Social movements are rarely fully formed. It takes a while for the percolating to reach full boil. But that is what is happening with the struggle for public education. We saw it last year as teachers in one Republican controlled state after another, states where there are little to no collective bargaining rights for public […]
Read MoreCalifornia Labor Movement Urges Action to End Forced Arbitration with AB 51
California is the nation’s leader when it comes to protecting the fundamental rights of workers. Over the decades, with strong support from the labor movement, legislators have passed landmark legislation from paid family leave to anti-sexual harassment laws to measures that boost wages and promote safe workplaces. But all those laws are in jeopardy. According […]
Read MoreSupport Striking Uber/Lyft Drivers on May 8!
In a new op-ed for CalMatters, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski tells the story of Karim Bayumi, a rideshare driver from Anaheim who will strike with thousands of other drivers on May 8 in California and around the globe. Pulaski: Like so many California families, Karim Bayumi of Anaheim, his wife and two […]
Read MoreLabor Urges Legislature to pass AB 1611, Protect Patients, Workers from Surprise ER Bills
In April of last year, 24-year-old Nina Dang broke her arm as the result of a bicycle crash in San Francisco. She was taken by ambulance to Zuckerberg General Hospital. She received treatment and was later released to recuperate at home. Pretty routine, right? Unfortunately, the story of Nina’s mishap on her bike didn’t end […]
Read MoreCalifornia Labor Urges Legislature to Rein in Out-of-Control High-Interest Lenders by Passing AB 539
Most working people experience extreme financial hardship at one time or another. It’s the sad reality of an economy that prioritizes wealth-hording by the super rich over the basic needs of everyday people. Compounding the problem of so many of us living paycheck-to-paycheck is the largely unregulated market for high-interest loans. These modern-day loan sharks […]
Read MoreSupport maintenance engineers fighting for a UNION!
Engineers at Douglas Emmett properties in Los Angeles make the city work. They voted to stand together in a union so they’d have a voice. A voice for better pay. A voice for safety on the job. A seat at the table when the company makes decisions that affect workers and their families. But Douglas […]
Read MoreMessage of the Day—We Will Get to the Promised Land
“We are making a promise to our nation and each other to win the dream Dr. King died for….We are the American labor movement, the people who built this country into the most prosperous nation the world has ever known. And we ain’t done yet.”
5 Reasons the CA Legislature Must Say Yes on AB 5
In last April’s landmark, unanimous California Supreme Court ruling in the Dynamex case, the court delivered one of the most pro-worker decisions in decades, enshrining a simple A-B-C test that employers must comply with to designate workers as “independent contractors.” The ruling was made necessary by the growing trend of corporations calling workers contractors just […]
Read MoreRace, Labor, and Activism on the Waterfront
For those unfamiliar with the radical history of dockworkers leading the fight against economic and racial inequality for workers across color lines, Peter Cole’s book Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area will be a revelation. Who knew that longshoremen were at the forefront of the antiracist movement decades before labor […]
Read MoreHonoring Labor and Civil Rights: Activist C.L. Dellums
Cottrell Laurence Dellums, also known as C.L. Dellums, was a prominent African American trade union activist, and uncle and role model to Congressman Ron Dellums. C.L Dellums was born in Corsicana, Texas on January 3, 1900. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when he was a young man to escape racial and economic […]
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