San Jose has come to a tentative agreement with eight of its nine unions on a Measure B settlement, city officials announced Friday.

San Jose's nastiest political battle is no more. On Wednesday, the city reached a pension reform settlement agreement with its police union, ending a three-year court battle after voters passed Measure B in June 2012.

The current conundrum at City Hall has been exacerbated by the inability of personalities to work together on Measure B and pension reform. Mayor Sam Liccardo and his opponents should try to find at least one issue on which they agree.

Shortly after returning from a holiday lunch party Thursday, City Manager Ed Shikada removed Alex Gurza as head of the Office of Employee Relations. But on Monday, Gurza surprised many by returning to work—just at a far lower rung on the totem pole.

Chuck Reed’s about to sunset his final term as mayor of San Jose, and he’s inviting the public to a farewell celebration. What’s that? You have plans? Oh, come on.

San Jose's public employee unions will have a fresh face to spar with behind closed doors in the coming weeks. City spokesperson Lenka Wright confirmed to San Jose Inside on Friday that Alex Gurza will no longer serve as the city's lead negotiator on labor contracts.

People opposed to incoming Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo are also concerned with an interim appointment to the District 4 council seat, fearing it will give the mayor a governing majority. The truth is Liccardo already has a majority.

San Jose's new mayor faces huge challenges. The most striking problem is not simply putting more cops on the street, though it is an important goal. The real work will be bringing a divided city together.

San Jose will consider opening up labor talks to give the public more oversight of public employee contracts, which take up half of the general fund budget. Other issues before the City Council on Tuesday include health and wellness coaching for firefighters and a fancy new fence.

A judge ruled that the city of San Jose should be on the hook for union attorney fees in the ongoing battle over Measure B pension reforms, according to a NBC report. But the legal battle isn't over yet.

Labor Day, a holiday deeply rooted in the American labor movement, claims a history full of violence and victory, a "workingmen's holiday" first celebrated by the New York City-based Central Labor Union in 1882.

Backers of Mayor Chuck Reed’s state pension reform initiative filed a lawsuit this morning to change what they call inaccurate ballot language published by the office of Attorney General Kamala Harris. The only recourse to change a ballot summary in California is in court. And since all signature-gathering to place the measure on the 2014 ballot will stop until the case is resolved, it likely won’t make it to voters for another two years.

A legal fight may keep San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s state public pension initiative off the November ballot now that proponents want to sue over the way California Attorney General Kamala Harris worded the ballot language.

Neil Struthers is out as CEO of the powerful Santa Clara & San Benito Counties Building & Construction Trades Council, a source tells San Jose Inside. The circumstances of his departure from the labor organization are unclear. The Building and Trades Council oversees the training and representation of 23 craft unions and more than 30,000 construction industry workers employed in Silicon Valley, according to the organization’s website.

Last month, Fly broke the Earth-shattering news that county supervisor and San Jose mayoral contender Dave Cortese isn’t too fond of Walmart. He refused to mention the store by name in an invite to his campaign kickoff, instead noting that the party was near a “Big Box” store. Crazy, we know. But just when the Internet was nearing recovery, a couple of mayors decided to reignite the fight.

An elephant in the room when discussing publicly-funded charters vs. traditional public schools is collective bargaining—union vs. non-union. I think it is time we face the issue head-on and begin a charter-by-charter, district-by-district conversation. One way to achieve this goal is to experiment with “thin” contracts that forego tenure and seniority-based layoffs, and provide opportunities for performance pay based on results—not just results from state tests.