“Support for unions is the highest that we’ve seen since the mid-1960s in the United States,” said Ken Jacobs, who chairs the UC Berkeley Labor Center. “There’s interest among large numbers of workers in joining unions. And we see support across all age groups and Democrats, Republicans, independents.”
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.
About 3.2 million people in the state of nearly 40 million are projected to not have health insurance next year, according to the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Roughly 1.5 million are unauthorized immigrants, making them the largest uninsured group in the state.
But more than 1.3 million undocumented Californians are projected to lack health insurance next year, remaining the largest uninsured group in the state, according to a report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
A study from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that nearly half of immigrant workers in California are employed in essential jobs.
Jacobs said similar increases in cities such as San Francisco “have led to measurable, strong increases in workers’ pay, [and] we are not seeing effects on employment overall.”
Much of gig work is spent waiting for a job in the app. UC Berkeley’s Labor Center did a study where they tried to take time between rides into account, along with wear and tear on the vehicle. Adding those factors in the mix, the study found the wage guarantee drops to just $5.64 an hour.
