California’s economy continues to grow in the shape of an hourglass, with jobs growing only at the highest and lowest ends of the wage spectrum. The middle class is disappearing as the housing crisis and rising unemployment rates drag down any progress families make. We must promote an economy where everyone gets a fair shake and a fair share. The California Labor Federation has just issued a new report "California's Budget Gap, The Impact of the State's Budget Deficit on Working Families." Download the report here. (PDF)

Legislation:

• Relief from home foreclosures. (SB 926 – Perata, AB 1830 – Lieu) Hundreds of thousands of working families are at risk of losing their homes due to subprime lending practices. Families must be offered tools to help save their homes and standards for the lending industry must be established to prevent this type of crisis from happening again. These bills would protect working families today while imposing new standards on the industry to protect working families from predatory mortgage lending practices in the future.
• WARN Act modifications. (AB 1989 – Swanson). During this time of increased layoffs, plant closures, and job insecurity, working families need information about pending layoffs as soon as possible. The California WARN Act provides that notice. This bill would extend the required notice to employees, union officials, and local government agencies from 60 to 90 days, strengthen the contents of the required notice and allow employees to file claims for violation of the law with the Labor Commissioner and pursue their claims via the Labor Commissioner's administrative hearing process.
• Sub-minimum wage oversight Current law allows employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage. Recent reports demonstrate that large corporate chains benefit from paying workers significantly less than the minimum $8 per hour. We will pursue administrative and legislative oversight of this practice to ensure that employers are not taking advantage of California’s most vulnerable residents in order to avoid paying fair wages