Labor

From CalMatters politics reporter Alexei Koseff: ​​For months, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders have been projecting optimism in the face of a grim budget picture. At a press conference in January where he unveiled his plan to deal with a projected $22.5 billion deficit next year, Newsom assured Californians: “We are keeping our promises.” […]

A 2022 study revealed that child care workers in California are paid just 25-30% of the cost of providing care. The inadequate pay has racist roots, and workers in this crucial industry are demanding action from state leaders.

If you want to see two diametrically opposed views of what California lawmakers have done and should be doing or not doing, look no further than a new poll and a new legislative scorecard. On one hand, a survey out Monday from the National Federation of Independent Business found that overwhelming majorities of California small […]

State legislators sometimes exempt themselves from the laws they pass, but this session, they could change course on an emblematic bill: To allow their own staffers to form a union.

A California law helping workers file labor code violations claims, known as the Private Attorneys General Act, often hurts workers and employers alike. A proposed reform will appear on the 2024 November ballot.

A dispatch from CalMatters higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn: UC striking workers are facing a high-stakes game of Deal or No Deal. Friday evening, the University of California and the negotiating team representing 36,000  striking academic workers approved a tentative agreement to end the five-week work stoppage — thought to be the largest-ever labor action […]

Facing a mental health crisis, Cal Fire crews sought less of a workload. But they have to wait two years under their new contract.

Charles Drew University, the only historically Black university in California, will launch a new MD program next year. The goal is to train more doctors of color to help underserved communities in a state where only 3% of physicians are Black.

Teams of striking UC graduate student workers are willingly getting arrested in acts of civil disobedience. They view the strategy as a way to escalate their work stoppage, now in its fifth week.

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