An unprecedented ongoing $13 million allocation will fund five new centers, expand labor studies and occupational health programs across UC

California continues to make remarkable progress in expanding access to health coverage, including by expanding Medi-Cal eligibility for low-income undocumented residents. Yet, we project there will be 520,000 uninsured undocumented residents who earn too much for Medi-Cal and do not have employer coverage. This group remains categorically excluded from enrolling in Covered California and cannot receive federal subsidies to make coverage more affordable.

The California state government has close to a quarter of a million employees, almost half of whom are women and almost two-thirds of whom are workers of color. But across occupations and throughout the state, many state workers earn well below what is needed to attain a decent standard of living in California.

The University of California is a public institution that belongs to the people of the state of California. The growth of new labor centers across California is a welcome development for the public good and will help us achieve an economy that serves us all.

“In an industry where it’s very hard for workers to unionize because of the franchise model, it creates a way in which workers can have a collective voice in the process of setting the standards in their industry,”

We are pleased to welcome labor activists Seema N. Patel and Sam Appel to the Labor Center for a year-long residency.

This brief analyzes the impact of public sector employment and defined-benefit pensions on race and gender equity in retirement income security in Marin County and California. Public pensions play an outsized role in the retirement security of every racial group, particularly in Black and Latino communities, and pension income provides a critical buffer against economic hardship in old age for all groups, especially women, Black and Latino Californians, and seniors without college degrees.

The Berkeley study makes it clear: Public pensions are part of the solution for the equity problem in Marin.

UPDATED MARCH 1, 2023. Compilation of living wage and self-sufficiency calculators that provide data on California.

A new statewide University of California initiative will bring Labor Summer, a paid internship to train the next generation of labor leaders, to nine UC campuses.

“Workers aren’t waking up to change the world; they’re waking up to get a good contract,” said Jane McAlevey. “And you need to help them win it—soon—or they’re going to walk away.”

Half a million more construction workers needed as public money floods into infrastructure and clean energy. “When work is paid, it draws more workers into the pool,” said Jessie Hammerling, co-director of the green economy programme at UC Berkeley’s labour centre.