Jessie Lopez de la Cruz grew up in a family of Mexican migrant workers. From a young age, Lopez de la Cruz worked in the fields across California, experiencing firsthand the grueling living conditions, poverty-level wages, and daily brutal exploitation – conditions farm workers continue fighting today. That changed in 1960 when, inspired by Cesar […]
Read MoreWorking People Support Heroes Act
Labor leaders and union members are demanding that the U.S. Senate act on the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, which passed the House of Representatives by a 208 to 199 vote May 15. The HEROES Act would provide $3 trillion in relief that working people desperately need—including the continuation of unemployment […]
Read MoreThe Future Is Union Strong
This Labor Day one thing is for certain, our economy is changing. And unfortunately, those changes are bringing more hardship to working people. But as California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski writes in a new op-ed for CalMatters, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can provide a future in which working people […]
Read MoreHonor a Promise Made to California’s Garment Workers
Garment workers form the backbone of L.A.’s manufacturing sector. But tens of thousands of garment workers are routinely underpaid—or not paid at all—for work performed. Wage theft is rampant across L.A.’s low-wage industries: Angelenos lose $26.2 million dollars a week in unpaid wages. But more than four in five workers who win their wage theft […]
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 Dialysis Patients – Yes on Prop 8!
If you’re on dialysis – the process of cleaning the blood for those whose kidneys have failed – your life depends on receiving regular treatments. In California, 66,000 people need dialysis treatments to survive. But dialysis patient care is in crisis. Facilities – especially those accessible to low-income people – are in run-down strip malls […]
Read More“I finally want to tell my immigration story.”
There’s always a twinkle in Antonia Rivas’ eye. Like she has a secret joke she’s waiting to tell you. That must be part of why she’s so great with children. She’s operated a popular daycare out of her home for 17 years.
There’s something else in her eyes, though; also secret and unimaginably sad.
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