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"content": "\u003cp>Thousands of California workers whose employers collectively owe them millions of dollars in unpaid wages are at risk of never seeing the money they earned, as the state watchdog agency investigating wage-theft cases is failing to resolve them in a timely way, according to labor enforcement experts and worker advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the businesses in question were cited by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for systematically dodging labor laws, after investigators conducted lengthy reviews, including payroll record audits and interviews with employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers have the right to appeal those citations — which typically come with hefty fines — and most do, said worker attorneys. The next step is a hearing at the Labor Commissioner’s Office. But the agency, whose mission is to combat wage theft, can take years to schedule those hearings, delaying restitution for workers, most of whom are in lower-wage industries.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose\"]‘This is exactly the opposite of what the government is supposed to be doing. Government should be stepping in and policing these employers that are ripping people off, and it’s not happening. And it’s causing real pain.’[/pullquote]The longer the cases drag on, the harder it is for workers to collect what’s owed them, advocates said. The backlog has only worsened during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said the delays at the agency, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, are “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is exactly the opposite of what the government is supposed to be doing,” said Cortese, who chairs the state Senate Labor, Employment and Retirement Committee. “Government should be stepping in and policing these employers that are ripping people off, and it’s not happening. And it’s causing real pain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers living paycheck to paycheck, that pain is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonia Crisostomo, a 47-year-old single mother, worked as a prep cook and cashier at a San Francisco Burger King franchise from 2016 to 2019. But her boss consistently shorted her paychecks, and she is now owed more than $38,000, according to a June 2020 citation issued by state investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If she had received at least some of that money in a timely manner, it could have saved her family from losing their apartment, she said. Instead, when her next job, cleaning offices, ended during the pandemic, Crisostomo was unable to make rent. She and her children moved into the crowded home of a relative and relied on food banks to eat, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was left with nothing,” said Crisostomo, who said she’s not eligible for unemployment benefits. “It was really hard. … With at least some of that money, we wouldn’t have had so many limitations. I wouldn’t have left my apartment, I wouldn’t have gotten into debt with rent, with bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crisostomo’s former employer, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc., was \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21192427-golden-gate-restaurant-group-inc-cure-letter-for-amended-citation-wa-568497-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found liable\u003c/a> for a total of nearly $2 million for failing to pay more than 230 of its employees minimum wage, overtime or meal and rest breaks at several of the Burger King restaurants it operated in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the wronged employees has collected a cent from that citation, because — 19 months later — the state Labor Commissioner’s Office has not yet scheduled a hearing on the company’s appeal, said attorneys representing workers. Until that happens, the case cannot move forward, unless the employer chooses to settle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so unfair that the state is not trying to speed this up,” said Crisostomo, an immigrant from El Salvador, speaking in Spanish. “They should be more strict with this type of employer and pressure them to follow the law. If it’s true that workers have rights, the state should enforce them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11903311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman standing on a street.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonia Crisostomo, 47, waits for the bus home after work in downtown San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2022. Her old employer owes her more than $38,000, state investigators found. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Neither Monu Singh, Golden Gate Restaurant Group’s CEO and president, nor Sanjay Ahuja, its secretary at the time of the investigation, returned KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the company has taken advantage of the delay to shield its assets, which doesn’t bode well for the cheated employees, said Alexx Campbell, who is representing workers in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The company that did this to them has been starting to move assets around and to shut down restaurants in San Francisco and is potentially making moves to avoid payment altogether,” said Campbell, an attorney with the nonprofit group Legal Aid at Work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office declined several interview requests, and would not comment on hearing delays for this case or others investigated by its Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE), the branch of the agency that handles pay violations affecting multiple employees at a single company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, in 2019, agency officials acknowledged that delays were hurting workers. They said changes in the law had given them new tools to combat wage theft but made the process take longer. And they asked the Legislature for a budget increase to hire more staff for its \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/dlseWagesandHours.html\">Wage Claim Adjudication\u003c/a> (WCA) unit, whose officers generally handle appeals of both big BOFE citations and wage claims brought by individual workers — the latter of which totaled more than 32,000 in 2018. WCA may also refer more complex BOFE cases to the Labor Commissioner’s legal unit for an attorney to act as a hearing officer. [aside label=\"Related Coverage\" tag=\"labor-rights\"]In the \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2021/FY2021_ORG7350_BCP3767.pdf\">budget request\u003c/a>, officials wrote that, by law, those individual hearings are supposed to take place within 120 days of the date of the complaint. But the average wait time for individuals was nearly 400 days in 2018, and administrators projected that it would grow to 572 days — 19 months — by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the WCA drowning in stale wage claims awaiting hearing, all the while receiving more new claims each year, the WCA unit is in desperate need of Deputies and Hearing Officers to address burgeoning processing times and ensure cheated workers are receiving justice in a reasonable amount of time,” wrote Carlos Torres, assistant chief of the WCA unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the pandemic hit, the backlog got significantly worse, as the agency temporarily halted in-person proceedings and struggled to conduct business remotely, advocates said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED tracked several large cases that have languished without a hearing, including:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A $4.5 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-40.pdf\">citation\u003c/a> against Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. and contractors in San Diego and Orange counties for underpaying 559 janitorial workers. The fines were issued in June 2018, but 3 1/2 years later, a hearing has not yet been held, according to the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a janitorial industry watchdog group.\u003c/li>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cli>A $12 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.html\">citation\u003c/a> against RDV Construction Inc. in the Los Angeles area for withholding wages from more than a 1,000 workers. The fines were issued in February 2019, but no hearing has yet occurred nearly three years later, according to the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee, a group that helped tip the state to the violations.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>These cases represent just a few of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DLSEReports.htm\">6,831 violations\u003c/a> BOFE cited in fiscal years 2017-2019, according to its enforcement reports to the Legislature. The proposed fines totaled more than $228 million, but only about 12% of that amount was collected in those years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cases drag on, businesses can close or go bankrupt, while witnesses move away or give up on the case, complicating efforts to get restitution for workers, said Patrick Mulligan, who directs San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mulligan’s office cited Golden Gate Restaurant Group, the Burger King franchisee, after its own investigation found the company violated a city health care ordinance. The company settled in September 2020, agreeing to pay employees more than $803,000 over the course of 10 years, of which about $150,000 has been collected, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noting the long payment plan, Mulligan acknowledged the agreement was not “everything the workers deserved,” but said at least it’s money they can put in their pockets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903335\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11903335 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people holding signs in Spanish, protesting in front of a Burger King restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers demand a Burger King franchisee pay wages owed to them, on Oct. 25, 2019. The company operating the franchise, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc. was cited by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office for multiple violations, including failing to pay workers minimum wage and overtime. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“For us, ultimately, our goal of establishing a strong atmosphere of labor enforcement means timely and responsive enforcement actions,” he said. “And then on the other side, it limits the amount of hardship for workers if the matter gets resolved as expeditiously as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres, at the state Labor Commissioner’s WCA unit, recognized that delays give unscrupulous employers an “increased opportunity to further evade the responsibility of unpaid wages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Low-wage workers may be in situations where they are forced to give up in the process … that may result in a paper judgment that leaves little promise of collectability after so much time has passed by,” wrote Torres in his 2019 budget request for more staffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unit, which was initially established to give workers a no-cost, quick alternative to suing an employer in state court, has \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/Budget/Salaries_Wages_Supplement/documents/LWD_combined.pdf\">just 64 hearing officer positions\u003c/a>, according to state Department of Finance records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have way more cases than one person should be assigned,” said Renee Amador, legal director with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund. “We have the Labor Commissioner’s Office who is passionate about enforcing the law. But if they don’t have the people that can do so, they’re [only] going to be able to do so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the Legislature approved funding to increase the unit by 63 positions, including 14 new hearing officers, by mid-2024. And the agency has since hired more staff. But it’s unclear whether that has resulted in shorter processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Cortese said the agency remains inefficient, and plans to hold committee hearings on the delays in coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been the case over the years at the Labor Commissioner’s. This is not a new problem,” Cortese said. “And that usually means the entire culture of the operation needs to be addressed and revisited and restructured.”[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated to reflect a potential additional step in the Labor Commissioner’s processing of large wage-theft cases.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Thousands of California workers whose employers collectively owe them millions of dollars in unpaid wages are at risk of never seeing the money they earned, as the state watchdog agency investigating wage-theft cases is failing to resolve them in a timely way, according to labor enforcement experts and worker advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the businesses in question were cited by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for systematically dodging labor laws, after investigators conducted lengthy reviews, including payroll record audits and interviews with employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers have the right to appeal those citations — which typically come with hefty fines — and most do, said worker attorneys. The next step is a hearing at the Labor Commissioner’s Office. But the agency, whose mission is to combat wage theft, can take years to schedule those hearings, delaying restitution for workers, most of whom are in lower-wage industries.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The longer the cases drag on, the harder it is for workers to collect what’s owed them, advocates said. The backlog has only worsened during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said the delays at the agency, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, are “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is exactly the opposite of what the government is supposed to be doing,” said Cortese, who chairs the state Senate Labor, Employment and Retirement Committee. “Government should be stepping in and policing these employers that are ripping people off, and it’s not happening. And it’s causing real pain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For workers living paycheck to paycheck, that pain is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonia Crisostomo, a 47-year-old single mother, worked as a prep cook and cashier at a San Francisco Burger King franchise from 2016 to 2019. But her boss consistently shorted her paychecks, and she is now owed more than $38,000, according to a June 2020 citation issued by state investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If she had received at least some of that money in a timely manner, it could have saved her family from losing their apartment, she said. Instead, when her next job, cleaning offices, ended during the pandemic, Crisostomo was unable to make rent. She and her children moved into the crowded home of a relative and relied on food banks to eat, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was left with nothing,” said Crisostomo, who said she’s not eligible for unemployment benefits. “It was really hard. … With at least some of that money, we wouldn’t have had so many limitations. I wouldn’t have left my apartment, I wouldn’t have gotten into debt with rent, with bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crisostomo’s former employer, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc., was \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21192427-golden-gate-restaurant-group-inc-cure-letter-for-amended-citation-wa-568497-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found liable\u003c/a> for a total of nearly $2 million for failing to pay more than 230 of its employees minimum wage, overtime or meal and rest breaks at several of the Burger King restaurants it operated in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the wronged employees has collected a cent from that citation, because — 19 months later — the state Labor Commissioner’s Office has not yet scheduled a hearing on the company’s appeal, said attorneys representing workers. Until that happens, the case cannot move forward, unless the employer chooses to settle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so unfair that the state is not trying to speed this up,” said Crisostomo, an immigrant from El Salvador, speaking in Spanish. “They should be more strict with this type of employer and pressure them to follow the law. If it’s true that workers have rights, the state should enforce them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11903311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman standing on a street.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/RS53264_003_SanFrancisco_WageTheftSoniaCrisostomo_01242022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonia Crisostomo, 47, waits for the bus home after work in downtown San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2022. Her old employer owes her more than $38,000, state investigators found. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Neither Monu Singh, Golden Gate Restaurant Group’s CEO and president, nor Sanjay Ahuja, its secretary at the time of the investigation, returned KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the company has taken advantage of the delay to shield its assets, which doesn’t bode well for the cheated employees, said Alexx Campbell, who is representing workers in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The company that did this to them has been starting to move assets around and to shut down restaurants in San Francisco and is potentially making moves to avoid payment altogether,” said Campbell, an attorney with the nonprofit group Legal Aid at Work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office declined several interview requests, and would not comment on hearing delays for this case or others investigated by its Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE), the branch of the agency that handles pay violations affecting multiple employees at a single company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, in 2019, agency officials acknowledged that delays were hurting workers. They said changes in the law had given them new tools to combat wage theft but made the process take longer. And they asked the Legislature for a budget increase to hire more staff for its \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/dlseWagesandHours.html\">Wage Claim Adjudication\u003c/a> (WCA) unit, whose officers generally handle appeals of both big BOFE citations and wage claims brought by individual workers — the latter of which totaled more than 32,000 in 2018. WCA may also refer more complex BOFE cases to the Labor Commissioner’s legal unit for an attorney to act as a hearing officer. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2021/FY2021_ORG7350_BCP3767.pdf\">budget request\u003c/a>, officials wrote that, by law, those individual hearings are supposed to take place within 120 days of the date of the complaint. But the average wait time for individuals was nearly 400 days in 2018, and administrators projected that it would grow to 572 days — 19 months — by 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the WCA drowning in stale wage claims awaiting hearing, all the while receiving more new claims each year, the WCA unit is in desperate need of Deputies and Hearing Officers to address burgeoning processing times and ensure cheated workers are receiving justice in a reasonable amount of time,” wrote Carlos Torres, assistant chief of the WCA unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the pandemic hit, the backlog got significantly worse, as the agency temporarily halted in-person proceedings and struggled to conduct business remotely, advocates said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED tracked several large cases that have languished without a hearing, including:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A $4.5 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2018/2018-40.pdf\">citation\u003c/a> against Cheesecake Factory Restaurants Inc. and contractors in San Diego and Orange counties for underpaying 559 janitorial workers. The fines were issued in June 2018, but 3 1/2 years later, a hearing has not yet been held, according to the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a janitorial industry watchdog group.