Daily Business Report-Oct. 23, 2019
The New Children’s Museum in Downtown San Diego.
New Children’s Museum employees form union
to advocate for higher pay and livable wage
Employees of Downtown San Diego’s New Children’s Museum have banded together to form a union in an effort to advocate for higher hourly compensation and wage increases. It is the first museum in San Diego to unionize.
Represented by IBEW Local 465, the New Children’s Museum Union has cited the increasingly disproportionate pay between high-level hourly employees and lower level positions, along with a stagnant 1 percent increase in wages from 2012 to 2018, even as admissions have doubled in that time.
The New Children’s Museum has a total of 80 employees. Forty-eight will be in the union bargaining unit. 75 percent of voting members supported the union.
In a public statement, the NCMU noted, “work in the arts, work in nonprofits and work with children are all historically underpaid and undervalued sectors…Our passion fuels our work but we will no longer allow our labor to be exploited because of that. We are unionizing to highlight the worth of our work and to advocate for higher pay, increased transparency and equitable practices.”
Through unionization, the group hopes to restore the New Children’s Museum as an institution of competitive pay and reduce the high turnover rate that comes as a result of its below living wage compensation.
“This high rate of turnover requires constant hiring and training of new staff members,” the union said in a public mission statement, “As a result, we retread the same ground again and again instead of moving the Museum forward together.”
As the latest in a growing list of museum staff unionizing across the country, the New Children’s Museum Union plans to negotiate a restructure in compensation with the museum’s management and board and find an equitable solution for all employees involved.
——Courtesy of The TravelersClub
____________________
Barney & Barney Foundation awards $100,000
to Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine
Barney & Barney Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC’s (MMA) West Region, announced a $100,000 grant to fund groundbreaking research at Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine.
The foundation’s grant will fund the institute’s medical research to help newborn children affected by genetic diseases, one of the leading causes of infant death and admissions to children’s hospitals.
Chris Williams, CEO of MMA’s West Region, said the grant represents the largest contribution to a nonprofit since the foundation’s inception 10 years ago. “We are committed to serving our communities, and this gift to the Genomic Institute is our way of comemorating a long history of giving back to the San Diego community,” said Williams.
____________________
College district chancellor Constance Carroll
presented Lifetime Achievement Award
San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance M. Carroll has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges.
Carroll, who was appointed SDCCD chancellor in 2004, was recognized at the annual NACCE Conference on Oct. 14 in Newport Beach.
The award is the latest honor in Carroll’s career that includes serving as president of San Diego Mesa College, president of Saddleback College in Orange County, president of Indian Valley Colleges in Marin County, and Interim Chancellor of the Marin County Community College District.
Past honors include the Moving San Diego Forward award from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Community College Trustees CEO Award, and the Remarkable Leader in Education award from the University of San Diego.
“NACCE’s Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes inventive leadership and dedication to local communities and is presented to an individual who has achieved entrepreneurial success and played a pivotal role in the community through involvement and support of civic and philanthropic activities,” said NACCE President and CEO Rebecca Corbin,
____________________
Obituary: Ken Melville, professor
at Scripps Oceanography
Ken Melville, a distinguished professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who made profound contributions to science’s understanding of waves and the interaction of ocean and atmosphere, died Oct. 16 after a long illness. He was 73.
Melville was also a leader of Scripps Oceanography at several points in his career, serving as deputy director of research, chair of Scripps’ education office known as the SIO Department, and in other administrative roles.
Melville was a pioneering researcher, combining fundamental theoretical insights with innovative use of technology to transform our understanding of the application of fluid mechanics to oceanography, especially in air-sea interaction, acoustic and microwave remote sensing, and ocean waves.
Melville is survived by his wife of 40 years, Dr. Sabina Wallach of La Jolla, daughter Rebecca of Los Angeles, son Adam of La Jolla, daughter Alexia of Denver, and two grandsons.
Arrangements for a celebration of life ceremony are pending.
____________________
San Diego County will pay $97,500 to settle
a lawsuit over sexual harassment records
San Diego County has agreed to pay nearly $100,000 to settle a lawsuit brought after the District Attorney’s Office refused to turn over detailed records of sexual harassment and misconduct by its employees.
