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Windsor bridge to reopen, ‘national economic crisis’ ended in Canada Tribune Content Agency
Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters
Luna Walker bags chocolate croissants for a patron at Nabolom Bakery in Berkeley, Wednesday, Jan. 19.
New Covid sick leave leaves out at least 1 in 4 California workers Grace Gedye CALMATTERS
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed a law that requires large employers in California to offer workers up to 80 hours of Covid-related paid sick leave. But there’s a catch: The bill, which the Legislature passed Feb. 7, doesn’t apply to small employers with 25 or fewer workers. That exemption – which California’s 2021 COovid sick leave law also included – applies to more than 90% of companies in California and leaves at least one in four workers without access to the new paid leave, according to data from California’s Employment Development Department. Without additional leave, most workers in California are legally entitled to just three paid sick days. Early in the pandemic, the federal government was reimbursing employers for Covid sick leave, including small employers. But in September 2021, both the state law and the federal reimburse-
ments for additional paid Covid leave lapsed. “Both state and federal leaders are to blame here for being shortsighted and not anticipating the need for additional paid leave,” said Kristin Schumacher, senior policy analyst for California Budget and Policy Center. California Department of Public Health guidelines say workers who are exposed to Covid or test positive should quarantine or isolate for at least five days. “When people don’t have paid sick days, they will work sick – and that’s a real danger,” said Jenya Cassidy, director of California Work and Family Coalition, which advocates for paid leave policies. This new law is the product of compromise, she said, and it will wind up helping a lot of workers. But, she said, “obviously if we’re trying to do this for public health and for the health and well-being of workers and their families, then why would anybody be exempted? Nobody should be exempted.” “This employee threshold was part of finding compromise with
employer organizations and legislators concerned about the economic impact of the pandemic on small businesses,” said Senate President Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat, in a statement.
Bad for smallbusiness workers The vast majority of businesses in California have four or fewer employees, according to data from California’s Employment Development Department. Workers at smaller companies earn lower wages, on average, than employees at larger firms, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s concerning because nationally, workers with household incomes under $25,000 were 3.5 times as likely to miss a week of work due to Covid-19 compared to workers with household incomes of $100,000 or more, according to analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. See Leave, Page A7
WINDSOR, Ontario — The Ambassador Bridge is set to reopen, bringing Canada’s “national economic crisis” to an end, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said Sunday. “Border crossings will reopen when it is safe to do so and I defer to police and border agencies to make that determination,” Dilkens tweeted about 11 a.m. Sunday. On Sunday, police at the demonstration site near the Ambassador Bridge engaged protesters for continued enforcement and multiple arrests were made, Windsor Police Service said. “The arrested persons are all facing a charge of mischief. Multiple vehicles within the demonstration area were also seized,” police stated. “You will see a continued police presence in the area in order to maintain an environment that is safe. In an effort to work towards resuming traffic flow, a continuous assessment of the situation is vital to ensure a sustainable solution.”
Before noon, chants of “freedom!” could be heard as demonstrators were cleared out of all areas near the bridge. The Windsor Police Department announced Sunday morning it was stepping up enforcement of a court injunction against the Ambassador Bridge protests. “Enforcement will continue in the demonstration area and there will be zero tolerance for illegal activity. The public should avoid the area,” Windsor police tweeted just before 9 a.m. Sunday. Canadian police are blocking all streets within view of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor. At about 10:15 a.m. demonstrators and media were ordered to leave the Windsor strip mall at the south side of the Ambassador Bridge or be removed for trespassing. Business owners were asking people to remove their vehicles from the private property. Police are blocking all streets within view of the bridge and limiting media to a sidewalk See Bridge, Page A7
Daniel Mears/The Detroit News/TNS
An armored vehicle slowly follows law enforcement officers as they walk a line through the Ambassador Bridge protesters unhappy over Canada’s Covid-19 mandates, in Windsor, Ontario, Feb. 12, 2022.
Why is a tenant protection bill failing in the state Legislature? Manuela Tobias CALMATTERS
SACRAMENTO — Tenant advocates, racial equity groups, YIMBYs and even some of their usual opponents wanted to see the bill pass. The cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles – which rarely see eye to eye on housing issues – as well as every Democrat on the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee had signed on. So why did Assembly Bill 854, which would have curbed an owner’s ability to evict their tenants using the Ellis Act in rent-controlled jurisdictions, die without even a floor vote in the Democratic-supermajority Assembly? Proponents of the longtime progressive priority – which promised to preserve the stock of affordable apartments amid a historic shortage – point to an aggressive
campaign mounted by the deep-pocketed real estate industry. “It’s insane to see so many groups working really hard on this and then still for it to not be enough because the opposition’s influence on our legislature is so immense,” said Sarah Abdeshahian, an advocate at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which co-sponsored the bill. But just as a diverse group of advocates coalesced to support the bill, thousands of property owners – even those outside unincorporated Los Angeles County and 20 rent-stabilized cities directly affected – opposed it, united by a sense that the state is chipping away at their rights, just as Covid-19 has decimated their business. “ ‘It may not be in my area, but it could be, next time,’ ” Sanjay Wagle, senior vice president of governmental affairs at the California Associa-
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An aerial view of the 400 Catalina apartment building (center) and 416 Catalina Street (center left) next door in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. tion of Realtors, said his members told him. “I think there’s a growing sense of sort of commonality of interest, which may not have existed before, between the Fresno property owner and the San Francisco property owner.” Assemblyman Alex Lee, the Democrat from San Jose who authored
the bill, says the legislation would have passed out of the Assembly and over to the state Senate but for the recent departures of four Democrats: Lorena Gonzalez from San Diego, Ed Chau from Monterey Park, David Chiu from San Francisco and Jim Frazier from Fairfield. Lee is still weighing whether to reintroduce
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“substantially the same bill” next year or this legislative cycle – an option left on the table by having avoided a losing floor vote. Similar bills have been introduced, unsuccessfully, at least three times before. “All those things are on the table luckily, and that’s something we’re still working out with our coalition, given the volatility of resignations,” Lee said. “That’s always our wild card.” “This issue has been
around for years and I understand the vote got very close, with significant new support for many corners,” said Chiu, former chairman of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Community, who co-authored the bill last year and is now San Francisco city attorney. “And so I’m hopeful that there will be a real conversation about this in the coming months.” See Tenant, Page A7
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