The Buzz 12.15.22

FREE SPEECH

The New York Times still came out on Thursday, Dec. 8, but without many familiar bylines to U.S. readers. More than 1,100 employees went on strike for 24 hours amid stalled negotiations between Times management and The New York Times Guild over a new contract; the old contract expired in March 2021. The primary issue for the union was wages: “Their wage proposal still fails to meet the economic moment, lagging far behind both inflation and the average rate of wage gains in the U.S.,” organizers said in a statement. According to a report in the Times, management offered union members a 5.5-percent raise upon ratification of the contract, 3-percent raises in 2023 and 2024, and a 4-percent retroactive bonus since the contract expired. The union has proposed a 10-percent raise upon ratification, 5.5-percent raises in 2023 and 2024 and an 8.5-percent retroactive bonus. It was the most significant labor action at the Times since 1978, when press workers went on strike for 88 days, resulting in stoppage to publication.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“This is not an exercise in futility. This is real science going on.” - Noah Peyser, science program director at Eureka Research Platform, speaking about an ongoing project relying on citizen science to provide data about Covid-19, including factors that correlate to higher or lower risk (see story at mcweekly.com)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD

Good news for North Monterey County residents comes alongside good news for the health system overall as hospital leaders continue to rethink what it means to deliver healthcare. In a nutshell: It’s about health outside of hospital settings. Natividad is the latest to expand its scope to wellness and overall health services. Natividad took over Natividad Medical Group Prunedale on Sept. 26, and since then has served thousands of patients. Community leaders, including County Supervisor John Phillips, Natividad CEO Chad Harris and Natividad board member Manuel Osorio, celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Dec. 14. (Appointments are available by calling 663-3926.) “We are really busy out here,” says spokesperson Hillary Fish. “We are trying to make sure we have enough staffing to meet the community need.” This is Natividad’s second location, in addition to one in Salinas.

GREAT:

Local transportation networks that don’t involve cars scored a big win Dec. 7, as the state awarded $44.8 million in active transportation grants to various projects across the county, many of them in the Salinas Valley, to help give kids safer routes to get to school. Also among those grants was $8.43 million that will fund a Marina segment of the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway west of California Avenue, which will include a Class 1 bike path – which is separated from the roadway, and for the exclusive use of cyclists and pedestrians – that will then connect with another recently (federally) funded segment, via an overpass above Imjin Road. That trail will head east to the Jerry Smith Access Corridor by the intersection of Schoonover and Inter-Garrison roads, which connects to the Fort Ord National Monument to the south. With local matching dollars, both segments are now fully funded.