Summary

Taken for a Ride: Poverty and Food Insecurity Among Workers at Universal Studios Hollywood, the latest report released by the UCLA Labor Center and the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, focuses on the working and living conditions experienced by workers at Universal Studios in California. Based on a survey completed by 1,330 Universal Studios Hollywood workers, the sample represents nearly a quarter of the average year-round workforce in the two largest groups of workers at the park: a unit of food service workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 11and a unit of retail workers, tour guides, and a variety of other positions represented by IATSE B192. Both unions collaborated on this project. The authors complemented these surveys with detailed qualitative interviews with approximately twenty workers and with company data.