“It’s a big deal that, for the first time, employees of the State Legislature will have the ability to organize and bargain collectively,” Ken Jacobs said, “and have some voice over their conditions at work.”

First, it showed how few workers make a living wage during normal times. About one in three workers in California—that’s about 5 million people—make less than $600 a week, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center. The current state minimum wage—$13 an hour at larger employers—comes to only $520 a week for full-time workers, and that’s before taxes are taken out from their paychecks.