Communities with high union density have greater levels of inter-generational economic mobility, even for children of nonunion workers, according to a report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Almost half of construction workers in California rely on food stamps or Medi-Cal, costing taxpayers over $3 billion annually, according to a 2021 study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Forty years later, Katie Quan still vividly remembers the pivotal garment workers strike in New York City’s Chinatown. Quan, who was 29 at the time, was one of the key organizers of the strike, in which more than 20,000 workers — most of them Chinese-born women — marched to Columbus Park on June 24, 1982, refusing to work and demanding higher wages and benefits.
Without any action, approximately 220,000 residents would lose health insurance under the state’s individual marketplace, according to the Berkeley Labor Center.
Lopezlira, director of the low-wage program at the university’s labor center, said that the four-day week would most likely put hourly workers at a financial disadvantage. Most of them are looking to work more hours during the week.
The financial picture can be remarkably different for the small-business owners who own the chains’ franchise stores, which represent the vast majority of fast-food restaurants, said Ken Jacobs, who chairs the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.
California has been a laboratory for progressive labor measures, said Ken Jacobs. It “becomes proof of concept when a state like California puts these measures in place.”
Here’s something the unions all agree on: The labor workforce needs to grow to meet construction demands, and is struggling to do so. Pay and health coverage among the mostly non-union workforce is often so poor that nearly half of construction workers rely on the state’s five largest public safety net programs, according to a recent UC Berkeley Labor Center study.
Ken Jacobs said the rise in the number of shops unionizing was partly inspired by the Occupy movement, which advocates for the redistribution of wealth; the Bernie Sanders campaign; and successful teacher strikes that have occurred in the past few years.
The report found that not only do teachers have better retirement outcomes with a pension plan, but pensions are a critical workforce retention tool. This is a key consideration as public schools in many communities grapple with teacher shortages.
What do drivers have to lose in being considered independent contractors? Only minimum wage, overtime, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, the protection of anti-harassment and discrimination laws, the right to form a union and collectively bargain and retirement benefits, to name a few.
A UC Berkeley Labor Center study also found that three out of 10 seniors in California do not have enough income to cover their basic needs, with the inequity falling hardest on seniors of color, older women, and those who are unmarried or are renters.
“The pandemic caused a decline in employment in all industries,” says Enrique Lopezlira. “There was a huge drop in manufacturing employment in California and at the national level. It has been rebounding over the last year, but not enough to make up for the decline.”
The rise in scams comes as one in three Californian seniors already lack the money to meet their basic needs, according to UC Berkeley’s Labor Center.
If the state pours more money into part-time faculty health plans, “unions and the districts may negotiate to improve the benefits currently offered,” said Laurel Lucia. Colleges that already offer health plans to part-time faculty “might reduce the premium amount that the worker is required to pay or they might reduce the amount that people have to pay out of pocket to access care.”
If Gov. Gavin Newsom gets his way, California could allow all remaining low-income unauthorized immigrants — an estimated 700,000 people — to join Medi-Cal by 2024, or sooner.
hese are people who ordinarily wouldn’t be considered for, or themselves consider, a job at LADWP. A 2016 report from the University of California, Berkeley, found that more than two-thirds of people accepted into UPCT are from zip codes with very high unemployment rates, and where more than half of the population lives below the poverty level.
Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget has proposed providing the final missing piece and the largest group remaining: all low-income adults ages 26 to 49, regardless of immigration status. That move would represent the state’s biggest coverage expansion since the Affordable Care Act’s implementation, and comprises about 670,000 people, Lucia said.
“Certification can really support good wages, and it does identify skills that help employers know what they’re hiring,” says Zabin.
According to data compiled by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, 80% of the estimated 145,000 skilled nursing facility workers in California (as of 2019) are women, and 72% are people of color. More than half, about 80,000, earn less than $20 an hour.
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
California agencies overseeing agriculture, business, labor and transportation are commissioning a study to examine the unique aspects of agricultural trucking in the state and provide policy recommendations to address longstanding driver recruitment and retention issues that have worsened since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New research released today uses California tax data to better understand independent contracting in California and the role it plays in the state’s economy.
A new report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center highlights the public cost of low wages and few benefits in some sectors of the construction industry in the United States. This national report is released today in conjunction with state briefs for Connecticut, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.
Today, the UC Berkeley Labor Center released a groundbreaking report that provides a new and comprehensive set of policy principles for worker technology rights in the United States.
A new research brief by the UC Berkeley Labor Center demonstrates how defined benefit (DB) pensions—which provide secure monthly retirement income based on salary and years of service—support a quality public sector workforce in Marin County.
A new UC Berkeley analysis finds that a Massachusetts measure proposed by Uber, Lyft, and several delivery network companies would create a subminimum wage of as little as $4.82 an hour.
The study, by Ken Jacobs and Kuochih Huang of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, finds that almost half of the families of construction workers in California are enrolled in a safety net program at an annual cost of over $3 billion in public funds. By comparison, just over a third of all California workers have a family member enrolled in one or more safety net programs.
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 California Agriculture Truck Driver Study — led by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, in partnership with the UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety and the UC Merced Community and Labor Center — will provide the first in-depth look at the labor market for agricultural truck drivers in California.
Our chair from 1987 to 1994, Marty Morgenstern was an extraordinary and unparalleled champion of labor. His life is a testament to his belief in the value of public service, and his conviction that government can and should be a force for the common good.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center is seeking a new Director of the Green Economy Program to lead research, education, and policy projects in the intersection of climate, jobs and equity.
Prop 22 carves out an exception from state labor law for app-based transportation and delivery gig companies, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart, allowing the companies to continue to classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Labor Center chair Ken Jacobs and economics professor Michael Reich have produced several papers that examine the implications of Prop 22 compared to employee status for drivers, consumers, taxpayers, and the companies.
Today we lost a legend in the labor movement, a champion for workers’ rights, and a dear friend of the Labor Center — Richard Trumka. We are all deeply saddened by this unexpected news.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center offers PAID internships to graduate and undergraduate students, who learn how to organize and do research to support social and economic justice for workers in California. The program has two tracks: “Learn Organizing Skills” and “Applied Research and Policy.”
