What might be harder than finding a job, Lopezlira says, is finding a job with all the high salaries and extra benefits and perks that came with many Silicon Valley and Bay Area tech jobs.
Aida Farmand’s work finds that older workers have become more exposed to the risk of job displacement over time.
Ken Jacobs is keeping an eye on Peet’s. A key next step, he said, will be for the recently unionized workers to draft their demands ahead of negotiations. Depending on how the company approaches these developments, the first round of contract bargaining can be a very tough one for the unionizing workers.
McAlevey argues labor’s priority should be organizing that targets strategic sectors with hard-to-replace workforces.
“The desire to have a union is contagious. Workers see successful strikes, they see successful negotiations and that inspires peoples’ hopes and raises their expectations,” said Ken Jacobs, chair of the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center.
A recent study by the University of California Berkeley reveals that 39% of construction workers are forced to enroll in one or more safety net programs to make ends meet, these programs cost the taxpayer $28 billion annually.
“Many workers understood the opportunity of this moment in terms of winning greater pay and benefits,” Jacobs said. “And I think they faced a tremendous need. All of those together really pushed a lot of the strike activity.”
Research by the University of California Berkeley Labor Center indicates that 46 percent of the families of construction workers in Texas rely on safety net programs. Fifty-five percent of them lack health insurance, which is 2½ times the rate for all laborers, according to the January 2022 report.
Some cities and counties have a higher minimum wage. Visit the UC Berkeley Labor Center online
Enrique Lopezlira, an economist at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said wage gaps are in part caused by discrimination. He pointed to studies that show that resumes with traditionally white-sounding names were more likely to be contacted by employers than similar resumes that used Black-sounding names.
Jane McAlevey, a policy fellow at the University of California Berkeley Labor Center, has worked as a union organiser and negotiator. She said that workers should not expect companies to go along with efforts to build labour power.
The national bus driver shortage started before the pandemic, according to Enrique Lopezlira, director of the Low-Wage Work Program at UC Berkeley’s Labor Center. He said two trends — a drop in immigration during Donald Trump’s presidency and an aging workforce — have driven a labor shortage.
According to an inventory compiled by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, 40 cities and Counties in California have their own ordinances with rates higher than that minimum amount.
In recent years, the number of cities in California requiring a higher minimum wage in their jurisdiction has increased. The DIR refers to UC Berkeley’s Labor Center for the list of cities and counties in the golden state with the highest minimum wages.
Strikes with strong backing from union membership “are the only way to win standard-setting contracts, and winning standard-setting contracts is the only way to rebuild the labor movement,” said Jane McAlevey, a scholar and longtime organizer. Her coming book, “Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations,” documents the importance of aggressive labor actions in improving pay and working conditions.
Some cities and counties have a higher minimum wage than what is required by the state. The UC Berkeley Labor Center maintains a list.
Estimates from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the UC Berkeley Labor Center show that 391,000 Californians previously excluded from subsidies in Covered California would be eligible for them under the new rule. Of those, an estimated 149,000 would likely enroll in a Covered California plan. Those switching from an employer-sponsored plan would save an average of $1,478 per person in 2023, according to the two centers.
Some California municipalities have their own minimum wages, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center. Emeryville has the highest minimum wage in the state, with workers earning at least $17.68 an hour.
Several California cities have an even higher minimum wage as of Jan. 1.
Carol Zabin, founder of UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Green Economy Program, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Energy Commission, or CEC, as part of its 2022 Clean Energy Hall of Fame Awards.
This research brief finds that public employee pensions in Sonoma County help to balance the gap with private sector salaries and are financially sound, though they have a way to go in protecting many retirees from inflation.
Drawing on dozens of examples of public sector technology use across local, state, and federal government agencies, this comprehensive report identifies how governments use technology, what drives technology adoption, and how these technologies impact public sector work and the nation’s twenty million public sector workers.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center has released a report on how and why employers in key industries are deploying new technologies, and what effects these changes could have on workers. The report, “Technological change in five industries: Threats to jobs, wages, and working conditions,” synthesizes the findings from studies released by the Labor Center and Working Partnerships USA from 2018 to 2022. The report concludes that technology’s effects on job quality – like wages and working conditions – should be just as big of a concern as its effects on the total number of jobs available.
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.
Meet the 2022-2023 Student Advisory Committee Members
This month’s “Expert Focus” from Washington Center for Equitable Growth highlights leaders in the field of the future of work who are examining technology’s impact on workers and the U.S. economy. Learn more about the work of Annette Bernhardt and and other leading researchers in the field.
We strongly support UC academic workers’ right to strike, and call on the University of California to bargain in good faith and reach fair contracts with the unions.
The California Energy Commission just announced that Carol Zabin has been awarded a 2022 Clean Energy Hall of Fame Award for Lifetime Achievement! This annual award honors those who have made exceptional contributions to our state’s progress toward a 100 percent clean energy future.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center has an opening for a senior policy researcher for a project focused on power structure analysis.
We are thrilled to announce and welcome our new co-directors of the Labor Center’s Green Economy Program: Dr. Jessie HF Hammerling and Francisco Arzu.
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.
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.
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.
Apply by February 15! 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.”
