The landlords/property owners are the ones raising the rents. And the reason its being raised is for pure greed. Not by the companies the people are working for, but by the owners of the homes/apartments. The owners see an influx of people moving into an area due to low rents, and raise the prices trying to grab as much money as possible. Evicting as many people paying lower rents as possible to make way for the "new" people so they can charge more.

I have seen this happen Everywhere. From Northwest Territories in Canada, all the way down to Panama. Its the property owners greed pure and simple. Just some areas is more prevalent then others. Personally when I lived in LA, I had to move to Orange County due to the fact landlord didn't renew any of the leases for the entire building I was living at. He emptied the WHOLE building, offering new pricing. Went from $732 or so to over $900. So I packed up moved to Orange County, found a place there for $550 a month, bigger place too, but had to commute into LA to work. Then many other people starting moving to Orange County and as far as Corona in droves to escape high rents (Early 2000's). Again I ended up having to move, this time landed in Moreno Valley. Now my commute was 2 hours each way.

Did I ever once blame the other people (or the companies they worked for) moving into the areas I was in? NO. I blamed the owners of the properties and the local housing and rental boards for allowing the gouging.

This so called "protest" is nothing short of a childish and brainless act. If you want attention, figure out the real cause of your problem. Don't interfere with innocent random peoples lives just for publicity. Those workers on the bus, and the bus itself nor the companies they work for have nothing do do with your problem. Last I knew we are a free people. Can you really blame them for looking for cheap housing? We have the freedom to live anywhere we damn well please, so who are you to condemning them for such a basic right/freedom?

Also personally I would love to have worked for a company that valued its employees enough to set up transportation!

In the end, this group needs to stop and think before they act. They seem to be content on eviction and rent price issues, so go after the people who control that. Contact your local government offices, create a petition, get people to sign it. Change the laws. Fight the greed, don't just keep messing with people that have nothing to do with the problem. They are just trying to work and make a living.

Alright, lets look at this. I install solar panels to reduce my monthly electric bill, not completely disconnect. AP now wants to charge me $4.90 a month for using less of their service/selling them my extra energy. Question I have for everyone talking about AP workers and maintenance cost. If I disconnect completely instead, should I be paying AP $4.90? If you answered "No", then why should someone still connected (and using) AP have to pay $4.90 because they are using less / AP has to buy tiny amount of excess energy? And yes the excess is a very very small amount. What the people should do there is completely disconnect and move to pure solar and wind with battery backup. At least those outside the Phoenix cluster. But wait, is that even legal? ....