\u003c/li>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cli>A $12 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2019/2019-16.html\">citation\u003c/a> against RDV Construction Inc. in the Los Angeles area for withholding wages from more than a 1,000 workers. The fines were issued in February 2019, but no hearing has yet occurred nearly three years later, according to the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee, a group that helped tip the state to the violations.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>These cases represent just a few of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DLSEReports.htm\">6,831 violations\u003c/a> BOFE cited in fiscal years 2017-2019, according to its enforcement reports to the Legislature. The proposed fines totaled more than $228 million, but only about 12% of that amount was collected in those years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cases drag on, businesses can close or go bankrupt, while witnesses move away or give up on the case, complicating efforts to get restitution for workers, said Patrick Mulligan, who directs San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mulligan’s office cited Golden Gate Restaurant Group, the Burger King franchisee, after its own investigation found the company violated a city health care ordinance. The company settled in September 2020, agreeing to pay employees more than $803,000 over the course of 10 years, of which about $150,000 has been collected, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noting the long payment plan, Mulligan acknowledged the agreement was not “everything the workers deserved,” but said at least it’s money they can put in their pockets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11903335\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11903335 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people holding signs in Spanish, protesting in front of a Burger King restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_7563-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers demand a Burger King franchisee pay wages owed to them, on Oct. 25, 2019. The company operating the franchise, Golden Gate Restaurant Group Inc. was cited by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office for multiple violations, including failing to pay workers minimum wage and overtime. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“For us, ultimately, our goal of establishing a strong atmosphere of labor enforcement means timely and responsive enforcement actions,” he said. “And then on the other side, it limits the amount of hardship for workers if the matter gets resolved as expeditiously as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres, at the state Labor Commissioner’s WCA unit, recognized that delays give unscrupulous employers an “increased opportunity to further evade the responsibility of unpaid wages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Low-wage workers may be in situations where they are forced to give up in the process … that may result in a paper judgment that leaves little promise of collectability after so much time has passed by,” wrote Torres in his 2019 budget request for more staffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unit, which was initially established to give workers a no-cost, quick alternative to suing an employer in state court, has \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/Budget/Salaries_Wages_Supplement/documents/LWD_combined.pdf\">just 64 hearing officer positions\u003c/a>, according to state Department of Finance records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have way more cases than one person should be assigned,” said Renee Amador, legal director with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund. “We have the Labor Commissioner’s Office who is passionate about enforcing the law. But if they don’t have the people that can do so, they’re [only] going to be able to do so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the Legislature approved funding to increase the unit by 63 positions, including 14 new hearing officers, by mid-2024. And the agency has since hired more staff. But it’s unclear whether that has resulted in shorter processing times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Cortese said the agency remains inefficient, and plans to hold committee hearings on the delays in coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been the case over the years at the Labor Commissioner’s. This is not a new problem,” Cortese said. “And that usually means the entire culture of the operation needs to be addressed and revisited and restructured.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated to reflect a potential additional step in the Labor Commissioner’s processing of large wage-theft cases.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Apple Fires #AppleToo Leader as Part of Leak Probe. She Says It’s Retaliation",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Updated October 15, 2021 at 11:46 AM PT\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apple has fired a lead organizer of the #AppleToo movement, as the company investigates multiple employees suspected of leaking internal documents to the media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janneke Parrish, a program manager who had been with the company for more than five years, told NPR that she was pushed out on Thursday. Parrish said she was dismissed after Apple claimed she had deleted files and apps from her company phone amid an investigation into how details of a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook leaked to the press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is retaliation. I have been one of the most visible members of #AppleToo. I know the risk of doing that,” Parrish said. “I see a consistent pattern when each of the members of #AppleToo are subjected to investigations or Apple leadership approaches them. There has been a pattern established.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://appletoo.us/\">#AppleToo\u003c/a> was spearheaded by Parrish and another Apple employee, Cher Scarlett, who is still at Apple but on medical leave and would not comment to NPR. The effort \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/appletoo\">gathered hundreds of anonymous accounts\u003c/a> from Apple employees who highlighted alleged verbal abuse, sexual harassment, pay equity issues and other forms of workplace mistreatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was hoping to give a voice to those who have been ignored, gaslit or retaliated against for abuse in the workplace,” Parrish told NPR. “They are stories that echoed across the company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock said the company is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive work environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised, and out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters,” he told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Apple employees who are supportive of #AppleToo say that, like Parrish, they see her ouster as a reprisal for workplace organizing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Retaliating against Janneke is not going to stop Apple workers from standing up for themselves,” said one employee who requested anonymity for fear of being targeted by the company. “There are many workers who support #AppleToo who are trying to break the culture of secrecy at the company, and they aren’t going to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"apple\"]A small but growing chorus of Silicon Valley workers, from those employed by industry giants \u003ca href=\"#increasinglycalling\">like Google\u003c/a> to workers at smaller companies like Glitch, Mapbox and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/30/1011387838/change-org-workers-form-a-union-giving-labor-activists-another-win-in-tech\">Change.org\u003c/a>, have in recent years been drawing attention to everything from the precarious arrangements of contract workers to workplace harassment and abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Apple, a company known for respectable pay and generous company perks, workers have long been deferential to leadership and kept complaints within the confines of the Cupertino-based company. But Parrish and others became fed up with what they saw as a lack of progress inside the company, so they began speaking out publicly and organizing colleagues around common causes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every internal avenue was closed,” Parrish said. “Leadership closed them all. When that happens, what other option do we have?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vince White, a lawyer representing Parrish, says Apple likely violated the law by firing his client.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking at a number of different retaliation claims under a variety of different statutes,” White said. “This is an act of retaliation that can very well lead to litigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News of the firing comes months after revelations surfaced that the National Labor Relations Board is investigating two charges against Apple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One was filed by former senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik, who claims that her manager at Apple harassed her and that the company gave her fewer responsibilities at work as a form of retaliation. In September, Apple fired Gjøvik for allegedly publicly sharing confidential company records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other charge was filed by Scarlett, the #AppleToo co-founder, who claimed Apple shut down her efforts to conduct company-wide pay-equity surveys, which she says she was doing to help confirm her allegations of gender-pay gaps. She said Apple even blocked her attempt to start a discussion on the workplace communication tool Slack about gender pay discrepancies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tech news website The Verge \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/15/22727123/apple-fires-leader-apple-too-movement\">first reported\u003c/a> on Parrish’s firing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parrish said she has been overwhelmed with support from former colleagues at Apple, but she worries that her firing might have a chilling effect on other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This shows that there are consequences for standing up and saying, ‘I disagree,’ ” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, she added, “I recognize how much this can galvanize people to do the right thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Editor’s note:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> Apple is among NPR’s financial supporters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Apple+fires+%23AppleToo+leader+as+part+of+leak+probe.+She+says+it%27s+retaliation&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Updated October 15, 2021 at 11:46 AM PT\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apple has fired a lead organizer of the #AppleToo movement, as the company investigates multiple employees suspected of leaking internal documents to the media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janneke Parrish, a program manager who had been with the company for more than five years, told NPR that she was pushed out on Thursday. Parrish said she was dismissed after Apple claimed she had deleted files and apps from her company phone amid an investigation into how details of a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook leaked to the press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is retaliation. I have been one of the most visible members of #AppleToo. I know the risk of doing that,” Parrish said. “I see a consistent pattern when each of the members of #AppleToo are subjected to investigations or Apple leadership approaches them. There has been a pattern established.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://appletoo.us/\">#AppleToo\u003c/a> was spearheaded by Parrish and another Apple employee, Cher Scarlett, who is still at Apple but on medical leave and would not comment to NPR. The effort \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/appletoo\">gathered hundreds of anonymous accounts\u003c/a> from Apple employees who highlighted alleged verbal abuse, sexual harassment, pay equity issues and other forms of workplace mistreatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was hoping to give a voice to those who have been ignored, gaslit or retaliated against for abuse in the workplace,” Parrish told NPR. “They are stories that echoed across the company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock said the company is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive work environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised, and out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters,” he told NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Apple employees who are supportive of #AppleToo say that, like Parrish, they see her ouster as a reprisal for workplace organizing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Retaliating against Janneke is not going to stop Apple workers from standing up for themselves,” said one employee who requested anonymity for fear of being targeted by the company. “There are many workers who support #AppleToo who are trying to break the culture of secrecy at the company, and they aren’t going to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A small but growing chorus of Silicon Valley workers, from those employed by industry giants \u003ca href=\"#increasinglycalling\">like Google\u003c/a> to workers at smaller companies like Glitch, Mapbox and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/30/1011387838/change-org-workers-form-a-union-giving-labor-activists-another-win-in-tech\">Change.org\u003c/a>, have in recent years been drawing attention to everything from the precarious arrangements of contract workers to workplace harassment and abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Apple, a company known for respectable pay and generous company perks, workers have long been deferential to leadership and kept complaints within the confines of the Cupertino-based company. But Parrish and others became fed up with what they saw as a lack of progress inside the company, so they began speaking out publicly and organizing colleagues around common causes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every internal avenue was closed,” Parrish said. “Leadership closed them all. When that happens, what other option do we have?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vince White, a lawyer representing Parrish, says Apple likely violated the law by firing his client.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking at a number of different retaliation claims under a variety of different statutes,” White said. “This is an act of retaliation that can very well lead to litigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News of the firing comes months after revelations surfaced that the National Labor Relations Board is investigating two charges against Apple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One was filed by former senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik, who claims that her manager at Apple harassed her and that the company gave her fewer responsibilities at work as a form of retaliation. In September, Apple fired Gjøvik for allegedly publicly sharing confidential company records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other charge was filed by Scarlett, the #AppleToo co-founder, who claimed Apple shut down her efforts to conduct company-wide pay-equity surveys, which she says she was doing to help confirm her allegations of gender-pay gaps. She said Apple even blocked her attempt to start a discussion on the workplace communication tool Slack about gender pay discrepancies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tech news website The Verge \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/15/22727123/apple-fires-leader-apple-too-movement\">first reported\u003c/a> on Parrish’s firing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parrish said she has been overwhelmed with support from former colleagues at Apple, but she worries that her firing might have a chilling effect on other employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This shows that there are consequences for standing up and saying, ‘I disagree,’ ” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, she added, “I recognize how much this can galvanize people to do the right thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Editor’s note:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> Apple is among NPR’s financial supporters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Apple+fires+%23AppleToo+leader+as+part+of+leak+probe.+She+says+it%27s+retaliation&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has become the first state to implement a law that addresses working conditions for warehouse workers, like those working for Amazon, Walmart and other major retailers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/09/22/governor-newsom-signs-nation-leading-legislation-expanding-protections-for-warehouse-workers/\">Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 701\u003c/a>, which takes effect in the new year, into law on Wednesday. The law aims to address the impact of quotas on worker injuries and health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It establishes new standards for companies to make clear to warehouse staff what their production quotas are. The legislation ensures workers cannot be fired or retaliated against for failing to meet an unsafe quota.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We cannot allow corporations to put profit over people. The hardworking warehouse employees who have helped sustain us during these unprecedented times should not have to risk injury or face punishment as a result of exploitative quotas that violate basic health and safety,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m proud to sign this legislation giving them the dignity, respect and safety they deserve and advancing California’s leadership at the forefront of workplace safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law gives the state Labor Commissioner the authority to issue citations to companies in violation of the new rules. The department is also allowed to access workers’ compensation data to find facilities where there are high rates of injury and investigate whether they are due to unsafe quotas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law also bars the use of algorithms that track rests and bathroom breaks, and specifically prohibits the firing of workers for failing to meet unsafe quotas because they are taking breaks in compliance with health and safety laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation would also bar companies from retaliating against workers who raise concerns about warehouse conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though not explicitly stated, the new rules are widely considered to be targeted toward Amazon. The Seattle-based behemoth runs more than 60 warehouses across the state, and is known for its demanding productivity requirements.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sheheryar Kaoosji, head of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center\"]‘It’s not that those companies can’t afford to do the right thing. It’s what those companies can get away with. And if they’re not held accountable, that’s what they’ll continue to do.