Hey, as someone who lived just up the road from Redondo Beach for a bit, here’s some good news:

In a decision that could have a wide-ranging effect on other cities with similar laws, a federal appeals court ruled that a Redondo Beach ordinance aimed at cracking down on day laborers is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.

The anti-solicitation ordinance, which has been in place for more than two decades, drew attention in 2004 after police arrested nearly 60 day laborers over about four weeks. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Comite de Jornaleros de Redondo Beach later sued the city.

The ordinance, which Redondo Beach officials said was needed to regulate traffic safety at two major intersections, barred standing on a street or highway and soliciting "employment, business or contributions from an occupant of any motor vehicle."

  And, in related labor news from out there, if you recall the very bitter supermarket strike back in 2003, we won’t see a repeat, probably because that one caused $2 billion in losses:

On Monday, negotiators for Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons and the United Food and Commercial Workers reached a tentative deal, averting a strike that would have sent more than 54,000 workers across Southern California off the job.

After months of public posturing and private wrangling, the negotiations grew urgent Sunday evening after a key deadline passed, clearing the way for a labor stoppage at any time.

Both sides worked through Sunday night and well into Monday morning before announcing that a tentative three-year deal had been reached.

   And:

"The agreement protects grocery workers’ jobs and healthcare, and keeps the employers profitable," said Rick Icaza, president of UFCW Local 770 in Los Angeles. "We think it shows that when workers stand up for ourselves, we can get things done and protect good jobs."

Sources from both sides said the once-glacial pace of negotiations sped up after last week’s 72-hour notice by the UFCW to cancel its labor contract extension, a mandatory step before a walkout.

"We were dead serious," said Greg Conger, president of UFCW Local 324 in Orange County. "They were too. And then we all sat down and looked at each other and said, ‘We better figure this out.’"

The contract covers an estimated 62,000 checkers, baggers, meat cutters and other grocery workers from Santa Maria to the Mexican border. They include employees of Ralphs, which is owned by Kroger Co. of Cincinnati; Vons and Pavilions, owned by Safeway, Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif.; and Albertsons, which is owned by SuperValu Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn.

The contract also covers employees at other retailers, including Stater Bros. Markets and Kroger’s Food 4 Less, which are negotiating separate deals with the UFCW’s locals.

   Honestly, I don’t know much about the behind-the-scenes issues here. But, an easy guess is that the union didn’t want to put its members out on strike in this economic climate and the owners were watching their market share decline. Thus, a deal.