The first case study, authored by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, details how fast-food workers built power and won a $20 minimum wage in 2024. Workers gained substantial wage increases by successfully passing AB 1228, a state bill that boosted pay for workers at fast-food franchises with 60 or more locations nationwide. The new baseline minimum wage of $20 was the largest minimum wage increase in US history.

The bill also established the Fast Food Council under the California Department of Industrial Relations. Fast-food workers make up the body of the council alongside legislators and fast-food business interests. For the first time, fast-food workers have an equal voice with employers and legislators in proposing and developing industry-wide labor standards.

The case study demonstrates that organizing by sector can be an effective strategy to improve conditions in franchised, fissured industries. Rather than targeting individual fast-food workplaces, the campaign made gains for workers in the industry as a whole by passing a bill that applied to the sector. 

The fast-food workers’ fight also underscores the importance of organizing beyond legislative campaigns. In 2024 fast-food workers deepened solidarity by forming a minority union with SEIU. Workers in the minority union initiated over 40 strikes, organized Know Your Rights trainings and pushed for improved work scheduling protections.  

The next case study from the Inland Empire Labor and Community Center at UC Riverside (IELCC) recounts how warehouse workers in the Inland Empire won improved heat safety regulations and more through their partnership with worker centers and unions. 

In early 2024, workers at Amazon’s largest air cargo hub on the West Coast teamed up with the Warehouse Workers Resource Center (WWRC) to file a lawsuit against Amazon. The case complained that Amazon had failed to implement heat illness prevention measures for outdoor workers. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) ruled in favor of the workers after finding that Amazon did not provide access to sufficient shade and water during periods of high heat. The goliath company was fined over $14,000 by the state and required to implement corrected standards at the facility. 

The warehouse workers also partnered with the WWRC to establish stronger regulations for heat safety under California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. The new standards require employers to provide cooling areas for workers when temperatures reach 82 degrees Fahrenheit and take additional protective measures at 87 degrees.

In addition to fighting for state policies, Amazon workers at the air cargo hub launched a unionization drive with the Teamsters in late 2024. By December, a majority of workers had signed union authorization cards, but Amazon refused to recognize the union. Workers responded with collective action, initiating walkouts and a holiday strike that garnered national attention. The warehouse workers won increased wages, safer conditions and other workplace improvements through their efforts, supported by the Teamsters and the WWRC. 

The final case study, authored by the UCLA IRLE, highlights how farmworkers built power in 2024. Farmworkers filed for union recognition at a markedly increased rate from previous years using an expedited majority sign-up process made possible by a 2022 California bill. In 2024 alone, the United Farmworkers of America (UFW) filed more union petitions than they had in the past decade. The UFW filed four petitions for new unions with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, seeking to represent 1,200 farmworkers at locations across California.

Immigrant farmworkers also sought protections with assistance from the UFW and CalOSHA through a Biden-era initiative called the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) program. The DALE program allows undocumented workers who experienced labor violations to be protected from deportation and employer retaliation while participating in a workplace investigation. 

In 2024, the UFW organized a series of DALE clinics in Bakersfield in partnership with the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and several other organizations. With the assistance of NILC attorneys and dozens of volunteers, hundreds of farmworkers successfully completed the DALE application process and were granted work permits for two to four years.

Workers, policy makers, organizers and allies can learn more about the “State of the Unions: California Labor in 2024” report here. Download the full text of the report here.