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon relies on its thousands of workers to fill its massive warehouses, which it calls “fulfillment centers.” During the pandemic, Americans have relied heavily on online shopping for their goods. In turn, the company, the second-largest employer in the U.S. behind Walmart, hired thousands of workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-hire-125000-full--and-part-time-logistics-employees-2021-09-14?mod=article_inline\">and plans to hire an additional 100,000 workers \u003c/a>this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers and labor organizations argue that Amazon’s warehouse rules create an unsafe work environment. \u003ca href=\"https://revealnews.org/article/amazon-injury-rates/\">Investigations \u003c/a>by various \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/01/amazon-osha-injury-rate/\">news organizations\u003c/a>, in addition to the labor-backed \u003ca href=\"https://thesoc.org/amazon-primed-for-pain/\">Strategic Organizing Center\u003c/a>, have found that \u003ca href=\"https://revealnews.org/article/how-amazon-hid-its-safety-crisis/\">the rate of serious injuries at Amazon warehouses has been nearly double the industry average\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tracked by algorithms, Amazon warehouse workers rush to pack and ship nonstop shopping orders that often must be delivered in a matter of hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While workers are on the job, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1034776936/amazon-warehouse-workers-speed-quotas-california-bill\">Amazon watches their “time off task,”\u003c/a> which the company says is to monitor for “issues with the tools that people use.” But it also serves to identify underperforming workers. And that, critics say, essentially pressures workers to forgo their state-mandated breaks, or to wait until the end of their shifts to use the bathroom — creating unsafe and unfair working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill, authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, is intended more generally to help state regulators get a better handle on how a growing number of employers are using tech in the workplace to control the productivity of their workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 206,700 workers in the warehousing and storage industry in California as of June. That figure, however, doesn’t include temporary workers, like the many likely to take on warehouse work in the run-up to the holiday shopping season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A significant portion of that workforce is employed by Amazon. Behind the big yellow “Place your order” button on the company’s site is a vast network of warehouses, filled with nearly 1 million non-union logistics employees across the country — 40,000 in the Inland Empire alone, according to Amazon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/12/01/367703789/amazon-unleashes-robot-army-to-send-your-holiday-packages-faster\">the tech-obsessed retailer is famous for using robots\u003c/a>, sensors and software to maximize productivity, it’s also infamous for burning out its workers, many of whom head to the exit doors suffering from repetitive stress injuries and, well, stress overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How did you come up with this rate? Was it based on what your understanding of what a human body can do? Or was it based on what you think you need to get through in order to make a profit this quarter?” said Sheheryar Kaoosji, executive director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center in Ontario, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around the clock, an army of trucks and trains transport cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to vast warehouses in the Inland Empire counties of San Bernardino and Riverside. There, imported goods are sorted and redistributed onto long-haul trucks, which move them to distribution centers across the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon’s rivals, like Walmart and Home Depot, are nipping at the tech titan’s heels, eager to adopt the algorithm-driven productivity tracking tools employed by the company, which logistics experts widely agree is the industry leader in this practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that those companies can’t afford to do the right thing,” said Kaoosji, who has pushed for them to institute humane working conditions that follow labor laws in spirit, as well as practice. “It’s what those companies can get away with. And if they’re not held accountable, that’s what they’ll continue to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]In \u003ca href=\"https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/5f/e6/725042574e2da4440c3844f7b40c/senate-judiciary-analysis-ab-7-1.pdf\">a letter this summer to the state Senate Judiciary Committee in support of her legislation\u003c/a>, Gonzalez wrote, “The demand for speed in these warehouses has led to the increasing use of workplace performance metrics and the imposition of work quotas that employees must meet or suffer adverse consequences, including potentially losing their jobs altogether. There is evidence strongly suggesting that the pressure to meet these quotas leads to significantly higher workplace injury rates.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kaoosji, of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, argues there “will never be enough enforcement agents to address the millions of workplaces in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and other industry watchers say labor regulation at the state level has historically been weak and largely complaint-driven, and that’s made many workers who are afraid of retaliation unlikely to seek redress from authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key is giving workers the protections, voice and power to feel like they can speak up at work about injustices and legal violations and not face immediate retaliation, termination,” Kaoosji said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He considers the new requirements laid out in AB 701 to be only modest improvements, a compromise between labor organizers and big business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon declined to comment specifically on the legislation, but a spokesperson said in an email that the company abides by state and federal laws, such as providing paid breaks and ready access to toilet facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you read some of the news reports, you might think we have no care for employees,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO at the time, said in his \u003ca href=\"https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2020-letter-to-shareholders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2020 letter to shareholders\u003c/a>. “In those reports, our employees are sometimes accused of being desperate souls and treated as robots. That’s not accurate. They’re sophisticated and thoughtful people who have options for where to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, which strongly opposed the legislation, said the new rules will disrupt the supply chain and hurt consumers, even arguing that the shipment of COVID-19 tests from warehouses and distribution centers to hospitals, pharmacies and doctor’s offices will be slowed because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are disappointed Governor Newsom signed AB 701, which will exacerbate our current supply chain issues, increase the cost of living for all Californians and eliminate good-paying jobs,” she \u003ca href=\"https://calretailers.com/cra-responds-to-governor-gavin-newsom-signing-ab-701-into-law/\">said in a statement Wednesday\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n[aside postID=\"news_11881047,news_11870797,forum_2010101882947\" label=\"Related Coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With California’s ports facing record backlogs of ships waiting off the coast and inflation spiking to the fastest pace in 13 years, AB 701 will make matters worse for everyone — creating more back-ordered goods and higher prices for everything from clothes, diapers and food to auto parts, toys and pet supplies,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the absence of union representation on warehouse floors, a modest set of new workplace improvement measures may be all that can be accomplished right now, according to Catherine Fisk, a labor law professor at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon, among other logistics companies, has so far successfully fought attempts to unionize any constellation of its vast employee base.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Workers have been trying to unionize warehouses for years, with no success, because companies are so adept at thwarting it by using turnover, anti-union campaigns, restrictions on employee communication with each other, and prohibitions on union organizers from contacting workers,” Fisk said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf/2019/Future-of-Warehouse-Work.pdf\">Beth Gutelius\u003c/a>, research director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago, has studied the logistics industry for more than a decade. She said that current state and federal laws are notably outdated, to the detriment of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem with existing law is that, in general, in California and nationwide, it just hasn’t kept up with the state of technological change and productivity gains, coming at the cost of workers’ health and safety,” Gutelius said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutelius noted, however, that she is encouraged by AB 701’s requirement that warehouse operators disclose quotas and work-speed metrics to their employees and to government agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, it’s kind of a black box. And I think the case of Amazon offers us pretty ample evidence that we can’t just rely on companies to weigh these costs and benefits and act in the interests of workers,” she said. “Someone else has to do that and that is traditionally what government’s role has been.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post includes additional reporting from NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has become the first state to implement a law that addresses working conditions for warehouse workers, like those working for Amazon, Walmart and other major retailers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/09/22/governor-newsom-signs-nation-leading-legislation-expanding-protections-for-warehouse-workers/\">Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 701\u003c/a>, which takes effect in the new year, into law on Wednesday. The law aims to address the impact of quotas on worker injuries and health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It establishes new standards for companies to make clear to warehouse staff what their production quotas are. The legislation ensures workers cannot be fired or retaliated against for failing to meet an unsafe quota.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We cannot allow corporations to put profit over people. The hardworking warehouse employees who have helped sustain us during these unprecedented times should not have to risk injury or face punishment as a result of exploitative quotas that violate basic health and safety,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m proud to sign this legislation giving them the dignity, respect and safety they deserve and advancing California’s leadership at the forefront of workplace safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law gives the state Labor Commissioner the authority to issue citations to companies in violation of the new rules. The department is also allowed to access workers’ compensation data to find facilities where there are high rates of injury and investigate whether they are due to unsafe quotas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law also bars the use of algorithms that track rests and bathroom breaks, and specifically prohibits the firing of workers for failing to meet unsafe quotas because they are taking breaks in compliance with health and safety laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation would also bar companies from retaliating against workers who raise concerns about warehouse conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though not explicitly stated, the new rules are widely considered to be targeted toward Amazon. The Seattle-based behemoth runs more than 60 warehouses across the state, and is known for its demanding productivity requirements.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon relies on its thousands of workers to fill its massive warehouses, which it calls “fulfillment centers.” During the pandemic, Americans have relied heavily on online shopping for their goods. In turn, the company, the second-largest employer in the U.S. behind Walmart, hired thousands of workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-hire-125000-full--and-part-time-logistics-employees-2021-09-14?mod=article_inline\">and plans to hire an additional 100,000 workers \u003c/a>this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers and labor organizations argue that Amazon’s warehouse rules create an unsafe work environment. \u003ca href=\"https://revealnews.org/article/amazon-injury-rates/\">Investigations \u003c/a>by various \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/01/amazon-osha-injury-rate/\">news organizations\u003c/a>, in addition to the labor-backed \u003ca href=\"https://thesoc.org/amazon-primed-for-pain/\">Strategic Organizing Center\u003c/a>, have found that \u003ca href=\"https://revealnews.org/article/how-amazon-hid-its-safety-crisis/\">the rate of serious injuries at Amazon warehouses has been nearly double the industry average\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tracked by algorithms, Amazon warehouse workers rush to pack and ship nonstop shopping orders that often must be delivered in a matter of hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While workers are on the job, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1034776936/amazon-warehouse-workers-speed-quotas-california-bill\">Amazon watches their “time off task,”\u003c/a> which the company says is to monitor for “issues with the tools that people use.” But it also serves to identify underperforming workers. And that, critics say, essentially pressures workers to forgo their state-mandated breaks, or to wait until the end of their shifts to use the bathroom — creating unsafe and unfair working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill, authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, is intended more generally to help state regulators get a better handle on how a growing number of employers are using tech in the workplace to control the productivity of their workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 206,700 workers in the warehousing and storage industry in California as of June. That figure, however, doesn’t include temporary workers, like the many likely to take on warehouse work in the run-up to the holiday shopping season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A significant portion of that workforce is employed by Amazon. Behind the big yellow “Place your order” button on the company’s site is a vast network of warehouses, filled with nearly 1 million non-union logistics employees across the country — 40,000 in the Inland Empire alone, according to Amazon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/12/01/367703789/amazon-unleashes-robot-army-to-send-your-holiday-packages-faster\">the tech-obsessed retailer is famous for using robots\u003c/a>, sensors and software to maximize productivity, it’s also infamous for burning out its workers, many of whom head to the exit doors suffering from repetitive stress injuries and, well, stress overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How did you come up with this rate? Was it based on what your understanding of what a human body can do? Or was it based on what you think you need to get through in order to make a profit this quarter?” said Sheheryar Kaoosji, executive director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center in Ontario, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around the clock, an army of trucks and trains transport cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to vast warehouses in the Inland Empire counties of San Bernardino and Riverside. There, imported goods are sorted and redistributed onto long-haul trucks, which move them to distribution centers across the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon’s rivals, like Walmart and Home Depot, are nipping at the tech titan’s heels, eager to adopt the algorithm-driven productivity tracking tools employed by the company, which logistics experts widely agree is the industry leader in this practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that those companies can’t afford to do the right thing,” said Kaoosji, who has pushed for them to institute humane working conditions that follow labor laws in spirit, as well as practice. “It’s what those companies can get away with. And if they’re not held accountable, that’s what they’ll continue to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/5f/e6/725042574e2da4440c3844f7b40c/senate-judiciary-analysis-ab-7-1.pdf\">a letter this summer to the state Senate Judiciary Committee in support of her legislation\u003c/a>, Gonzalez wrote, “The demand for speed in these warehouses has led to the increasing use of workplace performance metrics and the imposition of work quotas that employees must meet or suffer adverse consequences, including potentially losing their jobs altogether. There is evidence strongly suggesting that the pressure to meet these quotas leads to significantly higher workplace injury rates.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kaoosji, of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, argues there “will never be enough enforcement agents to address the millions of workplaces in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and other industry watchers say labor regulation at the state level has historically been weak and largely complaint-driven, and that’s made many workers who are afraid of retaliation unlikely to seek redress from authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key is giving workers the protections, voice and power to feel like they can speak up at work about injustices and legal violations and not face immediate retaliation, termination,” Kaoosji said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He considers the new requirements laid out in AB 701 to be only modest improvements, a compromise between labor organizers and big business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon declined to comment specifically on the legislation, but a spokesperson said in an email that the company abides by state and federal laws, such as providing paid breaks and ready access to toilet facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you read some of the news reports, you might think we have no care for employees,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO at the time, said in his \u003ca href=\"https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2020-letter-to-shareholders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2020 letter to shareholders\u003c/a>. “In those reports, our employees are sometimes accused of being desperate souls and treated as robots. That’s not accurate. They’re sophisticated and thoughtful people who have options for where to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, which strongly opposed the legislation, said the new rules will disrupt the supply chain and hurt consumers, even arguing that the shipment of COVID-19 tests from warehouses and distribution centers to hospitals, pharmacies and doctor’s offices will be slowed because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are disappointed Governor Newsom signed AB 701, which will exacerbate our current supply chain issues, increase the cost of living for all Californians and eliminate good-paying jobs,” she \u003ca href=\"https://calretailers.com/cra-responds-to-governor-gavin-newsom-signing-ab-701-into-law/\">said in a statement Wednesday\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With California’s ports facing record backlogs of ships waiting off the coast and inflation spiking to the fastest pace in 13 years, AB 701 will make matters worse for everyone — creating more back-ordered goods and higher prices for everything from clothes, diapers and food to auto parts, toys and pet supplies,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the absence of union representation on warehouse floors, a modest set of new workplace improvement measures may be all that can be accomplished right now, according to Catherine Fisk, a labor law professor at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amazon, among other logistics companies, has so far successfully fought attempts to unionize any constellation of its vast employee base.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Workers have been trying to unionize warehouses for years, with no success, because companies are so adept at thwarting it by using turnover, anti-union campaigns, restrictions on employee communication with each other, and prohibitions on union organizers from contacting workers,” Fisk said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf/2019/Future-of-Warehouse-Work.pdf\">Beth Gutelius\u003c/a>, research director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago, has studied the logistics industry for more than a decade. She said that current state and federal laws are notably outdated, to the detriment of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem with existing law is that, in general, in California and nationwide, it just hasn’t kept up with the state of technological change and productivity gains, coming at the cost of workers’ health and safety,” Gutelius said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutelius noted, however, that she is encouraged by AB 701’s requirement that warehouse operators disclose quotas and work-speed metrics to their employees and to government agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, it’s kind of a black box. And I think the case of Amazon offers us pretty ample evidence that we can’t just rely on companies to weigh these costs and benefits and act in the interests of workers,” she said. “Someone else has to do that and that is traditionally what government’s role has been.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post includes additional reporting from NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "why-california-workers-are-still-dying-from-heat-despite-protections",
