unions

The divisions among California Democrats were on display during the party convention, including tensions with labor and progressives.

The unprecedented breadth and depth of the tax increase to fund single-payer health care is economically tone deaf.

United Farm Workers membership has been down for years, so low that UC Merced researchers declared farmworker union membership statistically zero for 2020. Supporters say it’s too early to write the union’s obituary but UFW struggles to push its political agenda and grow its ranks.

An unusually high number of influential state legislators are retiring or running for higher office. The reasons include a combination of new electoral districts, term limits and political ambition.

As union representation has bottomed out in some of the country’s lowest-paid industries, a group of California lawmakers and labor leaders are pushing to test a version of sectoral bargaining, a labor strategy common in other high-income countries. Progressives are pushing for a state-appointed council for the fast food industry to set wages and work conditions, which have historically been negotiated privately between employers and worker unions.

Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, a key union backer in the California Legislature, will step down to take over the California Labor Federation.

California State University and its faculty union announce a tentative contract that includes raises and a COVID-19 bonus.

Frente a una asombrosa brecha económica, California sugiere aumentar la participación sindical entre los trabajadores con salarios bajos, y señala que una membresía sindical reduce la pobreza laboral mejor que un título universitario. Pero lograr que más trabajadores voten por los sindicatos requerirá que las empresas y los sindicatos se comprometan.

Facing a staggering wealth gap, California suggests increasing union participation among low-wage workers, noting that a union membership reduces working poverty better than a college degree. But getting more workers to vote on unions will require businesses and unions to compromise. Recent efforts have stalled but the stakes are higher than ever as a court overturns Prop. 22 and the Teamsters begin to campaign at Amazon warehouses across the state.

The politically powerful prison guards’ union and Gov. Gavin Newsom have resisted a COVID vaccine mandate, despite growing outbreaks.