California has a rich history of working people standing together to fight for the very rights and workplace protections we consider fundamental to this day. See below for a look into how workers have shaped the Golden State for generations!

Special thank you to Fred Glass with the California Federation of Teachers for generously sharing excerpts from his book, From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Labor Movement, available for purchase at the University of California Press

Women in the workforce: the 1860s

During a week in which Governor Brown signed a bill, SB 358 (Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara) strengthening pay equity protections for women, it may be helpful to know where and when that struggle started in California, and with whom: Kate Kennedy.

This installment of the California labor history series is excerpted from the book on University of California Press, From Mission to Microchip:  A History of the California Labor Movement by California Federation of Teachers Communications Director Fred Glass.

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