"title": "Why California Workers Are Still Dying From Heat — Despite Protections",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the summer of 2005, a terrible three-week heat wave swept the West, driving temperatures to triple-digit levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four farmworkers working the fields of central California died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state quickly put in place emergency orders, which evolved into the first workplace heat standards in the nation: Employers would have to give employees water, rest and shade as they toiled in high temperatures. Until then, there were no rules when it came to hot weather and the workplace.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Frank Polizzi, Cal/OSHA spokesperson\"]‘We believe that virtually all heat-related deaths and illnesses can be prevented. Periods of high heat are part of our new reality worldwide, and definitely in California.’[/pullquote]Since then, California has seen hotter average temperatures in 12 of the past 16 years. Even as the climate emergency has grown more acute, the state’s once-groundbreaking heat-safety rules have not kept pace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public health experts and federal workplace regulators say they consider heat-related illness and death to be 100% preventable. But California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health — Cal/OSHA — the agency that enforces the heat standard, has been chronically underfunded and understaffed. The result, according to dozens of interviews, a review of government records and an analysis of worker heat-death cases: Farmworkers, firefighters, construction workers and others required to work in hot environments continue to die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s failure to adequately invest in Cal/OSHA has undercut the agency’s ability to crack down on companies that violate the heat standard. Its most recent budget request admitted as much, describing enforcement as “minimal to non-existent due to the lack of occupational health inspectors.” Rising temperatures caused by climate change have compounded the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some say the standard is already obsolete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a startling point of view considering that California’s heat standard is held up as a model. Its water, rest and shade measures are considered both stringent and eminently achievable by former and current officials at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Workers’ rights advocates and OSHA officials have decried the lack of a similar standard to protect workers nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Absent that safeguard, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1026154042/hundreds-of-workers-have-died-from-heat-in-the-last-decade-and-its-getting-worse\">workers of color across the country have borne the brunt of dangerous heat in the U.S.\u003c/a>, according to an investigation by Columbia Journalism Investigations, NPR, KPCC and The California Newsroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA declined multiple requests for on-the-record interviews for this story. In response to 39 written questions from CJI and The California Newsroom, the agency stressed the need for businesses to do their part to help stem the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that virtually all heat-related deaths and illnesses can be prevented,” Frank Polizzi, a Cal/OSHA spokesperson, wrote in a response on Aug. 13, 2021. “Periods of high heat are part of our new reality worldwide, and definitely in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Where things stand\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Over the past 10 years — during a period when state regulators lowered temperature limits that trigger workplace protections from 85 to 80 degrees — nearly four dozen California workers died from heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses. The deaths occurred across the state but were concentrated in the lower Central Valley, in and around Bakersfield, according to an analysis of federal data on worker heat deaths by CJI and NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the official death count doesn’t begin to reflect heat’s toll on workers. California, unlike other states, doesn’t record the number of serious worker injuries involving overnight hospital stays due to heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses. That makes it difficult to understand heat’s full impact on the state’s workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1824-scaled-e1630006553116.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886406 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1824-scaled-e1630006553116.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a long-sleeved shirt, T-shirt, apron, neck wrap, visor, mask and surgical gloves pulls leeks beneath a cloudless sky.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1635\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworker Sonia Bonce harvests leeks on a 90-degree day at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. \u003ccite>(Jacob Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jisung Park, an economist at UCLA, studies the effects of rising temperatures on the labor force. Using a computer model of temperature increases over 20 years and workers’ compensation claims, he estimates that heat sickens, or contributes to injuries among, at least 15,000 California workers each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park attributes the gap in part to misclassified injuries. Heat, for example, can cause a construction worker standing on a ladder to fall and get hurt, but the injury likely won’t be categorized as heat-related. Heat illnesses also occur at lower temperatures than expected; Park has found that workers experienced heat exhaustion and similar conditions on days when the temperature was as low as 75 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=california workers\"]Cal/OSHA said in its written response that the data the agency collects is not comparable to Park’s analysis. Insiders within the agency acknowledge the limitations of official data, however, and endorse the analysis. The agency also defended its record and said inspectors investigate every heat complaint reported by workers and advocates. In 2019, for instance, Cal/OSHA conducted more than 4,000 heat-related inspections and cited employers in 47% of them. Heat inspections, citations and fines have increased almost every year since the standard has been in effect, except for 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic affected such activities across the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Cal/OSHA insiders say that accelerating temperatures across the state — especially in the thousands of miles of valleys, where temperatures now exceed 100 degrees more than a dozen times a year — have \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028542777/workers-are-dying-of-heat-outdoors-without-standards-to-protect-them\">made the 16-year-old standard outdated\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat costs lives. CJI and NPR reporters analyzed 267 worker heat deaths recorded by the U.S. Department of Labor between 2010 and 2020 and compared the high temperature on the date of each incident to historic averages over 40 years. More than 66% of these deaths occurred when temperatures reached at least 90 degrees. In California — one of two states where at least 40 workers died — almost half of all deaths happened on days that were unusually hot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’ve seen over the last few years, certainly since I was chief of OSHA, is catastrophic warming of the earth,” said Ellen Widess, who led Cal/OSHA from 2011 to 2013. “The hundreds of thousands of farmworkers we depend on are extremely vulnerable, exploitable, dependent on these jobs, even in high heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The current standards\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While water always needs to be available, once the thermometer reads 80 degrees, California’s heat standard kicks in. Employers are required to provide shade to their workers. Companies must ease workers into a job to enable them to adapt to hot temperatures, a practice known as acclimatization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1.png\" alt=\"Two photos, one of a freestanding shade structure, one of a water cooler atop a plastic basket, both in the middle of a field.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1.png 3639w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-800x262.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-1020x334.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-160x52.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-1536x503.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-2048x670.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-1920x628.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California’s heat standard mandates that shade and water be available to workers throughout the day, as seen here at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At 95 degrees, employers must offer additional safeguards: a 10-minute break every two hours, a team meeting to remind workers of the signs of heat illness, and the designation of an employee to call emergency services in the event of a heat incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is it enough?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Widess, who says she was forced out at Cal/OSHA during Jerry Brown’s third term as governor, said the state’s standard has “certainly improved” over the years but “remains inadequate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also the issue of enforcement. The United Farm Workers has twice sued Cal/OSHA for what the labor group claimed was a systemic failure to enforce the rule. After a six-year legal battle, in 2015 the agency agreed to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Commission enforcement audits.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Create a system to monitor heat-related worker complaints.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Set up a UFW-affiliated hotline so workers could report employers who flouted the standard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increase inspections and crack down on repeat offenders.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In the five years since Cal/OSHA tightened its standard, agency data shows it issued thousands of citations. Most citations involved employers that didn’t offer heat training or prepare written heat-stress plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit reports, obtained by CJI and The California Newsroom, show that Cal/OSHA often failed to interview eyewitnesses about heat complaints if an inspector couldn’t find an obvious violation. At times, job sites named in complaints were dismantled and moved before an OSHA inspector ever reached them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency has fewer than 200 inspectors in total to police a state with 18 million workers. According to Cal/OSHA, it has only 35 employees working in enforcement who speak Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886418\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886418 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three men in wide-brimmed hats chat near a stack of leeks in the middle of a field.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworker Juan Chavez speaks with colleagues while harvesting leeks on a 90-degree day at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garrett Brown, a former Cal/OSHA inspector who also served as a special assistant to Widess, has tracked the agency’s staff vacancies for years. As of July 31, at least 25% of its about 250 inspector positions remained open. About 33% of posts in its legal division were unfilled as of June, according to an analysis published on Brown’s website, \u003ca href=\"https://insidecalosha.org/\">Inside Cal/OSHA\u003c/a>. With such high turnover, Brown said, the agency’s inspectors simply can’t keep up with complaints. Were Cal/OSHA inspectors to visit every farm in the state annually, they’d be outmatched by the sheer number: There are more than 350 farms for each inspector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA said it is hiring inspectors as “quickly as possible,” noting the 70 inspector positions it has filled since January 2020. Twenty-three of those posts involved internal promotions, resulting in additional vacancies. The agency denied it has experienced any hiring delays and said the candidate pool for workplace safety inspectors “is smaller than for other state classifications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA lawyers often are outnumbered when companies appeal a citation by legal teams that flood the agency with paperwork to escape enforcement until the cases are resolved, Brown said.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An independent study commissioned by Cal/OSHA identified the need for as many as 258 additional positions. Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his budget that included $14.4 million for 70 new posts. Only a small fraction of those will be inspectors. In a statement to CJI and The California Newsroom, the governor’s office said it is considering a phased-in approach for hiring more Cal/OSHA employees in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent Cal/OSHA chief, Doug Parker, is awaiting confirmation to head federal OSHA, leaving the state agency without a permanent leader.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Garrett Brown, former Cal/OSHA inspector\"]‘You have an agency that’s barely able to do what it’s supposed to do and presents no threat to irresponsible employers.’[/pullquote]“You have an agency that’s barely able to do what it’s supposed to do,” Brown said, “and presents no threat to irresponsible employers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA laid out additional ways it is attempting to improve its enforcement practices, such as streamlining the citation process and reviewing protocols for closing cases. The agency said even one work-related fatality or serious illness is “too many.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal/OSHA investigates all notifications of suspect work-related fatalities to determine the cause, identify violations and require employers to correct unsafe or unhealthy conditions,” the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A repeat offender\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In 2017, a 16-year-old girl working in a watermelon field in Sutter grew ill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cal/OSHA inspectors visited the field where the teenager had collapsed, they couldn’t examine the worksite because the harvest had finished and the workers had moved to a new location. Cal/OSHA interviewed the worker and her mother through a translator and cited the company that hired them, Ceja Reyes, for not making them aware of the dangers of heat. Cal/OSHA fined the company $31,365 and told it to make sure all employees received heat training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja Reyes, based in Sutter County, provides contract farm laborers. Cal/OSHA has cited the company for at least six heat violations in the last decade — many of them after the agency said Ceja Reyes failed to properly train workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberto Ceja, president and partner at Ceja Reyes, refuted Cal/OSHA’s findings. He said in an interview that the mother and daughter had been trained, but the company forgot to have them sign off on their training sheets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two years after the teenager got sick on the job, Cal/OSHA found that Ceja Reyes failed to provide its heat plan to an inspector who made an on-site visit. Cal/OSHA fined the company another $635 for failing to make the plan readily available to workers. Cal/OSHA’s heat program coordinator suggested in the investigative file that Ceja Reyes be considered a repeat offender in the case, which would have meant higher possible fines for similar violations in the future. But the acting district manager at the time declined that designation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja blamed Cal/OSHA for the string of violations. He said inspectors interpret the law in various ways, making it impossible for farms and contractors to keep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think their inspectors have plenty of training before they send [them] to the field,” Ceja said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja said he supports more stringent heat rules, such as halting all work at 95 degrees, which he said his company does in most cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Why it matters\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Put into practice, heat standards can work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September of last year, Sonia Bonce was working at the Muranaka Farm in Moorpark. The temperature was rising steadily, and it was beyond 90 degrees by lunchtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1854-scaled-e1631073034135.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886420 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1854-scaled-e1631073034135.jpg\" alt=\"A line of five vehicles at the edge of a rocky field, with car doors and trunks propped open for workers to sit and lean.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers at Muranaka Farms take a break from harvesting leeks to eat lunch. