending her pregnancy.

In addition to our work with the RJ community, we put our efforts into ensuring Janice Hahn beat the right-wing Tea Party candidate who used both sexism and racism in his failed campaign.  With Janice now representing us in Washington, we have a strong woman in that seat who will ALWAYS stand up for us.

With 14 California members of Congress and over 40 California state legislators who consistently vote against women's reproductive healthcare services, we'll be playing an active role in the upcoming election to ensure that more women and pro-women candidates are elected in 2012 and that voters clearly understand the impact that the ballot initiatives will have on women and their families in this state.

We also spent 2011 focused in Sacramento on state legislation and are proud that the gap for 3 million Californians whose health coverage did not include maternity care has now been closed.  We successfully worked on anti-bullying legislation, anti-discrimination laws against domestic partnerships, gender-equity for public contracts, more inclusive school curriculum, stricter penalties for human trafficking of minors, access to STD prevention services by minors, greater access to physical examinations for sexual assault victims and tougher cyber-bullying laws.

We're committed in 2012 to ensuring that the Insurance Commissioner has the right to block unfair health insurance rate hikes and will continue pushing for reducing exposure to pesticides for farm workers as well as the need to reverse the barbaric practice of shackling incarcerated pregnant women in our state.

And something you'll be hearing more about in the next month is our collaborative work regarding Gender Responsive Budgeting at the state and local level that is essential if we want to once and for all ensure that equity and women's empowerment are central when deciding budget revenue and expenditures.

So as we reflect on our many successes in 2011, be assured that California NOW is already working on an even more ambitious plan this year as we create a path towards a more level playing field for the women and girls in this state.

As we begin this aggressive path for 2012, we hope you'll continue to support our efforts since we do not receive national money.  We are funded solely by YOU and your generous donations.