03/19/2024

News

The Union Effect in California #2: Gains for Women, Workers of Color, and Immigrants

There are multiple reasons for this union effect. Collective bargaining agreements often standardize wage rates across similar occupations doing similar tasks, and establish objective procedures for hiring and awarding raises and promotions. Unions can narrow the wage gap between workers with different skills; they can also increase skill levels by providing high-quality apprenticeships and other […]

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The Union Effect in California #1: Wages, Benefits, and Use of Public Safety Net Programs

Unions have historically played a role in improving wages and benefits by enabling workers to join together to negotiate with employers. Recent research finds a persistent positive effect of unions on members’ wages and household income (Farber et al. 2018). On their own, individual workers have little bargaining power with employers. When bargaining together, workers […]

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To Work with Dignity: The Unfinished March Toward a Decent Minimum Wage

This paper examines the context that gave rise to this particular march demand, presents historical trends in the real (inflation-adjusted) value of the minimum wage and the impact on black workers, and discusses some of the contemporary issues surrounding minimum-wage policies.

Research & Studies
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Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast Food Industry

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of enrollments in America’s major public benefits programs are from working families. But many of them work in jobs that pay wages so low that their paychecks do not generate enough income to provide for life’s basic necessities.

Research & Studies
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Work, Money and Power: Unions in the 21st Century

This pamphlet was commissioned by the California Speaker’s Commission on Labor Education and produced by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, and answers basic questions about unions and the labor movement. An informative, readable and attractive resource for unions, schools, community groups and others.

Research & Studies
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