The Labor Center conducts research on unions and worker organizations and how they affect the lives of working people. This research has included the effects of unions on workers’ wages and benefits, how that differs by race, ethnicity and gender, and the role of unions in shaping public policy. The Center analyzes state and local policies that support worker voice on the job and the ability of workers to organize. We also study the effectiveness of organizing and bargaining strategies and methods.
See also our Labor-Managements Partnerships program
September 10, 2023
Seema Patel reflects on building power for workers ‘on the margins’
August 29, 2023
California Union Membership and Coverage: 2023 Chartbook
August 29, 2023
Snapshot of California Union Membership: ‘It’s not your grandfather’s union anymore’
September 16, 2023
Tech Fears Are Showing Up on Picket Lines
September 4, 2023
Workers ‘can still win really big.’ How labor can demand more
The Labor Center sat down with Seema Patel to ask more about the work she is passionate about, what she’s been working on during her residence, and what “movement lawyering” really means.
A study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center finds that union members are more likely to be women and people of color than 20 years ago.
Chartbook comparing California union membership and coverage from 2001-2002 and 2021-2022. Findings show that at least half of all of California’s 2.5 million union members are women and that the majority of all union workers are people of color. By contrast, 20 years ago the typical union member in California was a white man.
Union membership today is different than a generation ago. It’s not your grandfather’s union anymore.
Young workers on college campuses around the country are supporting unionization at levels not seen in decades. Labor organizers speculate several factors are leading to this historic cascade of strikes and drives for union recognition.
May 31, 2018
The Union Effect in California #1: Wages, Benefits, and Use of Public Safety Net Programs
June 7, 2018
The Union Effect in California #2: Gains for Women, Workers of Color, and Immigrants
June 20, 2018
The Union Effect in California #3: A Voice for Workers in Public Policy
On the sidelines of PSI Congress, we caught up with Jane to discuss her perspectives on organising – and winning!
Hour-long interview with Jane McAlevey.
“The win rate has to be turned into gaining collective bargaining agreements” said Jacobs. “There won’t be a change in labor law unless large numbers of workers are in motion demanding unions, and that won’t happen without a large investment in organizing.”
“It’s an important step toward addressing the high instability health care workers and employers have been facing in recent years,” Laurel Lucia said. “Staffing has been a widespread problem for health care workers around the country.”
If SB 525 doesn’t get the governor’s approval, the wage terms in the Kaiser agreement would likely put pressure on on other big health systems to raise pay for the industry’s lowest-paid workers, said Laurel Lucia, director of the health care program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Ken Jacobs
Labor Center Chair
Jane McAlevey
Senior Policy Fellow
Alex Caputo-Pearl
Practitioner in Residence
Katie Quan
Senior Fellow