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When Bonce stood up to take a lunch break and began walking toward the shade, her vision became blurry, her legs weak. She passed out and hit her head. The farm’s foreman, recognizing the signs of heat-related illness, alerted a supervisor, who called an ambulance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She felt exhausted and sore for a couple of days; otherwise, there were no lingering physical effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonce, who has worked the fields since leaving El Salvador more than a decade ago, was spared serious injury or death in part because of her employer’s buy-in. Muranaka’s supervisors noticed the warning signs of heat illness and responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other employers have not been as attentive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Jimenez, 17, traveled 2,500 miles from her hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico, to rural Lodi to find work after her father died. Her uncle, Doroteo Jimenez, had worked in the area for two decades. Maria was employed by Merced Farm Labor Contractors and soon found herself tying grapes into bundles at a local vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 14, 2008, the temperature rose to 86 degrees, seven degrees hotter than the average high for that date over the previous 40 years. Maria was working in the vineyard without shade or water breaks, as required by the heat-safety rules. She became dehydrated and fainted. Another employee took her to a drugstore to try to revive her with rubbing alcohol before bringing her to a hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, it was too late. Jimenez had a core body temperature of 108 degrees — hot enough for the brain, liver and kidneys to shut down. Her heart stopped six times while doctors tried to revive her. It was then they learned she was pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Joaquin County filed criminal manslaughter charges against the owner, safety director and supervisor of Merced Farm, which eventually was shuttered by the state. Cal/OSHA imposed a fine of more than $250,000. In 2011, the company’s executives pleaded no contest to failing to provide shade and were sentenced to community service, $1,370 in fines and no jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a company supervisor first contacted him by phone when his niece collapsed, Doroteo Jimenez remembers the supervisor saying she was dizzy. He didn’t think it was that serious. He only realized the gravity of her injuries when he went to visit her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At that point, I couldn’t even talk to her anymore,” he said. She died the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ordeal prompted Doroteo and his wife, Juana, to join union leaders and other activists to push for farmworker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91240378\">Hundreds of workers walked with Doroteo and Juana some 50 miles to the state Capitol carrying two coffins\u003c/a> over several days to draw attention to Maria’s death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years later, the state fortified its heat standard. This time, the state required employers to make water readily available, expand shade coverage and increase the number of breaks. In 2018, on the 10th anniversary of Jimenez’s death, the standard was renamed in her memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There have been many deaths before,” Doroteo said in Spanish through a translator. “I said that I am going to do something that would not just be thrown away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A broader problem\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>California’s farmworkers aren’t the only workers dying from heat. In the last decade, there have been 10 deaths in construction and four deaths in landscaping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For California’s workers, the difference between a heat standard that works and one that doesn’t often hinges on employers’ good faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonia Bonce, the farmworker at Muranaka, said in Spanish through a translator that she appreciates how her employer responded to her bout with heat exhaustion. The company agreed to cover her medical expenses, including the cost of the ambulance. She was allowed to take off the two work days she needed to recuperate, though she said she had to forgo her earnings those days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886425\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1766-scaled-e1630008683701.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886425 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1766-scaled-e1630008683701.jpg\" alt=\"A tractor rolls thorough a field of leeks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworkers processing a field of leeks on a 90-degree day at Muranaka Farms. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The UFW’s Roman Pinal, who organizes laborers in California’s fields, commended the farm’s management for allowing workers to speak up whenever they see problems — a rarity, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Valuing human lives and a little bit less the production,” Pinal said. “That’s when we’re heading in the right direction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many employers aren’t as conscientious. Until Cal/OSHA hires more inspectors and becomes more proactive, former inspector Brown said, the agency won’t make significant headway against heat deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with increased inspections, California’s existing heat standard may need another boost. In Moorpark, for instance, where Muranaka Farm is located, the average maximum temperature has risen one degree in the 16 years since the standard was implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Cal/OSHA insiders said state lawmakers should consider mandating a split work day for outdoor laborers to address the ever-escalating temperatures. During the record-breaking heat wave that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in June, many farms switched to early morning and late-evening hours so workers could avoid the most punishing conditions. Public health officials already recommend that workers avoid midday heat whenever possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others advocate for more drastic labor reforms, such as canceling work on days above 105 degrees. The human body, they say, is simply not equipped to endure such temperatures over long periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enhanced protections can’t come soon enough. At Muranaka Farm in June, a crew of sweat-soaked farmworkers harvested leeks under the scorching sun. The temperature exceeded 90 degrees that day — the second day of an early heat wave. Nearly two dozen laborers, aligned in a row on their hands and knees, plucked the long-stemmed plants from the dirt. They sliced off extraneous leaves with their knives and tossed the vegetables into a pile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already this summer, Bonce has felt heat overtake her while she is in the fields. Her chest grows tight and her head spins. Recognizing the warning signs, she’s taken some time off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is hot. It’s not easy work,” Bonce said. “We are struggling every single day to do this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Brian Edwards reported this story as a fellow for Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School in New York. Jacob Margolis is a reporter at KPCC and LAist, and a member of The California Newsroom. David Nickerson, a reporting fellow at CJI; Robert Benincasa, a senior data reporter at NPR; and Cascade Tuholske, a climate impact scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, contributed to the data analysis. Public Health Watch, an independent investigative nonprofit, helped produce this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California is seen as a nationwide leader in hot-weather protections, but its workers are still getting sick and dying from heat. Experts and insiders say climate change and a dysfunctional workplace regulatory agency are to blame.",
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"title": "Why California Workers Are Still Dying From Heat — Despite Protections | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the summer of 2005, a terrible three-week heat wave swept the West, driving temperatures to triple-digit levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four farmworkers working the fields of central California died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state quickly put in place emergency orders, which evolved into the first workplace heat standards in the nation: Employers would have to give employees water, rest and shade as they toiled in high temperatures. Until then, there were no rules when it came to hot weather and the workplace.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We believe that virtually all heat-related deaths and illnesses can be prevented. Periods of high heat are part of our new reality worldwide, and definitely in California.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Since then, California has seen hotter average temperatures in 12 of the past 16 years. Even as the climate emergency has grown more acute, the state’s once-groundbreaking heat-safety rules have not kept pace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public health experts and federal workplace regulators say they consider heat-related illness and death to be 100% preventable. But California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health — Cal/OSHA — the agency that enforces the heat standard, has been chronically underfunded and understaffed. The result, according to dozens of interviews, a review of government records and an analysis of worker heat-death cases: Farmworkers, firefighters, construction workers and others required to work in hot environments continue to die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s failure to adequately invest in Cal/OSHA has undercut the agency’s ability to crack down on companies that violate the heat standard. Its most recent budget request admitted as much, describing enforcement as “minimal to non-existent due to the lack of occupational health inspectors.” Rising temperatures caused by climate change have compounded the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some say the standard is already obsolete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a startling point of view considering that California’s heat standard is held up as a model. Its water, rest and shade measures are considered both stringent and eminently achievable by former and current officials at the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Workers’ rights advocates and OSHA officials have decried the lack of a similar standard to protect workers nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Absent that safeguard, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1026154042/hundreds-of-workers-have-died-from-heat-in-the-last-decade-and-its-getting-worse\">workers of color across the country have borne the brunt of dangerous heat in the U.S.\u003c/a>, according to an investigation by Columbia Journalism Investigations, NPR, KPCC and The California Newsroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA declined multiple requests for on-the-record interviews for this story. In response to 39 written questions from CJI and The California Newsroom, the agency stressed the need for businesses to do their part to help stem the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that virtually all heat-related deaths and illnesses can be prevented,” Frank Polizzi, a Cal/OSHA spokesperson, wrote in a response on Aug. 13, 2021. “Periods of high heat are part of our new reality worldwide, and definitely in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Where things stand\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Over the past 10 years — during a period when state regulators lowered temperature limits that trigger workplace protections from 85 to 80 degrees — nearly four dozen California workers died from heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses. The deaths occurred across the state but were concentrated in the lower Central Valley, in and around Bakersfield, according to an analysis of federal data on worker heat deaths by CJI and NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the official death count doesn’t begin to reflect heat’s toll on workers. California, unlike other states, doesn’t record the number of serious worker injuries involving overnight hospital stays due to heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses. That makes it difficult to understand heat’s full impact on the state’s workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1824-scaled-e1630006553116.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886406 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1824-scaled-e1630006553116.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a long-sleeved shirt, T-shirt, apron, neck wrap, visor, mask and surgical gloves pulls leeks beneath a cloudless sky.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1635\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworker Sonia Bonce harvests leeks on a 90-degree day at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. \u003ccite>(Jacob Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jisung Park, an economist at UCLA, studies the effects of rising temperatures on the labor force. Using a computer model of temperature increases over 20 years and workers’ compensation claims, he estimates that heat sickens, or contributes to injuries among, at least 15,000 California workers each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park attributes the gap in part to misclassified injuries. Heat, for example, can cause a construction worker standing on a ladder to fall and get hurt, but the injury likely won’t be categorized as heat-related. Heat illnesses also occur at lower temperatures than expected; Park has found that workers experienced heat exhaustion and similar conditions on days when the temperature was as low as 75 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cal/OSHA said in its written response that the data the agency collects is not comparable to Park’s analysis. Insiders within the agency acknowledge the limitations of official data, however, and endorse the analysis. The agency also defended its record and said inspectors investigate every heat complaint reported by workers and advocates. In 2019, for instance, Cal/OSHA conducted more than 4,000 heat-related inspections and cited employers in 47% of them. Heat inspections, citations and fines have increased almost every year since the standard has been in effect, except for 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic affected such activities across the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Cal/OSHA insiders say that accelerating temperatures across the state — especially in the thousands of miles of valleys, where temperatures now exceed 100 degrees more than a dozen times a year — have \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028542777/workers-are-dying-of-heat-outdoors-without-standards-to-protect-them\">made the 16-year-old standard outdated\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme heat costs lives. CJI and NPR reporters analyzed 267 worker heat deaths recorded by the U.S. Department of Labor between 2010 and 2020 and compared the high temperature on the date of each incident to historic averages over 40 years. More than 66% of these deaths occurred when temperatures reached at least 90 degrees. In California — one of two states where at least 40 workers died — almost half of all deaths happened on days that were unusually hot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’ve seen over the last few years, certainly since I was chief of OSHA, is catastrophic warming of the earth,” said Ellen Widess, who led Cal/OSHA from 2011 to 2013. “The hundreds of thousands of farmworkers we depend on are extremely vulnerable, exploitable, dependent on these jobs, even in high heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The current standards\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>While water always needs to be available, once the thermometer reads 80 degrees, California’s heat standard kicks in. Employers are required to provide shade to their workers. Companies must ease workers into a job to enable them to adapt to hot temperatures, a practice known as acclimatization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1.png\" alt=\"Two photos, one of a freestanding shade structure, one of a water cooler atop a plastic basket, both in the middle of a field.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1.png 3639w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-800x262.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-1020x334.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-160x52.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-1536x503.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-2048x670.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/water-shade-1-1920x628.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California’s heat standard mandates that shade and water be available to workers throughout the day, as seen here at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At 95 degrees, employers must offer additional safeguards: a 10-minute break every two hours, a team meeting to remind workers of the signs of heat illness, and the designation of an employee to call emergency services in the event of a heat incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is it enough?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Widess, who says she was forced out at Cal/OSHA during Jerry Brown’s third term as governor, said the state’s standard has “certainly improved” over the years but “remains inadequate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also the issue of enforcement. The United Farm Workers has twice sued Cal/OSHA for what the labor group claimed was a systemic failure to enforce the rule. After a six-year legal battle, in 2015 the agency agreed to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Commission enforcement audits.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Create a system to monitor heat-related worker complaints.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Set up a UFW-affiliated hotline so workers could report employers who flouted the standard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increase inspections and crack down on repeat offenders.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In the five years since Cal/OSHA tightened its standard, agency data shows it issued thousands of citations. Most citations involved employers that didn’t offer heat training or prepare written heat-stress plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit reports, obtained by CJI and The California Newsroom, show that Cal/OSHA often failed to interview eyewitnesses about heat complaints if an inspector couldn’t find an obvious violation. At times, job sites named in complaints were dismantled and moved before an OSHA inspector ever reached them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency has fewer than 200 inspectors in total to police a state with 18 million workers. According to Cal/OSHA, it has only 35 employees working in enforcement who speak Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886418\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886418 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three men in wide-brimmed hats chat near a stack of leeks in the middle of a field.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1833-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworker Juan Chavez speaks with colleagues while harvesting leeks on a 90-degree day at Muranaka Farms in Moorpark. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garrett Brown, a former Cal/OSHA inspector who also served as a special assistant to Widess, has tracked the agency’s staff vacancies for years. As of July 31, at least 25% of its about 250 inspector positions remained open. About 33% of posts in its legal division were unfilled as of June, according to an analysis published on Brown’s website, \u003ca href=\"https://insidecalosha.org/\">Inside Cal/OSHA\u003c/a>. With such high turnover, Brown said, the agency’s inspectors simply can’t keep up with complaints. Were Cal/OSHA inspectors to visit every farm in the state annually, they’d be outmatched by the sheer number: There are more than 350 farms for each inspector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA said it is hiring inspectors as “quickly as possible,” noting the 70 inspector positions it has filled since January 2020. Twenty-three of those posts involved internal promotions, resulting in additional vacancies. The agency denied it has experienced any hiring delays and said the candidate pool for workplace safety inspectors “is smaller than for other state classifications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA lawyers often are outnumbered when companies appeal a citation by legal teams that flood the agency with paperwork to escape enforcement until the cases are resolved, Brown said.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An independent study commissioned by Cal/OSHA identified the need for as many as 258 additional positions. Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his budget that included $14.4 million for 70 new posts. Only a small fraction of those will be inspectors. In a statement to CJI and The California Newsroom, the governor’s office said it is considering a phased-in approach for hiring more Cal/OSHA employees in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent Cal/OSHA chief, Doug Parker, is awaiting confirmation to head federal OSHA, leaving the state agency without a permanent leader.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘You have an agency that’s barely able to do what it’s supposed to do and presents no threat to irresponsible employers.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“You have an agency that’s barely able to do what it’s supposed to do,” Brown said, “and presents no threat to irresponsible employers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA laid out additional ways it is attempting to improve its enforcement practices, such as streamlining the citation process and reviewing protocols for closing cases. The agency said even one work-related fatality or serious illness is “too many.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal/OSHA investigates all notifications of suspect work-related fatalities to determine the cause, identify violations and require employers to correct unsafe or unhealthy conditions,” the agency said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A repeat offender\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In 2017, a 16-year-old girl working in a watermelon field in Sutter grew ill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cal/OSHA inspectors visited the field where the teenager had collapsed, they couldn’t examine the worksite because the harvest had finished and the workers had moved to a new location. Cal/OSHA interviewed the worker and her mother through a translator and cited the company that hired them, Ceja Reyes, for not making them aware of the dangers of heat. Cal/OSHA fined the company $31,365 and told it to make sure all employees received heat training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja Reyes, based in Sutter County, provides contract farm laborers. Cal/OSHA has cited the company for at least six heat violations in the last decade — many of them after the agency said Ceja Reyes failed to properly train workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberto Ceja, president and partner at Ceja Reyes, refuted Cal/OSHA’s findings. He said in an interview that the mother and daughter had been trained, but the company forgot to have them sign off on their training sheets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two years after the teenager got sick on the job, Cal/OSHA found that Ceja Reyes failed to provide its heat plan to an inspector who made an on-site visit. Cal/OSHA fined the company another $635 for failing to make the plan readily available to workers. Cal/OSHA’s heat program coordinator suggested in the investigative file that Ceja Reyes be considered a repeat offender in the case, which would have meant higher possible fines for similar violations in the future. But the acting district manager at the time declined that designation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja blamed Cal/OSHA for the string of violations. He said inspectors interpret the law in various ways, making it impossible for farms and contractors to keep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think their inspectors have plenty of training before they send [them] to the field,” Ceja said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja said he supports more stringent heat rules, such as halting all work at 95 degrees, which he said his company does in most cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Why it matters\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Put into practice, heat standards can work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September of last year, Sonia Bonce was working at the Muranaka Farm in Moorpark. The temperature was rising steadily, and it was beyond 90 degrees by lunchtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1854-scaled-e1631073034135.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886420 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1854-scaled-e1631073034135.jpg\" alt=\"A line of five vehicles at the edge of a rocky field, with car doors and trunks propped open for workers to sit and lean.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers at Muranaka Farms take a break from harvesting leeks to eat lunch. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When Bonce stood up to take a lunch break and began walking toward the shade, her vision became blurry, her legs weak. She passed out and hit her head. The farm’s foreman, recognizing the signs of heat-related illness, alerted a supervisor, who called an ambulance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She felt exhausted and sore for a couple of days; otherwise, there were no lingering physical effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonce, who has worked the fields since leaving El Salvador more than a decade ago, was spared serious injury or death in part because of her employer’s buy-in. Muranaka’s supervisors noticed the warning signs of heat illness and responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other employers have not been as attentive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Jimenez, 17, traveled 2,500 miles from her hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico, to rural Lodi to find work after her father died. Her uncle, Doroteo Jimenez, had worked in the area for two decades. Maria was employed by Merced Farm Labor Contractors and soon found herself tying grapes into bundles at a local vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 14, 2008, the temperature rose to 86 degrees, seven degrees hotter than the average high for that date over the previous 40 years. Maria was working in the vineyard without shade or water breaks, as required by the heat-safety rules. She became dehydrated and fainted. Another employee took her to a drugstore to try to revive her with rubbing alcohol before bringing her to a hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, it was too late. Jimenez had a core body temperature of 108 degrees — hot enough for the brain, liver and kidneys to shut down. Her heart stopped six times while doctors tried to revive her. It was then they learned she was pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Joaquin County filed criminal manslaughter charges against the owner, safety director and supervisor of Merced Farm, which eventually was shuttered by the state. Cal/OSHA imposed a fine of more than $250,000. In 2011, the company’s executives pleaded no contest to failing to provide shade and were sentenced to community service, $1,370 in fines and no jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a company supervisor first contacted him by phone when his niece collapsed, Doroteo Jimenez remembers the supervisor saying she was dizzy. He didn’t think it was that serious. He only realized the gravity of her injuries when he went to visit her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At that point, I couldn’t even talk to her anymore,” he said. She died the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ordeal prompted Doroteo and his wife, Juana, to join union leaders and other activists to push for farmworker protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91240378\">Hundreds of workers walked with Doroteo and Juana some 50 miles to the state Capitol carrying two coffins\u003c/a> over several days to draw attention to Maria’s death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years later, the state fortified its heat standard. This time, the state required employers to make water readily available, expand shade coverage and increase the number of breaks. In 2018, on the 10th anniversary of Jimenez’s death, the standard was renamed in her memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There have been many deaths before,” Doroteo said in Spanish through a translator. “I said that I am going to do something that would not just be thrown away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A broader problem\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>California’s farmworkers aren’t the only workers dying from heat. In the last decade, there have been 10 deaths in construction and four deaths in landscaping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For California’s workers, the difference between a heat standard that works and one that doesn’t often hinges on employers’ good faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonia Bonce, the farmworker at Muranaka, said in Spanish through a translator that she appreciates how her employer responded to her bout with heat exhaustion. The company agreed to cover her medical expenses, including the cost of the ambulance. She was allowed to take off the two work days she needed to recuperate, though she said she had to forgo her earnings those days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11886425\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1766-scaled-e1630008683701.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11886425 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/DSCF1766-scaled-e1630008683701.jpg\" alt=\"A tractor rolls thorough a field of leeks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworkers processing a field of leeks on a 90-degree day at Muranaka Farms. \u003ccite>(Jason Margolis/LAist)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The UFW’s Roman Pinal, who organizes laborers in California’s fields, commended the farm’s management for allowing workers to speak up whenever they see problems — a rarity, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Valuing human lives and a little bit less the production,” Pinal said. “That’s when we’re heading in the right direction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many employers aren’t as conscientious. Until Cal/OSHA hires more inspectors and becomes more proactive, former inspector Brown said, the agency won’t make significant headway against heat deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with increased inspections, California’s existing heat standard may need another boost. In Moorpark, for instance, where Muranaka Farm is located, the average maximum temperature has risen one degree in the 16 years since the standard was implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Cal/OSHA insiders said state lawmakers should consider mandating a split work day for outdoor laborers to address the ever-escalating temperatures. During the record-breaking heat wave that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in June, many farms switched to early morning and late-evening hours so workers could avoid the most punishing conditions. Public health officials already recommend that workers avoid midday heat whenever possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others advocate for more drastic labor reforms, such as canceling work on days above 105 degrees. The human body, they say, is simply not equipped to endure such temperatures over long periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enhanced protections can’t come soon enough. At Muranaka Farm in June, a crew of sweat-soaked farmworkers harvested leeks under the scorching sun. The temperature exceeded 90 degrees that day — the second day of an early heat wave. Nearly two dozen laborers, aligned in a row on their hands and knees, plucked the long-stemmed plants from the dirt. They sliced off extraneous leaves with their knives and tossed the vegetables into a pile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already this summer, Bonce has felt heat overtake her while she is in the fields. Her chest grows tight and her head spins. Recognizing the warning signs, she’s taken some time off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is hot. It’s not easy work,” Bonce said. “We are struggling every single day to do this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Brian Edwards reported this story as a fellow for Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School in New York. Jacob Margolis is a reporter at KPCC and LAist, and a member of The California Newsroom. David Nickerson, a reporting fellow at CJI; Robert Benincasa, a senior data reporter at NPR; and Cascade Tuholske, a climate impact scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, contributed to the data analysis. Public Health Watch, an independent investigative nonprofit, helped produce this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Laura, 76, has not seen a doctor for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former farmworker, who did not want her last name used because of her immigration status, said she is losing her eyesight and her feet are often swollen and in pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A grandmother, Laura also suffers from headaches and shortness of breath, months after she became seriously ill with COVID-19 during the winter surge. Through it all, she has relied on home remedies and not sought medical care because she lacks health insurance, she said, in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have any money. And at my age, there’s no work,” said Laura, who picked watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin and other crops for more than 20 years in fields in Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Laura may soon get access to the medical services she desperately needs, at little or no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is on the verge of a historic step to offer public health insurance to low-income undocumented older adults — a population that has been particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic but left out of federal assistance programs and other safety nets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are expected to announce an expansion to the Medi-Cal program in the coming days as part of a final deal on the state budget, according to advocates and legislative aides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent negotiations in Sacramento have centered on the lower age limit for those who will be newly eligible: 50 and older, as lawmakers have previously proposed; 60 and older, as Newsom offered; or somewhere in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are as certain as we can be that there will be something that comes into the final budget,” said Sarah Dar, who directs health and public benefits policy at the California Immigrant Policy Center. “And it’s really just a matter of ‘What’s the age they land on?‘”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Luz Gallegos, director of TODEC, a legal center and immigrant justice organization\"]‘California continues to step up and defend all Californians, especially those who are most vulnerable, who don’t have any access to safety nets, but who contribute to our state economy, have been paying taxes… and have seen nothing in return.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, then-state Sen. Ricardo Lara introduced the first (unsuccessful) \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1005\">bill\u003c/a> to make undocumented immigrants eligible for public health coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, California has enrolled undocumented children in full-scope Medi-Cal, offering free or low-cost preventative care, doctor visits, prescriptions, dental care, vision care and other services. Last year, the state became the first in the nation to offer health coverage to undocumented young adults through age 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more than 1.3 million undocumented Californians are projected to lack health insurance next year, remaining the largest uninsured group in the state, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/undocumented-californians-projected-to-remain-the-largest-group-of-uninsured-in-the-state-in-2022/\">report\u003c/a> by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estimates vary, but depending on the final age cutoff that Newsom and legislative leaders decide for this year’s budget, roughly 80,000 to more than 200,000 undocumented Californians could gain access to Medi-Cal, including many who have worked essential jobs that are key to the state’s economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigrant and health advocates who have pushed California for years to extend health coverage to undocumented immigrants savored the realization that finally, older adults will most likely be eligible for coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At last, justice does prevail. We are in a historic moment as Californians,” said Luz Gallegos, the executive director of TODEC, a legal center and immigrant justice organization in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California continues to step up and defend all Californians, especially those who are most vulnerable, who don’t have any access to safety nets, but who contribute to our state economy, have been paying taxes … and have seen nothing in return,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11879325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1242px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11879325\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1242\" height=\"806\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos.jpg 1242w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos-1020x662.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1242px) 100vw, 1242px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luz Gallegos works on COVID-19 vaccine outreach for farmworkers in Thermal, Calif. this spring. \u003ccite>(Courtesy TODEC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The governor’s budget \u003ca href=\"http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2021-22/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HealthandHumanServices.pdf\">revision\u003c/a> from May includes nearly $860 million in annual state funds to expand Medi-Cal to low-income undocumented adults age 60 and older, with some of that funding available next year. The Legislature’s \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/Floor%20Report%20of%20the%202021-22%20Budget%20-%20%28June%2011%2C%202021%20Version%29.pdf\">proposal\u003c/a> dedicates $1.3 billion in annual funds to cover undocumented adults age 50 and older once the program is fully established.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='undocumented-immigrants']Gallegos, who was born in the U.S. to farmworker immigrant parents, said this likely win is personal for her. In recent years, her undocumented uncle died from cancer, she said, after he delayed seeking medical care because he was uninsured. During the pandemic, farmworkers she knows died from COVID-19 while several others became ill with the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We honor their lives by continuing the struggle so we don’t see no more lives taken away from our communities,” said Gallegos, her voice breaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, low-income undocumented immigrants who are 26 and older are eligible for limited Medi-Cal, which only covers health care emergencies or prenatal care if they are pregnant. Undocumented immigrants are excluded from the Affordable Care Act, and cannot purchase coverage through Covered California, the state’s ACA health exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they are not insured by an employer or able to purchase a private plan, they must generally rely on county health programs, which vary greatly throughout the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11814885/as-pandemic-batters-californias-economy-plan-to-insure-undocumented-seniors-in-doubt\">proposed\u003c/a> offering full-scope Medi-Cal to undocumented seniors age 65 and older. But the plan didn’t go through, as the state projected a severe economic downturn and tax losses in the billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the financial picture for California is starkly different this year, with the state logging an eye-popping budget surplus of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11874125/californias-historic-budget-surplus-is-it-76-billion-or-38-billion\">$76 billion\u003c/a>. In addition, the pandemic highlighted how “interconnected” public health really is, with all of us having to think about whether people around us wore masks, stood far enough apart, or were vaccinated, said Dar, with the California Immigrant Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so to give health care access to this community would mean a healthier and stronger state for all Californians,” said Dar. “Increased productivity, better health outcomes, better public health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some opponents have argued that funds to provide health coverage to undocumented people would be better spent on other needs, such as helping struggling U.S. citizens afford their own health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About two in three Californians support the idea of providing health coverage to undocumented immigrants, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-march-2021.pdf\">recent survey\u003c/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California. But many Republicans oppose it, with nearly eight in 10 saying that they are not in favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Illinois became the \u003ca href=\"https://www.povertylaw.org/article/health-coverage-available-to-undocumented-seniors-in-illinois/#:~:text=Fortunately%2C%20Illinois%20has%20become%20the,citizens%20age%2065%20or%20older.