unions

California has been spared many devastating wildfires so far this year. But for a reminder of the death and destruction they can bring, you only need to look at the searing images of the island paradise of Maui going up in flames last week — just as Paradise in California was turned to ashes in […]

While much of the attention of “hot labor summer” has been focused on workers in the private sector — such as hotel workers, delivery drivers and Hollywood screenwriters — employees in the public sector are also demanding better pay and working conditions. On Tuesday, thousands of city workers across Los Angeles, including staff at LAX […]

Showing solidarity with other social classes is a prominent union strategy in the so-called “hot labor summer” sweeping California. It’s too soon to say if the inter-union activity will get employers to bargain.

“A catastrophic hunger crisis.” That’s the dire warning from the California Association of Food Banks, after federal pandemic food aid ended earlier this spring.  But why does a state with so much food — California produces nearly half the country’s fruits and vegetables — and that spends so much on food aid have so many […]

While the Legislature is on summer break until Aug. 14, Gov. Gavin Newsom is signing bills into law — or, in the case of one unfortunate proposal, vetoing them.  He said “no” to Senate Bill 275, which would require state Senate confirmation of California’s oil and gas supervisor. In his veto message, the governor said […]

From CalMatters politics reporter Alexei Koseff: It wasn’t Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins’ first turn standing in for the governor of California while he was out of the state. (That came in 2014, when she was Assembly speaker and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel tried to get her to invade Oregon during her 10 hours […]

A new CalMatters newsletter: The CalMatters California Divide team is devoted to providing in-depth, innovative and independent coverage of the politics and policy of inequality. Now, the team is bringing you a free weekly newsletter. Just as WhatMatters brings you the best of CalMatters and stories by other media, Inequality Insights will do the same […]

A union says hotel workers making $20 to $25 an hour aren’t earning enough to live near where they work.

Providers say home daycare businesses may need to close if the state continues paying too little in child care subsidies.

Most of what Californians experience with homelessness occurs along public spaces and city streets. With more than 170,000 unhoused people in the state, residents often see the crisis reflected in encampment tents along a roadside or panhandling on street corners. But one aspect of homelessness has surprisingly presented itself in Ojai, a small mountain valley […]