These policies will depress job growth and ultimately lead to less tax revenue to support education, health care, housing, and infrastructure.” “If California employers have to deal with higher costs, more litigation exposure, and additional bureaucracy… it leaves less resources to invest in things such as clean energy, workers’ wages, benefits, and innovation. Workers, taxpayers and California’s competitiveness are the losers if some of the onerous policies passed by the Legislature are ultimately signed into law,” Jennifer Barrera, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. The California Chamber of Commerce, labor’s chief adversary at the state Capitol, pushed back on the notion that unions were big winners in the Legislature. Overwhelming majorities sided with the unions in all three instances.

The survey also polled people about which side they favor - unions or businesses - in three major labor disputes involving actors, writers and auto workers. The California Legislature has voted to expand the salary mandate for healthcare workers statewide, after a hard-fought campaign by labor unions.Īcross the nation, a recent Gallup poll found, labor unions are enjoying robust public support, with two-thirds of Americans saying they approve of unions. But this year brought a few new elements that added up in labor’s favor: Several new lawmakers with a progressive streak, a new Assembly speaker, Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), who put his muscle behind some of labor’s priorities, and ongoing strikes in Southern California that have prompted many politicians to publicly side with workers.Ĭalifornia Will California health workers get a $25 minimum wage? Legislature sends bill to Newsom after long fight The tug of war between labor and business is a constant in the California Capitol. The legislation would give actors and artists a way to nullify provisions in vague contracts that allow studios and other companies to use artificial intelligence to digitally clone their voices, faces and bodies. They also won passage of a bill allowing staffers who work for the Legislature to organize unions - a proposal that had failed several times in the past.Īnd even though it won’t get any votes in the Legislature until next year, a new bill introduced in the final days of the session shows lawmakers’ willingness to go to bat for striking workers in the entertainment industry. “The fourth branch of government in this Capitol building,” she said, referring to labor unions, “has a little bit too much power this year.” I think many people are thinking about it,” said Sen. So when the time came to vote on allowing striking workers to receive unemployment benefits, an exasperated Republican state senator rose to make the case that businesses wouldn’t be able to stay afloat if their employees could get paid while on the picket line. Gavin Newsom a bill giving all workers in California a minimum of five paid sick days - up from the current requirement of three. They persuaded the Democratic-led Legislature to send Gov. They convinced lawmakers to pass a bill requiring driverless trucks to have a human safety driver. They landed a major deal to raise fast food wages to $20 an hour. By the time California state senators took up a bill Thursday night to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers, labor unions had already scored several monumental wins in the state Legislature.

Afloat crossword