“What it does mean is that they’ve exhausted themselves attempting to solve this problem,” said Jane McAlevey. “When you make the decision to do open-ended, it means the members are ready. It means they’re frustrated. It means their level of preparedness is significant.”
“It’s possible that this new generation of female-heavy, people-of-color-heavy trade unionists will succeed where we have been failing for a couple of generations,” says labor expert and author Jane McAlevey.
The 2022-2023 California state budget will allocate $13 million to the University of California labor centers, allowing scholars to increase the extent of their research on working conditions and inequitable labor policies.
Lopezlira, who’s studied the impact of wages and turnover on airport safety and security, says lower turnover reduces the constant need to train or retrain new workers. This can also reduce any existing gaps in security or safety measures that could pose a risk to worker and public safety.
Despite these major expansions, an estimated 2.3 million Californians under 65 will remain uninsured, according to an April analysis by University of California researchers.
Just 21% of California workers operating home-based day cares reported having some form of retirement savings, according to the center. Comparatively, 46% of Californians working in the private sector have a retirement plan, according to a report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
“Consumer spending is also going to drop severely, so I’m not sure how many real opportunities for gig type of work there will be, or whether people will be able to live on those kinds of jobs,” Enrique Lopezlira said.
Undocumented Californians make up the largest group of the state’s uninsured, according to the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center.
“The good news is we have seen some wage growth …,” Enrique Lopezlira said. “There have been more job openings than workers. The problem is some of that wage growth has slowed down and with inflation creeping up, the real purchasing power of the wage has declined.”
A Labor Center study on the San Francisco International Airport, cited by the Florida union in its report, found higher employee wages led to lower turnover and better performance. Workers who stayed at their jobs longer also had the experience to better avoid mistakes and identify safety and security issues, Lopezlira said.
Enrique Lopezlira, the director of the Low-Wage Work program at U.C. Berkeley’s Labor Center has studied the links between wages and airport security and functionality based on wage increases at San Francisco International Airport. He said that significant wage increases at SFO led to a decrease in turnover and disciplinary actions and an increase in productivity.
“Two-thirds of these missing workers are 65 years and older, which makes sense given that we are still in a pandemic where older people face the greatest health risk,” he told MarketWatch. “But the workforce has largely returned to its pre-pandemic level, so this does not support the idea that ‘nobody wants to work anymore.’”
A widely-cited report authored by Carol Zabin of the UC Berkeley Labor Center casts a similar critical light on the owner-model, as it shifts risks and costs to the drivers.
If Congress does not take any action, an estimated 1 million Californians will pay nearly double for their premiums next year and 220,000 Californians may become uninsured in 2023, according to the Labor Center at UC Berkeley. Many of those affected live in the San Joaquin Valley.
Enrique Lopezlira, director of the center’s Low Wage Work Program, said researchers there have determined that anyone who makes less than two-thirds of the median income in a given area of California should be defined as a low-wage worker. In 2021, that figure was $18.02 per hour.
Labor expert Ken Jacobs, who chairs the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education, said the application of AB5 is something the trucking industry has known was coming for years.
“The thing that really struck us is how this is a very modest proposal,” Jacobs said. “The costs are extraordinarily small for very meaningful benefits for the families who gain higher wages.”
Rhee says workers are much more likely to save for retirement if there is a payroll deduction program at work.
Contracting out the driver’s role allows companies to shift the cost of truck ownership and operation to individual drivers, according to a report from the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
The state of California is ready with $304 million to help lower- and middle-income consumers pay for health insurance if federal subsidies end. But the fund will cover only a fraction of what would be lost. “We’re fortunate the state has the program, but it’s not enough,” said Laurel Lucia.
New research finds that an $18 minimum wage would give five million California workers a pay raise; the ballot initiative would help lift 3.5 million Californians out of poverty.