____________________
Cubic combines traffic mgmt brands to establish
new business; John Newhard named ITS lead
Cubic has formed a new business through the integration of its U.K.-based intelligent transport systems segment with its traffic management brands GRIDSMART and Trafficware.
Jon Newhard, formerly vice president and general manager of Trafficware, will lead the newly established Cubic ITS business as its vice president and general manager, the company said.
“The creation of Cubic ITS is important for the maturation of our business, sets the stage for our future growth and allows us to leverage our products and go-to-market synergies,” said Matt Cole, president of Cubic’s transportation systems business. “The integration of our ITS businesses further strengthens our NextCity vision and firmly establishes Cubic as the ITS leader in our core markets.”
Joe Custer, former vice president of finance, strategy and business development at Trafficware, will succeed Newhard as vice president and general manager of Trafficware and oversee connected vehicle, internet of things, artificial intelligence and smart city expansion programs.
Jeff Price, formerly chief technology officer of GRIDSMART, will be responsible for product development, client relations and operations as vice president and general manager of GRIDSMART, while David Powell will oversee the U.K.-based ITS business, which will focus on software products.
Powell, Price and Custer will report directly to Newhard.
____________________
Nasty letters. Funding threats. Here’s why
California’s clean air fight with the feds matter
By Rachel Becker | CALmatters
Commuters in California may not have to worry about federal threats to yank highway funding just yet — but the recent tiff with the feds over California’s clean air plans is bigger than a simple paper shuffling standoff.
The fight started with a two-page missive from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Sent in September, the letter accused California of what the EPA called a “backlog” of federally required paperwork detailing the state’s plans and policies to cut air pollution. The EPA threatened to level sanctions at the state, including withholding federal highway funds, if California did not withdraw plans that the federal government considered “unapprovable.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom called it retaliation, a “brazen political stunt.” EPA spokesman Michael Abboud told CalMatters in an emailed statement that “Highlighting that California has the worst air quality in the nation along with other serious environmental problems is not a political issue.”
Then, California’s head air quality enforcer Mary Nichols responded to the EPA saying that highway sanctions typically take more than 18 months to mete out and, in any case, the backlog is on the EPA’s end, not California’s. “Indeed,” she wrote, “you may not have been aware in writing your letter, [California Air Resources Board] has been helping U.S. EPA to resolve its administrative backlog for years.”
The EPA’s Abboud told CalMatters it is reviewing Nichols’ letter, and reiterated that the agency is asking California to withdraw any plans to cut air pollution that can’t be approved, writing: “Every state must comply with the Federal air quality standards, California is not alone or unique in this requirement.”
There’s more to the story than California trading barbs with the feds, according to University of California Los Angeles environmental law professor Ann Carlson. “This is EPA being willing to play very fast and loose with the facts in order to push the president’s agenda.”
So what are the facts? And how will this affect you? Click here.
____________________
Cmdr. Neil Gabriel assumes command
of USS Dewey at Naval Base San Diego event
The guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey held a change of command ceremony at Naval Base San Diego Oct. 18. Cmdr. Neil Gabriel assumed command of Dewey, relieving Cmdr. Paul Lorio, who led Dewey as the ship’s seventh commanding officer from June 2018 to October 2019.
During his tenure, Dewey completed multinational exercises partnering with Japan and the Republic of Korea and conducted more than 20 hours of active anti-submarine warfare tracking during the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group sustainment exercise. Dewey also won the Spokane Award and the Battle “E” during Lorio’s time aboard the ship.
Gabriel assumed command of Dewey in accordance with the Navy’s fleet-up program after serving as the ship’s executive officer for 18 months. He graduated from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences, and a master’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Delaware. He was commissioned through the officer candidate school program in October 2001.
____________________
$5 million STEM grant fosters future chemists
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $5 million grant to San Diego State University to create research opportunities at the university for promising students from Southwestern College interested in careers in chemistry.
The transfer students will be mentored, given lab exposure and research opportunities, and receive scholarships to help with tuition and other needs.
Conceived by three SDSU chemistry professors and their counterparts from Southwestern College, the joint grant will help identify students at the community college, pair them with graduate student mentors at SDSU, and give them the chance to experience hands-on research in wet labs focused on pioneering chemistry research.
