Every year, labor leaders from across the state meet to determine labor’s legislative priorities for the coming months. We shape our legislative agenda around the issues that matter the most to our unions.

• Labor Law Enforcement
• Meal Breaks
• Independent Contractors
• Worksite Safety and Health

• Health Care
• Rate Regulation
• Paid Sick Days

• Economy and Budget
• Home Foreclosures
• Minimum Wage

• Workers’ Compensation
• Union Organizing
• Offshoring of Jobs
• Immigrant Workers

Labor's 2008 Legislative Agenda

California’s working families face tremendous risk in 2008 – risk of rising health care costs, risk of losing their jobs, their retirement benefits and their homes, and risk of eroded working conditions from a growing underground economy. The economy is on the brink of a major recession and our state budget faces a $16 billion deficit.

Unions built the middle class in this country and we continue to fight the growing economic inequality that working families face. But with anti-labor administrations, both in Washington, D.C. and in Sacramento, a National Labor Relations Board that actively undermines worker protections, and an entire industry of antiunion consultants that uses fear tactics to prevent workers from organizing, our ability to represent workers is under constant attack.

To stop this backslide, our 2008 legislative agenda focuses on Securing the Middle Class. We will not allow the gap between the haves and have-nots to grow unabated. We will not stand by as our members lose their homes and their benefits. Nor can we allow employers to misclassify their workers as independent contractors to increase profits and undermine employee protections.

Elected officials recognize that our health care system is in crisis and there is momentum for change. As we move into the 2008 session, the Legislature continues to work on a bill that would make health care more affordable and accessible to all.

View the entire 2008 Legislative Agenda

How does your legislator measure up? Our Force For Progress Legislative Scorecards will show you how California's elected officials voted on important labor issues.

Contacts

• Angie Wei, Legislative Director (Workers' Compensation)
• Caitlin Vega, Legislative Advocate (Wage and Hour, Public Employees, Low Wage Worker Issues, Underground Economy, Right to Organize, Immigration)
• Jeremy Smith, Legislative Advocate (Family Leave, Worker Health and Safety, Offshoring, Election Reform, Labor Education, Green Jobs, Toxics in the Workplace)
• Emily Clayton, Policy Coordinator (Healthcare)
• Shawna Manning, Legislative Office Manager