Designed as a resource for policymakers and journalists, this brief explains how public pension costs are calculated and funded, and explains how reforms adopted by CalPERS, CalSTRS, and MCERA have put the systems on stronger footing in recent years. This is the second of three briefs in the Marin Public Pension Series.
Today, the UC Berkeley Labor Center released an update to its data tool, “California’s Labor Market Two Years into the Pandemic: 2022 Chartbook.” The chartbook provides researchers, policymakers, journalists, and the public with an in-depth look at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers and the labor market in California based on the most recently available data.
Amazon’s just-announced “freedom of association policy” fails to comply with international human rights standards for workers involved in union organizing, finds a report published today by the UC Berkeley Labor Center and Berkeley Law’s Center for Law and Work.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center has released an update to its Low-Wage Work in California Data Explorer, which provides researchers, policymakers, journalists, and the public with an in-depth look at the people who make up California’s low-wage workforce.
Two reports released today project how the expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility to all low-income adults regardless of immigration status and the discontinuation of enhanced federal subsidies in Covered California would affect health coverage for nearly one million Californians
A new research brief by the UC Berkeley Labor Center highlights the public cost of low wages and few benefits in some sectors of the construction industry in Wisconsin.
A new research brief by the UC Berkeley Labor Center highlights the public cost of low wages and few benefits in some sectors of the construction industry in Arizona.
A new research brief by the UC Berkeley Labor Center highlights the public cost of low wages and few benefits in some sectors of the construction industry in New Jersey.
A new research brief by the UC Berkeley Labor Center highlights the public cost of low wages and few benefits in some sectors of the construction industry in Oregon.
The 2022 UC Berkeley Labor Center Practitioner in Residence provides an opportunity for practitioners to carry out research, reflect on their experience, write, and engage on the strategic issues that face worker organizations in the state. The program is designed for mid-career practitioners who have built experience through their work and are looking for a time to reflect before the next chapter in their career.
The 2022 UC Berkeley Labor Center Practitioner in Residence provides an opportunity for practitioners to carry out research, reflect on their experience, write, and engage on the strategic issues that face worker organizations in the state. The program is designed for mid-career practitioners who have built experience through their work and are looking for a time to reflect before the next chapter in their career.
The 2022 UC Berkeley Labor Center Practitioner in Residence provides an opportunity for practitioners to carry out research, reflect on their experience, write, and engage on the strategic issues that face worker organizations in the state. The program is designed for mid-career practitioners who have built experience through their work and are looking for a time to reflect before the next chapter in their career.
The University of California’s labor centers and initiatives have received historic funding from the state to advance their work. California’s 2022-23 budget, signed by Gov. Gavin Newson last Thursday, includes $13 million to fund research, education, and public engagement on labor issues throughout the UC system.
Meet the Labor Center’s Labor Summer 2022 intern class! Now in its third decade, Labor Summer is a rare paid educational internship that connects students with the labor movement in California.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center is hiring a senior trainer to work on our Leadership Development team! WE ARE STILL ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION!
The UC Berkeley Labor Center is searching for a graduate student researcher to support our research projects on low-wage work and labor market inequalities by race, ethnicity, gender, and immigration status. This position has the potential to work on a wide variety of projects, including data analysis, literature reviews, and both quantitative and qualitative research.
Our new research briefs highlight the public cost of low wages and few benefits in some sectors of the construction industry in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Wisconsin.
We are hiring a GSR for our Worker Power In the Workforce Program for Summer 2022. The GSR will support and participate in research, materials development, and organizing events to help Bay Area worker, community, and workforce organizations advance understanding of opportunities and barriers to integrate worker power building into existing public and community based workforce development programs.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center is searching for a graduate student researcher for our project on new technologies and their effects on workers and the workplace. The position will involve tracking and analyzing the rapidly evolving field of technology regulation in the US and abroad, with a specific focus on worker rights.
The Skills to Win Workshop is a six-week series for rank and file members and staff of unions, worker associations, worker centers, and community organizations that are embarking on, or in the midst of, organizing campaigns.
