Shorts: Bay Area

Jewish Home, employees at contractual impasse

Employees at San Francisco's Jewish Home have voted down, for the third time, a contract proposal that would require them to begin paying for part of their health insurance.

The rejection earlier this month left management and the membership of the Service Employees International Union, Local 250, at an impasse.

The proposal — overwhelmingly voted down by the home's certified nursing assistants, licensed vocational nurses, cooks, dietary workers, housekeepers and other service employees — called for a health care contribution of roughly $800 a year, according to Glenn Goldstein, the union's director of organizing.

"This is, effectively, a pay cut," he said.

Daniel Ruth, the Jewish Home's president and CEO, said Goldstein's numbers were misleading. The plan on the table, he claims, called for a 10 percent employee contribution toward health care in the second and third years of a three-year contract. He described the contract as "union-crafted" and said it was negotiated in the presence of a federal mediator. As for numbers, he estimated that, in 2006, a single-payer employee would contribute $390, an employee covering one more party would contribute $780 a year, and an entire family would run $1,104. He said this was more affordable for workers than the current system of insuring one's spouse.




Founders to speak

The founding of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and the Judah L. Magnes Museum will be the topic of a two-part series called "The Founders Speak," hosted by historian of Western Jewish history Ava F. Kahn and sponsored by the Bureau of Jewish Education.

Deborah Kaufman and Janis Plotkin, the founders of the SFJFF, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, and Rebecca and Seymour Fromer, founders of the Magnes, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4. at the Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis St., San Francisco.




Two from Bay Area join Wheels of Love

Two Bay Area residents are taking part in a charity bicycle ride in Israel Sunday, Oct. 24, to Thursday, Oct. 28.

Noah Alper of Berkeley, founder of the Noah's Bagels chain, and Murray Zucker of San Francisco, incoming president of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, will be among the 250 riders in Wheels of Love, a five-day, 245-mile bicycle ride. Riders must raise at least $2,000 to participate, and the money goes to ALYN Hospital, a rehabilitation center.

The ride begins in the Negev town of Mitzpe Ramon and ends in Jerusalem.