Labor

Scammers pulled off one of the biggest suspected frauds in U.S. history while laid-off workers scrambled to survive. A CalMatters investigation finds that the EDD missed red flags and failed to make long-promised changes before the pandemic — and that once the twin crises hit, the state and its top contractors kept making money but were slow to deliver relief.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 365 last week, he opened a new front in a complex, decades-long political and legal war between employers and unions.

Unions at Kaiser Permanente put pressure on the health care giant to raise pay and address what they called understaffing during two strikes over the past year. The results reflected labor’s power in California.

From CalMatters environment reporter Julie Cart:  Ocean waters off California’s coast are being prepared to host a massive experiment, floating beyond the continental shelf: Platforms with giant turbines and spinning rotors will capture the Pacific Ocean’s prodigious wind energy. Hundreds of square miles of the ocean about 20 miles off the coasts of Humboldt County […]

More than 400,000 Californians are expected to get a pay increase under the new law, which gradually raises the minimum wage to $25 an hour for health care employees.

The head of a network of community clinics in Los Angeles says a $25 minimum wage has improved patient care and staff retention, and wants Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign legislation that would make it a requirement statewide.

Gov. Gavin Newsom greenlit 56 bills Wednesday to help ease the state’s affordable housing crisis. And with three days left to take action, he’s gone through most major bills on other pressing issues as well. But there are still a handful of significant ones he has yet to decide. Perhaps the most contentious is Senate […]

Struggling community hospitals across California are ill-prepared for the creation of a $25 minimum wage for health care workers, should Gov. Newsom decide to sign the legislation.

The governor signed two other bills that strengthen protections for grocery workers during grocery store mergers and acquisitions.

If California's new U.S. senator runs in the 2024 election, she would likely have to court labor unions' support, quickly. But with three other labor-friendly Democrats already winning union backing, time and resources are running out.