Posts tagged Lorena Gonzalez
How California reached the unthinkable: A union deal with tech giants
September 15, 2025 // In roughly six weeks, three California Democrats, a labor head and two ride-hailing leaders managed to pull off what would have been unthinkable just one year prior: striking a deal between labor unions and their longtime foes, tech giants Uber and Lyft. California lawmakers announced the agreement in late August, paving a path for ride-hailing drivers to unionize as labor wanted, in exchange for the state drastically reducing expensive insurance coverage mandates protested by the companies. It earned rare public support from Gov. Gavin Newsom and received final approval from state lawmakers this week.
As Legislature Does Nothing, Manicurists Become Latest Victim of AB 5
September 14, 2025 // One of those carve-outs, for manicurists, expired on the first day of 2025. An effort was made to extend the exemption, but the bill was killed by a legislative committee, leaving nail technicians, 82% of whom are American-Vietnamese (and 85% are women), with little choice but to sue the state. The lawsuit claims the damage done to the manicurists “will be severe and irreparable.” At the same time, the salons where the manicurists work “will be forced out of business and will be forced to close their doors.” They will also “be subject to significant assessments and financial penalties that will be impossible to pay.”
California Uber and Lyft drivers closer to being able to unionize after crucial vote
September 12, 2025 // Uber called the deal a “compromise,” but a spokesperson would not answer CalMatters’ question about whether the company commits to bargaining in good faith if the drivers vote to form a union. Lyft also expressed support for the deal, but a spokesperson for the company would not comment on the unionization bill. There’s even more political intrigue surrounding the unionization bill: A new lawsuit filed by Rivas’s former press secretary, Cynthia Moreno, alleges Rivas made a deal with the Service Employees International Union over the unionization bill in exchange for its support for the state Democrats’ redistricting effort that will go before voters in November.
Federal lawsuit alleges discrimination against Vietnamese women nail techs
June 3, 2025 // Licensed barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians and electrologists can still work as independent contractors under state labor law without being subjected to a rigorous test. But exemptions under Assembly Bill 5 expired this year for manicurists. The change has left manicurists and nail salon owners alike confused as to whether non-employees can continue renting booths for their businesses — a decades-long industry practice.
Dozens of UC Workers, Labor Leaders Arrested While Protesting Understaffing, Unfair Wages
May 20, 2025 // Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Labor Federation, and Teresa Romero, the national president of United Farm Workers, joined about 20 union-backed UC workers who were zip-tied and removed from the William J. Rutter Center at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus just after 9:30 a.m.
Op-ed: California Legislature should drop latest attack on gig workers
April 21, 2025 // “The bill’s utter lack of detail is a problem,” William Messenger told us; he’s vice president and legal director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which defends workers’ right not to be controlled by unions. “It’s almost like they’re giving that department the authority to just sort of make up its own labor law.” He contrasted that with Massachusetts, whose voters last November passed Question 3, which enacts gig driver rules, but runs to 33 pages and, among other things, details a hearing and appeals process.
Worker rights? Racial bias? A law change for manicurists prompts debate, confusion
February 17, 2025 // Since the beginning of the year, licensed manicurists and nail salon owners in Orange County and across the state have been confused about whether a change in state law allows the business practice of renting a booth to continue or not. After an exemption expired under state law, nail salon workers are now subject to a rigorous test to determine if they are independent contractors while licensed aestheticians, electrologists, barbers and cosmetologists remain exempted from it.
Fearing AI will take their jobs, California workers plan a long battle against tech
January 19, 2025 // More than 200 trade union members and technologists gathered in Sacramento this week at a first-of-its-kind conference to discuss how AI and other tech threatens workers and to strategize for upcoming fights and possible strikes. The Making Tech Work for Workers event was convened by University of California labor centers, unions, and worker advocates and attracted people representing dock workers, home care workers, teachers, nurses, actors, state office workers, and many other occupations.
Business groups sue over California’s new ban on captive audience meetings
January 4, 2025 // The law violates these protections by "discriminating against employers’ viewpoints on political matters, regulating the content of employers’ communications with their employees, and by chilling and prohibiting employer speech," the lawsuit said. Employers "have the right to communicate with their employees about the employers’ viewpoints on politics, unionization, and other labor issues."
Feeding the Kitty
September 30, 2024 // Unions have pursued shareholder resolutions asking for a “free and fair election process,” meaning card check and neutrality. They have also sought to pass resolutions demanding audits of a company’s labor practices. It’s not hard to see how a future resolution could explicitly try to prohibit companies from using independent contractors.