Sonoma County government and its largest union have reached a tentative labor agreement that would provide short-term salary savings and curb long-term pension costs in exchange for some later wage growth and increased county contributions for health-care coverage.

In explaining his support for a right-to-work law, Michigan Gov. Rick Synder told WWJ radio his intention was to give workers a choice, not to target unions.

Gov. Jerry Brown is facing a choice that pits his longtime allies in the farm labor movement against business groups he’s been cultivating for support on a special election to extend temporary taxes.

UPDATE: About 200 labor union supporters gathered in Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa on Friday night to show support for beleaguered public employees in Wisconsin, where Republicans are pushing to eliminate or weaken collective bargaining by government employees. “If you think it can’t happen here, what’s going on in Wisconsin, think again,” said Jack Thomas, president of the Santa Rosa Firefighters Local 1401.

By Paul Gullixson Those who were logged into the Santa Rosa Twitter world last week witnessed a heated word feud that reflects the divisions among Sonoma County labor groups in this election. Here’s a sample: (Truncated Tweet-speech and all): Brad Conners, vice president of the Santa Rosa Police Officers’ Association, responds to Lisa Maldonado of [...]

After reaching a tentative labor agreement, the nurses union at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital announced Friday that it will not be conducting a two-day strike that had been slated to start on Monday.

Mechanics, heavy-equipment operators and building maintenance workers this week became the final group of Sonoma County employees to accept a cost-saving — and job-saving — deal. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 agreed to a package of mandatory days off without pay, salary freezes and a halt in staff development spending.

Pancakes and political pep talks were served up equally Monday at the annual Sonoma County Labor Day breakfast. Rep. Lynn Woolsey and other Democrats called on organized labor to rally voters for the November election. “If independent voters and Democrats don’t go to the polls, it could be a disaster for Democrats,” Woolsey said.

The vote was overwhelming: 93 percent of its members agreed to take one unpaid day off every month. The one-year contract will reduce pay for members of the Santa Rosa City Employees Association by 4.6 percent.

The City of Santa Rosa and the leaders of its largest union have struck a tentative deal calling for workers to take one unpaid furlough day per month, a concession long-sought by city officials struggling to close a $3.8 million deficit. City officials hopes the deal will jump-start ongoing negotiations with other unions.