Unionizing Verve Coffee workers are throwing a pre-election rally today at 2101 Market St in SF. We wanted to learn more about their growing fight, so we attended their Sept 1st rally at Verve Coffee's flagship store in Santa Cruz. Here's what we learned: bayareacurrent.com/sc-verve-uni...

Ever get one of those "STOP AI" fliers? We looked into the group that argues that, if society does nothing, AI will kill us all. bayareacurrent.com/why-bay-area...

"It can be tempting to gather politically around AI, as a visible symbol of the changes & upheavals that face us, but in organizing against the technology instead of the industry that mobilizes it, we risk losing the political momentum to shape the future we want." - @bayareacurrent.bsky.social

Almost none of the issues that made life miserable have been addressed: no heat, mold, rodents, and walls that continue falling apart. Like so many other working class tenants across the Bay, the next steps are unclear, but the range of possibility is wide open.

Tenants organized to force the city bureaucracy to intervene, and the city ordered the landlord to send a representative to a meeting with tenants. At that meeting the landlords representative left within five minutes, failing to address any of their concerns.

A decade without heat and apartments with mold, bugs, and rodents—tenants and their tenant union (TANC) are locked in an ongoing battle with the landlord, Byong Yu, who also owns KP Market in Uptown Oakland. bayareacurrent.com/a-decade-wit...

A decade without heat and apartments with mold, bugs, and rodents—tenants and their tenant union (TANC) are locked in an ongoing battle with the landlord, Byong Yu, who also owns KP Market in Uptown Oakland. bayareacurrent.com/a-decade-wit...

OAKLAND TENANTS: This year, the maximum allowable rent increase is .8% if your building is covered by the Oakland rent stabilization. Get more helpful info about your rights here: bayareacurrent.com/tenant-in-oa...

The Santa Cruz Veterans Hall is an example of what public space can look like: a place where DIY culture meets veteran community support—underwritten by the county government. @becsgross.bsky.social explores how this decades-old space has survived and thrived. bayareacurrent.com/in-santa-cru...

The Santa Cruz Veterans Hall is an example of what public space can look like: a place where DIY culture meets veteran community support—underwritten by the county government. @becsgross.bsky.social explores how this decades-old space has survived and thrived. bayareacurrent.com/in-santa-cru...

These anti-worker billboards are part of a wider pattern. Weny Liu @dellsystem.bsky.social elsewhere writes that the proliferation of tech billboards across SF represents the domination of our cities and lives by powerful tech capitalists. bayareacurrent.com/the-billboar...

"Stop Hiring Humans" billboards menaced SF workers with messages of automation and unemployment. The ads were strategic: by pissing working-class people off, the tech company received the kind of attention that venture capitalist investors love. 🔗 bayareacurrent.com/ai-tech-comp...

For months, a startup named Artisan has covered San Francisco with billboards saying “Stop Hiring Humans” and “The Era of AI Employees Is Here.” But does their product live up to the hype? For Bay Area Current, Wendy Liu @dellsystem.bsky.social investigates. bayareacurrent.com/ai-tech-comp...

Verve coffee workers in SF and Santa Cruz want living wages, and fighting for a union is how they'll win big. Their fight is part of an industry-wide rebellion against corporate greed. And these workers are prepared to go the distance. bayareacurrent.com/verve-coffee...

BREAKING NEWS: Touchstone Climbing gym workers across Northern California trounced management and won their union election! Workers have joined up with Touchstone Workers United, an affiliate of @seiu.org. Read about how these workers began their fight here: bayareacurrent.com/touchstone-c...

This Oakland DIY singing group, known as the Free Key Choir, has gone from just-for-fun to the next-big-thing, with a Pacific Northwest tour on the books. @copypasteyonders.bsky.social explores how a do-it-yourself ethos was central to their success. bayareacurrent.com/all-rise-the...

This Oakland DIY singing group, known as the Free Key Choir, has gone from just-for-fun to the next-big-thing, with a Pacific Northwest tour on the books. @copypasteyonders.bsky.social explores how a do-it-yourself ethos was central to their success. bayareacurrent.com/all-rise-the...

BREAKING NEWS: Touchstone Climbing gym workers across Northern California trounced management and won their union election! Workers have joined up with Touchstone Workers United, an affiliate of @seiu.org. Read about how these workers began their fight here: bayareacurrent.com/touchstone-c...

Verve coffee workers in SF and Santa Cruz want living wages, and fighting for a union is how they'll win big. Their fight is part of an industry-wide rebellion against corporate greed. And these workers are prepared to go the distance. bayareacurrent.com/verve-coffee...

🫵 Know your enemy bayareacurrent.com/ai-tech-comp... by @dellsystem.bsky.social @bayareacurrent.bsky.social

For months, a startup named Artisan has covered San Francisco with billboards saying “Stop Hiring Humans” and “The Era of AI Employees Is Here.” But does their product live up to the hype? For Bay Area Current, Wendy Liu @dellsystem.bsky.social investigates. bayareacurrent.com/ai-tech-comp...

"Stop Hiring Humans" billboards menaced SF workers with messages of automation and unemployment. The ads were strategic: by pissing working-class people off, the tech company received the kind of attention that venture capitalist investors love. 🔗 bayareacurrent.com/ai-tech-comp...

Three documentary films now appear as parts of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and dignity. But what does it mean to make documentaries to amid a genocide? This three part film review contours the promise and limits of on-screen representation. bayareacurrent.com/what-it-mean...

What's behind all these new labor unions? We sat down with some of the young workers building the Bay Area's renewed workers' movement. They told us that leftist politics and ideas motivated them to build worker power on the shopfloor. bayareacurrent.com/meet-the-you...