\">first state\u003c/a> to extend health insurance to undocumented seniors age 65 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former farmworker Laura hopes she will gain access to health coverage — and low-cost medical care — in California, where she has lived since the late 1980s, most recently in Riverside county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would help me a lot to go to the doctor and get my eyes checked out,” Laura said. “It would be the best.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Laura, 76, has not seen a doctor for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former farmworker, who did not want her last name used because of her immigration status, said she is losing her eyesight and her feet are often swollen and in pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A grandmother, Laura also suffers from headaches and shortness of breath, months after she became seriously ill with COVID-19 during the winter surge. Through it all, she has relied on home remedies and not sought medical care because she lacks health insurance, she said, in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have any money. And at my age, there’s no work,” said Laura, who picked watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin and other crops for more than 20 years in fields in Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Laura may soon get access to the medical services she desperately needs, at little or no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is on the verge of a historic step to offer public health insurance to low-income undocumented older adults — a population that has been particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic but left out of federal assistance programs and other safety nets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are expected to announce an expansion to the Medi-Cal program in the coming days as part of a final deal on the state budget, according to advocates and legislative aides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent negotiations in Sacramento have centered on the lower age limit for those who will be newly eligible: 50 and older, as lawmakers have previously proposed; 60 and older, as Newsom offered; or somewhere in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are as certain as we can be that there will be something that comes into the final budget,” said Sarah Dar, who directs health and public benefits policy at the California Immigrant Policy Center. “And it’s really just a matter of ‘What’s the age they land on?‘”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, then-state Sen. Ricardo Lara introduced the first (unsuccessful) \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1005\">bill\u003c/a> to make undocumented immigrants eligible for public health coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, California has enrolled undocumented children in full-scope Medi-Cal, offering free or low-cost preventative care, doctor visits, prescriptions, dental care, vision care and other services. Last year, the state became the first in the nation to offer health coverage to undocumented young adults through age 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more than 1.3 million undocumented Californians are projected to lack health insurance next year, remaining the largest uninsured group in the state, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/undocumented-californians-projected-to-remain-the-largest-group-of-uninsured-in-the-state-in-2022/\">report\u003c/a> by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Estimates vary, but depending on the final age cutoff that Newsom and legislative leaders decide for this year’s budget, roughly 80,000 to more than 200,000 undocumented Californians could gain access to Medi-Cal, including many who have worked essential jobs that are key to the state’s economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigrant and health advocates who have pushed California for years to extend health coverage to undocumented immigrants savored the realization that finally, older adults will most likely be eligible for coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At last, justice does prevail. We are in a historic moment as Californians,” said Luz Gallegos, the executive director of TODEC, a legal center and immigrant justice organization in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California continues to step up and defend all Californians, especially those who are most vulnerable, who don’t have any access to safety nets, but who contribute to our state economy, have been paying taxes … and have seen nothing in return,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11879325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1242px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11879325\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1242\" height=\"806\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos.jpg 1242w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos-1020x662.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/Gallegos-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1242px) 100vw, 1242px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luz Gallegos works on COVID-19 vaccine outreach for farmworkers in Thermal, Calif. this spring. \u003ccite>(Courtesy TODEC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The governor’s budget \u003ca href=\"http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2021-22/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HealthandHumanServices.pdf\">revision\u003c/a> from May includes nearly $860 million in annual state funds to expand Medi-Cal to low-income undocumented adults age 60 and older, with some of that funding available next year. The Legislature’s \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/Floor%20Report%20of%20the%202021-22%20Budget%20-%20%28June%2011%2C%202021%20Version%29.pdf\">proposal\u003c/a> dedicates $1.3 billion in annual funds to cover undocumented adults age 50 and older once the program is fully established.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Gallegos, who was born in the U.S. to farmworker immigrant parents, said this likely win is personal for her. In recent years, her undocumented uncle died from cancer, she said, after he delayed seeking medical care because he was uninsured. During the pandemic, farmworkers she knows died from COVID-19 while several others became ill with the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We honor their lives by continuing the struggle so we don’t see no more lives taken away from our communities,” said Gallegos, her voice breaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, low-income undocumented immigrants who are 26 and older are eligible for limited Medi-Cal, which only covers health care emergencies or prenatal care if they are pregnant. Undocumented immigrants are excluded from the Affordable Care Act, and cannot purchase coverage through Covered California, the state’s ACA health exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they are not insured by an employer or able to purchase a private plan, they must generally rely on county health programs, which vary greatly throughout the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11814885/as-pandemic-batters-californias-economy-plan-to-insure-undocumented-seniors-in-doubt\">proposed\u003c/a> offering full-scope Medi-Cal to undocumented seniors age 65 and older. But the plan didn’t go through, as the state projected a severe economic downturn and tax losses in the billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the financial picture for California is starkly different this year, with the state logging an eye-popping budget surplus of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11874125/californias-historic-budget-surplus-is-it-76-billion-or-38-billion\">$76 billion\u003c/a>. In addition, the pandemic highlighted how “interconnected” public health really is, with all of us having to think about whether people around us wore masks, stood far enough apart, or were vaccinated, said Dar, with the California Immigrant Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And so to give health care access to this community would mean a healthier and stronger state for all Californians,” said Dar. “Increased productivity, better health outcomes, better public health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some opponents have argued that funds to provide health coverage to undocumented people would be better spent on other needs, such as helping struggling U.S. citizens afford their own health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About two in three Californians support the idea of providing health coverage to undocumented immigrants, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-march-2021.pdf\">recent survey\u003c/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California. But many Republicans oppose it, with nearly eight in 10 saying that they are not in favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Illinois became the \u003ca href=\"https://www.povertylaw.org/article/health-coverage-available-to-undocumented-seniors-in-illinois/#:~:text=Fortunately%2C%20Illinois%20has%20become%20the,citizens%20age%2065%20or%20older.\">first state\u003c/a> to extend health insurance to undocumented seniors age 65 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former farmworker Laura hopes she will gain access to health coverage — and low-cost medical care — in California, where she has lived since the late 1980s, most recently in Riverside county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would help me a lot to go to the doctor and get my eyes checked out,” Laura said. “It would be the best.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of child care, in-home care and support for the elderly as well as for members of the disability community across the nation. Now, one of the most contentious parts of negotiations with Republicans over President Biden’s infrastructure plan has to do with the administration’s inclusion of \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/why-care-work-infrastructure/618588/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$400 billion in spending for at-home care for the elderly and people with disabilities\u003c/a>, with the administration arguing that such domestic work is as essential to a functioning economy as roads and bridges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Mina Kim spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/375509/ai-jen-poo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ai-jen Poo\u003c/a>, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.domesticworkers.org/press/spokespersons/ai-jen-poo/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Domestic Workers Alliance\u003c/a>, about domestic workers and what it means to include this work in the infrastructure plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Why Care Work Is Best Described as Infrastructure\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> We’ve always talked about how domestic work, the work that happens inside of our homes to take care of our family members, our children, our loved ones with disabilities, our aging loved ones, really is the work that makes all other work possible. Having access to care makes it possible for all of us to go out into the world and do what we do every single day.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance\"]‘If you think about the definition of infrastructure, it’s really that which enables society and the economy to function. And what could be more fundamental than having the ability to take care of your loved ones as you prepare to work and participate in our workforce and economy?’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you think about the definition of infrastructure, it’s really that which enables society and the economy to function. And what could be more fundamental than having the ability to take care of your loved ones as you prepare to work and participate in our workforce and economy?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you think about the traditional definition of infrastructure, roads, bridges, tunnels, all of the people who are rebuilding our bridges and fixing our tunnels, they need care, too. So maybe it’s the first form of infrastructure before anything else.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Single Greatest Opportunity in Generations’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What do you think about the fact that care work is now in a presidential infrastructure bill?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the single greatest opportunity we’ve had in generations to establish the kind of policies and programs we need to support our ability to care for our families as we work. It’s necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the pandemic, many of us were simmering in a care crisis. We have a situation where the baby boom generation is aging into retirement at a rate of 10,000 people per day, turning 65 every 8 seconds. We’ve basically added an entire generation onto our lifespan and we haven’t adopted any of our systems or policy to support a quality of life and the care we need as we live longer. On both ends of the generational spectrum, we need more care than ever before at a time when we have less of it. Our default care infrastructure in previous generations was just expecting that women will stay home and be full-time family caregivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance\"]‘The fact that the work as a profession has always been associated with women of color has profoundly shaped the way that we’ve treated this work in law, policy and in culture.’[/pullquote]We need programs, policies, systems and a strong care workforce to support us. There are over 2.5 million [care workers], and they’re overwhelmingly women — 92% women and majority women of color, including many immigrant women. This is actually the part of the economy with the highest concentration of undocumented immigrants of any workforce. They are also majority primary income earners for their families and majority mothers of small children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a workforce who is essential not only to the families they support, but their own families and communities. And it’s also a workforce that has always been majority women of color. Some of the first domestic workers in the U.S. were enslaved Black women. And the fact that the work as a profession has always been associated with women of color has profoundly shaped the way that we’ve treated this work in law, policy and in culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in the 1930s, when we were putting our foundational labor laws into place, this workforce was excluded intentionally as a result of racism and the legacy of slavery in our country. And it created a situation of extreme insecurity when domestic workers entered a crisis like a pandemic — it just became incredibly exacerbated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1355px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1355\" height=\"1003\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877959\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut.jpg 1355w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut-800x592.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut-1020x755.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut-160x118.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1355px) 100vw, 1355px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Alex Padilla speaks with children during a visit to Mission Kids Preschool in San Francisco on June 1, 2021. The visit was part of Padilla’s ‘Infrastructure Listening Tour.’ \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Structural Problems in Pay and Working Conditions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Could you talk a little bit more about some of the more common structural problems that you see regarding pay and working conditions?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> Eighty-two percent of domestic workers didn’t have a single paid sick day. When the second stay-at-home orders came down, you saw dramatic losses in jobs and income because there’s no job security, there’s no contract or work agreement. The wages are essentially poverty wages. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So most domestic workers didn’t have the savings to be able to fall back on. I remember in March of 2020, in the first weeks of the pandemic, we held a meeting on Zoom with some of our members and one of them held her phone up to the Zoom screen to show us that she literally had 1 cent left in her bank account.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What Investing in the Care Economy Looks Like\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>When you say investment in care workers and the care economy, what does it look like?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> The Biden \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Jobs Plan\u003c/a> proposed a $400 billion investment in Medicaid, home and community-based care. What that money would do is expand access to home and community-based services and care for the elderly, and people with disabilities. And it would support raising wages and access to benefits for the workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the average annual income of a home care worker is $17,000 per year. I don’t know a single community where that is sustainable, let alone enough to raise a family on. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance\"]‘If you’re a parent or you’re a primary caregiver for a family member who needs assistance with activities of daily life, you know that it’s an impossible choice between work and family members who need you for their basic human needs.’[/pullquote]What we end up seeing is high rates of turnover because people simply cannot survive and sustain themselves doing this work … because the wages are so poor and the conditions are so tough, we have huge parts of this country that we call home care deserts or direct care deserts because people can’t get the support that they need in order to live in their communities. They end up either having to go into a nursing home or having to rely on overstretched family caregivers who have to make impossible choices about whether or not they can work. The money to Medicaid would specifically raise wages for the home care workforce and strengthen that workforce so that they can stay and sustain themselves doing this work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would expand access to the services for over 800,000 people who are on waiting lists and the millions more who don’t even know there’s a waiting list to wait on.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Cultural Shift\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What evidence do you have that there is a tangible cultural shift happening here?