Posts tagged California
Commentary California’s $20 Minimum Wage Is a Cautionary Tale for Los Angeles’ Olympic-Sized Wage Hike
July 22, 2025 // In a classic case of central planning, lawmakers in Los Angeles passed a bill in May to bring the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30 by 2028, while also imposing a new $8.25 per hour mandatory health care contribution. Implementation of that bill is currently on hold as the city clerk reviews the signatures of a referendum petition that would bring the bill to a public vote in June 2026. Los Angeles’ sector-specific wage hike follows on the heels of California’s statewide $20 minimum wage mandate for fast-food workers that went into effect in April 2024. The consequences of that wage hike on the fast-food industry should be a warning sign to Los Angeles, especially as it prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. Crucial to the success of those Olympic games will be the capability of the city’s hotels and its Los Angeles International Airport to serve an estimated 15 million visitors.
Democratic governors face off with unions at home
July 22, 2025 // Democratic governors who may be eyeing 2028 presidential runs have been at odds with public sector-unions in their states over a variety of issues, including return-to-office policies and the impact of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. In Colorado, state workers sought to join a lawsuit after Gov. Jared Polis allegedly instructed employees to provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement with information on undocumented immigrants. Unions have also sparred with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his order calling state workers back to the office for at least four days a week, with three of them securing eleventh-hour temporary exemptions. And Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office has been engaged in a tense bargaining process with state employees over health care benefits and paid parental leave.
The Roadmap To Modernizing Federal Labor Laws: Matt Kittle, F. Vincent Vernuccio
July 20, 2025 // That's one of the main things that we want to see at I4AW. Is workers having a choice in a voice, having. The ability to say who they want to be represented by, how they want their money spent, and how they want to work. And I know we talked about it briefly with the ERA, but the ability for an independent contractor to work for themselves, not be considered an employee, small business owner, to own a franchise, all those things are core to what the flexibility and the entrepreneurship of the modern worker, and those are the concepts that are embraced, you know, not just on the union end of the Employee Rights Act, but on the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit and pro worker end of the ERA.
San Fernando Valley Kaiser Permanente Nurse Hits UNAC Union With Federal Charges for Forcing Nurses to Fund Union Politics
July 19, 2025 // Sarah Warthemann, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente’s branch in Woodland Hills, has just filed federal charges against the United Nurses Association of California (UNAC) union at her workplace. She maintains that UNAC officials threatened that she would lose her job if she did not formally join the union, and have ignored her attempt to exercise her legal right to opt out of paying for union political expenses. Warthemann filed her charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Republic Services sues Teamsters over alleged actions on picket line as strike passes two week mark
July 17, 2025 // According to the suit, on the first day of the strike, picketers at a Revere facility swarmed a rental car and vans with management and 40 replacement workers, trapping them for three hours. Republic Services alleges that a union official slashed tires on two vans, while others rocked the vehicles and screamed profanities and homophobic slurs. (The suit claims that Revere police on scene took no action in response to the incident. A Revere police spokesperson didn't return a request for comment.) The suit alleges that on another occasion, the same union official spit in the face of a security guard hired by Republic Services. WBUR left messages with the union official seeking comment but did not hear back. The company claimed in the suit that Local 25 President Thomas Mari yelled at Republic General Manager Kenny Runge, words to the effect of “You think this is bad? Wait until we ramp it up."
Gig Drivers Unionize Without Employee Status Under State Plans
July 17, 2025 // Unlike in California, Lyft and Uber remained publicly neutral on the Massachusetts ballot measure and Uber recently vowed to do the same in Illinois. For the companies, the bargaining schemes have the benefit of keeping drivers classified as independent contractors. “As we’ve said for years, we’re willing to work with state legislators on benefit and protection legislation that prioritizes preserving drivers’ independence and flexibility,” said Uber spokesperson Josh Gold.
Sheriff Corpus denies retaliating against sergeant
July 17, 2025 // San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus denied Monday (July 14) that she suspended a sergeant because he provided evidence to outside investigators who concluded she was mishandling deputy misconduct complaints. But the sergeant’s union says it’s part of her pattern of retaliation. Sgt. Joe Fava was placed on administrative leave on July 7 for “matters of accountability,” according to a statement from Corpus, who is the subject of two efforts to remove her from office for misconduct. But Sergeants’ Union President Hector Acosta said Corpus only enforces accountability when it suits her narrative.
Some LA County cities see disruption of trash pickup as workers honor picket line, strike in Boston
July 16, 2025 // Some workers in Southern California have been honoring the strike in an effort to put pressure on Republic Services. Although there is no contract dispute in Los Angeles County, lack of trash pickup has affected cities including Rosemead, Inglewood, Compton and Whittier and Santa Fe Springs. In Orange County, affected cities include Santa Ana and Anaheim. Customers received calls and text messages from Republic Services, saying the company was actively negotiating with union members in Boston amid an effort to resolve the labor dispute
Republic Services strike: Negotiations resume, cities set up trash drop-off sites
July 16, 2025 // Workers for Republic Services stopped collecting trash as part of a contract fight between the union and company, which has impacted two dozen Bay Area cities.
Op-ed: New Economic Study Finds California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Caused 18,000 Job Losses
July 16, 2025 // As the Globe warned, thousands of fast food employees lost jobs, employees’ hours were cut, and business owners had to do more with less. The data comes just over one year after AB 1228’s implementation, and as Los Angeles considers a drastic union-backed $30 wage hike for hotel and tourism workers that would follow the fast food wage law’s precedent of economic destruction, EPI reports.