Three documentary films now appear as parts of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and dignity. But what does it mean to make documentaries to amid a genocide? This three part film review contours the promise and limits of on-screen representation. bayareacurrent.com/what-it-mean...

Deni Leonard—a 79-year-old indigenous elder and member of the Tenants and Neighborhood Councils (TANC)—has a long history of organizing for working-class power. We spoke with Deni about his experience with the Vietnam War resistance and today's fights. Interview: bayareacurrent.com/we-kept-on-d...

ATTN Bay Area Current Readers: Get $$$ paid to tell us about Current. We would like to hear from you. Sign up to participate in a reader interview here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Trad-Cath: OUT. Gay-Socialist-Cath: IN. Nick Thacker writes about how a gay leftist found alignment with Catholicism. But real tensions have developed elsewhere—between spiritual devotion and today's urgent need for political action. bayareacurrent.com/gay-life-of-...

Breaking News: San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team workers won their union with @nuhw.org despite management's anti-union push! Their fight was supported by @dsaeastbay.bsky.social's @organizeworkers.bsky.social outfit, which helps workers build shopfloor power. bayareacurrent.com/breaking-new...

Breaking News: San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team workers won their union with @nuhw.org despite management's anti-union push! Their fight was supported by @dsaeastbay.bsky.social's @organizeworkers.bsky.social outfit, which helps workers build shopfloor power. bayareacurrent.com/breaking-new...

Trad-Cath: OUT. Gay-Socialist-Cath: IN. Nick Thacker writes about how a gay leftist found alignment with Catholicism. But real tensions have developed elsewhere—between spiritual devotion and today's urgent need for political action. bayareacurrent.com/gay-life-of-...

ATTN Bay Area Current Readers: Get $$$ paid to tell us about Current. We would like to hear from you. Sign up to participate in a reader interview here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Deni Leonard—a 79-year-old indigenous elder and member of the Tenants and Neighborhood Councils (TANC)—has a long history of organizing for working-class power. We spoke with Deni about his experience with the Vietnam War resistance and today's fights. Interview: bayareacurrent.com/we-kept-on-d...

Hospice workers told us that management praises them in public, but stabs them in the back at the bargaining table. So on July 29, @nuhw.org Hospice workers in Pleasant Hill took heroic action, walking off the job to demand better for workers and patients. ➡️ bayareacurrent.com/pleasant-hil...

Hospice workers told us that management praises them in public, but stabs them in the back at the bargaining table. So on July 29, @nuhw.org Hospice workers in Pleasant Hill took heroic action, walking off the job to demand better for workers and patients. ➡️ bayareacurrent.com/pleasant-hil...

why thank you...keep this "inspired shit" going by signing on up: bayareacurrent.com#/portal/signup

Wood Street Commons was once Northern California's largest homeless encampment, functioning as a self-organized community space before police broke it up. We spoke with @caroncreighton.bsky.social n and resident John Janosko on their new documentary about the camp. bayareacurrent.com/new-wood-str...

Most worker fightbacks have included a vast diversity of people who speak different languages and bring to the struggle diverse criticisms of capitalism. That's why we sat down with Javier Armas about his book on one of the Bay's fastest growing languages. bayareacurrent.com/the-bays-fas...

Vibes and Data are two cultural forces that shaped the Bay Area, and increasingly the wider world. But they are two styles of the dogma of our capitalist time: self-optimization. bayareacurrent.com/vibrational-...

🐖 At a time when Donald Trump seeks to militarize the police from Oakland to DC, Oakland PD plays directly into his hand. Zack Haber breaks the news. Bay Area Current covers working-class news and culture from the left in the SF Bay. Read the full story and more at bayareacurrent.com

Banger of an essay

Vibes and Data are two cultural forces that shaped the Bay Area, and increasingly the wider world. But they are two styles of the dogma of our capitalist time: self-optimization. bayareacurrent.com/vibrational-...

Most worker fightbacks have included a vast diversity of people who speak different languages and bring to the struggle diverse criticisms of capitalism. That's why we sat down with Javier Armas about his book on one of the Bay's fastest growing languages. bayareacurrent.com/the-bays-fas...

bayareacurrent.com/new-wood-str... Thanks @bayareacurrent.bsky.social for covering the work I've been doing with the Wood Street community.

Wood Street Commons was once Northern California's largest homeless encampment, functioning as a self-organized community space before police broke it up. We spoke with @caroncreighton.bsky.social n and resident John Janosko on their new documentary about the camp. bayareacurrent.com/new-wood-str...

If SF’s AI billboards are on your mind, it might be because of @dellsystem.bsky.social’s work for @bayareacurrent.bsky.social and the related coverage on @kqedforum.bsky.social

why thank you...keep this "inspired shit" going by signing on up: bayareacurrent.com#/portal/signup

Oakland's Police Department is seeking to: 1. More than double its stock of drones. 2. More than double its stock of armored vehicles. 3. Get about $425K worth of new assault rifles. New from me in @bayareacurrent.bsky.social bayareacurrent.com/oakland-cops...

While the City of Oakland plans painful cuts to popular social and cultural services, the Oakland Police Department is demanding two million dollars for more military-grade weapons. bayareacurrent.com/oakland-cops...

BREAKING: Workers at four Bay Area Touchstone Climbing Gyms have joined the fight for a union. With gym profits skyrocking, workers are demanding basic safety protections, labor law compliance, wage increases, and restoration of health care benefits. bayareacurrent.com/touchstone-c...