Labor

The new year brings a raft of new laws for Californians. They’re likely to affect what your neighborhood looks like, how safe you feel, what recourse you have against discrimination — even how you take out your trash. In 2021 the Legislature’s super-majority of Democrats sent Gov. Gavin Newsom hundreds of bills that he signed […]

California is requiring unemployment recipients to retroactively prove their work history – but experts say low-income recipients could be forced to repay money they don’t have. Some even say ineligible recipients should get a pass.

Workers are fed up and feeling empowered because of widespread dissatisfaction with working conditions.

Guest farmworkers will see pay increases in 2022 thanks to a lawsuit to stop a Trump-era wage freeze. President Trump proposed the freeze in an attempt to help farmers who lost profit and fallowed land during the pandemic shutdown in 2020. But farmworker advocates sued the Department of Agriculture to stop the freeze from taking effect.

At a CalMatters/Milken Institute event, experts discuss how the pandemic has changed the California economy, but why there's reason for hope. Here are three key takeaways.

En resumen La Universidad de California y el sindicato de profesores de la UC llegaron a un acuerdo después de años de negociaciones, dando lugar a una huelga planificada. Además de los aumentos, los profesores aseguraron promesas de estabilidad laboral. Una investigación de CalMatters muestra cuán frágil es su empleo. Read this article in English.  Los […]

Wins are mounting for California workers as “Striketober” morphs into “Strikesgiving” and as the state cracks down on companies it says are violating labor laws. Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced an agreement with Amazon that, if approved by a judge, would require the e-commerce giant to pay California $500,000 to help enforce consumer […]

California's unemployment department is making progress on key reforms, but some of the most transformational changes are still years away.

Good morning, California. It’s Friday, October 15. Burnout + deadlines converge Employee burnout and resistance to vaccine mandates are colliding across California, leading to strike authorizations, walkouts and worker shortfalls in health care, education, transportation and logistics, hospitality, retail, entertainment and law enforcement. This week, nearly a third of California hospitals reported critical staffing shortages […]

Long-simmering disputes with unions over staffing are reaching crisis points. Almost a third of California hospitals report insufficient numbers of critical workers, including nurses, technicians and janitors.