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> I do feel this incredible rage, we call it the “mom’s rage,” that incredible frustration that moms are feeling and have felt throughout the pandemic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re a parent or you’re a primary caregiver for a family member who needs assistance with activities of daily life, you know that it’s an impossible choice between work and family members who need you for their basic human needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The kind of rage that I’m feeling, especially from women who disproportionately bear the brunt of caregiving responsibilities in our country, and especially women of color who’ve been pushed out of the workforce by the millions, almost 5 million women pushed out of the workforce in the pandemic because of caregiving challenges. That is an indicator that something is very broken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we are to pull ourselves back from the regression to 1988 women’s workforce participation levels, we’re going to have to rebuild and build something really different. I think people know that in their guts. This cultural norm that we have around care being an individual responsibility and a responsibility of individual families is one that is very deep. It’s not like we’re going to move past it overnight. And it’s not that it isn’t the responsibility of women and families and individuals, but it is about what is our responsibility collectively to each other as a society to ensure that we have real choices and real agency when it comes to the people we love.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Protections for Undocumented Domestic Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Can you comment on protections for undocumented domestic workers?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> There are a tremendous number of undocumented workers — essential workers in this industry. [aside tag=\"undocumented\" label=\"Related Stories\"] We’ve been working really hard to make sure that we seize upon this moment as we’re imagining an economic recovery that is inclusive and supportive of essential workers and includes undocumented domestic workers and care workers that have kept us safe through the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Alex Padilla from California has introduced legislation to create a path to citizenship for the 5 million essential workers across industries through this time of crisis, and so we are very busy trying to get support for that legislation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could be really transformative and it would be inclusive of domestic workers, so let the senator know that you really support his efforts and help us get people signed on to that bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of child care, in-home care and support for the elderly as well as for members of the disability community across the nation. Now, one of the most contentious parts of negotiations with Republicans over President Biden’s infrastructure plan has to do with the administration’s inclusion of \u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/why-care-work-infrastructure/618588/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$400 billion in spending for at-home care for the elderly and people with disabilities\u003c/a>, with the administration arguing that such domestic work is as essential to a functioning economy as roads and bridges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Mina Kim spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/375509/ai-jen-poo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ai-jen Poo\u003c/a>, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.domesticworkers.org/press/spokespersons/ai-jen-poo/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Domestic Workers Alliance\u003c/a>, about domestic workers and what it means to include this work in the infrastructure plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Why Care Work Is Best Described as Infrastructure\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> We’ve always talked about how domestic work, the work that happens inside of our homes to take care of our family members, our children, our loved ones with disabilities, our aging loved ones, really is the work that makes all other work possible. Having access to care makes it possible for all of us to go out into the world and do what we do every single day.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you think about the definition of infrastructure, it’s really that which enables society and the economy to function. And what could be more fundamental than having the ability to take care of your loved ones as you prepare to work and participate in our workforce and economy?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if you think about the traditional definition of infrastructure, roads, bridges, tunnels, all of the people who are rebuilding our bridges and fixing our tunnels, they need care, too. So maybe it’s the first form of infrastructure before anything else.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Single Greatest Opportunity in Generations’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What do you think about the fact that care work is now in a presidential infrastructure bill?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the single greatest opportunity we’ve had in generations to establish the kind of policies and programs we need to support our ability to care for our families as we work. It’s necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the pandemic, many of us were simmering in a care crisis. We have a situation where the baby boom generation is aging into retirement at a rate of 10,000 people per day, turning 65 every 8 seconds. We’ve basically added an entire generation onto our lifespan and we haven’t adopted any of our systems or policy to support a quality of life and the care we need as we live longer. On both ends of the generational spectrum, we need more care than ever before at a time when we have less of it. Our default care infrastructure in previous generations was just expecting that women will stay home and be full-time family caregivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The fact that the work as a profession has always been associated with women of color has profoundly shaped the way that we’ve treated this work in law, policy and in culture.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>We need programs, policies, systems and a strong care workforce to support us. There are over 2.5 million [care workers], and they’re overwhelmingly women — 92% women and majority women of color, including many immigrant women. This is actually the part of the economy with the highest concentration of undocumented immigrants of any workforce. They are also majority primary income earners for their families and majority mothers of small children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a workforce who is essential not only to the families they support, but their own families and communities. And it’s also a workforce that has always been majority women of color. Some of the first domestic workers in the U.S. were enslaved Black women. And the fact that the work as a profession has always been associated with women of color has profoundly shaped the way that we’ve treated this work in law, policy and in culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in the 1930s, when we were putting our foundational labor laws into place, this workforce was excluded intentionally as a result of racism and the legacy of slavery in our country. And it created a situation of extreme insecurity when domestic workers entered a crisis like a pandemic — it just became incredibly exacerbated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11877959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1355px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1355\" height=\"1003\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11877959\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut.jpg 1355w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut-800x592.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut-1020x755.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/06/RS49609_015_SanFrancisco_AlexPadillaMissionKids_06012021-qut-160x118.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1355px) 100vw, 1355px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Alex Padilla speaks with children during a visit to Mission Kids Preschool in San Francisco on June 1, 2021. The visit was part of Padilla’s ‘Infrastructure Listening Tour.’ \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Structural Problems in Pay and Working Conditions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Could you talk a little bit more about some of the more common structural problems that you see regarding pay and working conditions?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> Eighty-two percent of domestic workers didn’t have a single paid sick day. When the second stay-at-home orders came down, you saw dramatic losses in jobs and income because there’s no job security, there’s no contract or work agreement. The wages are essentially poverty wages. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So most domestic workers didn’t have the savings to be able to fall back on. I remember in March of 2020, in the first weeks of the pandemic, we held a meeting on Zoom with some of our members and one of them held her phone up to the Zoom screen to show us that she literally had 1 cent left in her bank account.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What Investing in the Care Economy Looks Like\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>When you say investment in care workers and the care economy, what does it look like?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> The Biden \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Jobs Plan\u003c/a> proposed a $400 billion investment in Medicaid, home and community-based care. What that money would do is expand access to home and community-based services and care for the elderly, and people with disabilities. And it would support raising wages and access to benefits for the workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the average annual income of a home care worker is $17,000 per year. I don’t know a single community where that is sustainable, let alone enough to raise a family on. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If you’re a parent or you’re a primary caregiver for a family member who needs assistance with activities of daily life, you know that it’s an impossible choice between work and family members who need you for their basic human needs.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>What we end up seeing is high rates of turnover because people simply cannot survive and sustain themselves doing this work … because the wages are so poor and the conditions are so tough, we have huge parts of this country that we call home care deserts or direct care deserts because people can’t get the support that they need in order to live in their communities. They end up either having to go into a nursing home or having to rely on overstretched family caregivers who have to make impossible choices about whether or not they can work. The money to Medicaid would specifically raise wages for the home care workforce and strengthen that workforce so that they can stay and sustain themselves doing this work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would expand access to the services for over 800,000 people who are on waiting lists and the millions more who don’t even know there’s a waiting list to wait on.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A Cultural Shift\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What evidence do you have that there is a tangible cultural shift happening here?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> I do feel this incredible rage, we call it the “mom’s rage,” that incredible frustration that moms are feeling and have felt throughout the pandemic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re a parent or you’re a primary caregiver for a family member who needs assistance with activities of daily life, you know that it’s an impossible choice between work and family members who need you for their basic human needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The kind of rage that I’m feeling, especially from women who disproportionately bear the brunt of caregiving responsibilities in our country, and especially women of color who’ve been pushed out of the workforce by the millions, almost 5 million women pushed out of the workforce in the pandemic because of caregiving challenges. That is an indicator that something is very broken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we are to pull ourselves back from the regression to 1988 women’s workforce participation levels, we’re going to have to rebuild and build something really different. I think people know that in their guts. This cultural norm that we have around care being an individual responsibility and a responsibility of individual families is one that is very deep. It’s not like we’re going to move past it overnight. And it’s not that it isn’t the responsibility of women and families and individuals, but it is about what is our responsibility collectively to each other as a society to ensure that we have real choices and real agency when it comes to the people we love.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Protections for Undocumented Domestic Workers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Can you comment on protections for undocumented domestic workers?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ai-jen Poo:\u003c/strong> There are a tremendous number of undocumented workers — essential workers in this industry. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> We’ve been working really hard to make sure that we seize upon this moment as we’re imagining an economic recovery that is inclusive and supportive of essential workers and includes undocumented domestic workers and care workers that have kept us safe through the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Alex Padilla from California has introduced legislation to create a path to citizenship for the 5 million essential workers across industries through this time of crisis, and so we are very busy trying to get support for that legislation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could be really transformative and it would be inclusive of domestic workers, so let the senator know that you really support his efforts and help us get people signed on to that bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Activists held a die-in on the street in front of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Sacramento home early Wednesday to demand COVID-19 relief for undocumented workers who they say are largely excluded from unemployment benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fifty-eight people, mostly immigrant workers and activists from across California, laid down in the street to bring attention to the disproportionate share of pandemic-related deaths borne by workers and their families in sectors the state identified as the most high-risk for COVID-19 spread, including agriculture, warehouses and restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 10 industries in California, the first 10 months of the pandemic \u003ca href=\"https://clc.ucmerced.edu/sites/clc.ucmerced.edu/files/page/documents/fact_sheet_-_the_pandemics_toll_on_california_workers_in_high_risk_industries.pdf\">saw a 30% increase in deaths\u003c/a> of essential workers in those industries compared to the previous year, according to a study from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mirna Bueso, undocumented worker\"]‘We are not asking for charity, we are asking to get back what we have given to this state.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an immigrant, I’ve seen how we’ve been excluded from all the benefits the government has provided to workers,” said Mirna Bueso, 45, who worked two part-time jobs, one at a warehouse and one at a restaurant before losing both jobs during the pandemic. Bueso, who lives in San Francisco, was unemployed for eight months but did not qualify for assistance because she is undocumented. Through an employment agency she was eventually able to find work a couple of days a week, but work is still unstable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bueso said she is not afraid of identifying herself as undocumented, because she contributes to the state and federal governments by paying her taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are also part of this state. We pay taxes. We pay them in each of our paychecks,” she said. “Even if they don’t let us qualify for certain benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every week, charges are taxed on our income for unemployment, disability benefits and social security … but we don’t get to see that. We are not asking for charity, we are asking to get back what we have given to this state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bueso has been volunteering at food banks as a way to feed her family. Last year, she received $1,000 from a nonprofit organization providing assistance to undocumented immigrant workers, but given the cost of living in San Francisco, the money hasn’t gone far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We [essential immigrant workers] should not be feeling so unprotected as we are now. We don’t have a guarantee … if we lose our employment, we are practically left with nothing, in the streets, because many of us have been evicted from the places we live because we owe more than eight months in rent,” Bueso said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Legislature is currently in the final stages of deciding how to spend a $75 billion budget surplus. Some believe the surplus should include more support for immigrant workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The issue of political will is always a question, but financially it’s viable,” said Lucas Zucker, policy and communications director for Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, which organized the protest. “The rich have gotten richer in this pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11862122]Zucker said the state of New York has shown leadership on the issue with its establishment of an \u003ca href=\"https://access.nyc.gov/programs/excluded-workers-fund/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">excluded workers fund\u003c/a>, which is a direct payment for low-income workers who don’t qualify for other benefits. Zucker said he’d like to see that same kind of leadership in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In terms of the recovery, California’s recovery won’t be complete if families are still left behind,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bueso said that through today’s action, she would like to see the inclusion of immigrant workers in the state budget “because we are essential parts in the state’s economy.” The current plan doesn’t include workers like Bueso, she said, even though “we are a fundamental part of the state’s economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, undocumented workers were for the first time eligible for the California Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax credit for Californians who earn up to $30,000 and which may provide as much as $3,027 depending on the number of dependents in a family. But since those benefits are dependent on an undocumented worker filing taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), and since getting one \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11874637/the-stimulus-gap-why-many-undocumented-immigrants-arent-getting-the-golden-state-stimulus-theyre-entitled-to\">can itself be an ordeal\u003c/a>, advocates say this means an unknown number of undocumented workers are still left out of California’s current stimulus plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too many of our families lost our entire life savings, went thousands of dollars in debt, or risked our lives in deadly jobs to make ends meet, while the rich continued to get richer,” said Jennifer Alejo of Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, who helped lead the die-in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bueso has been volunteering at food banks as a way to feed her family. Last year, she received $1,000 from a nonprofit organization providing assistance to undocumented immigrant workers, but given the cost of living in San Francisco, the money hasn’t gone far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We [essential immigrant workers] should not be feeling so unprotected as we are now. We don’t have a guarantee … if we lose our employment, we are practically left with nothing, in the streets, because many of us have been evicted from the places we live because we owe more than eight months in rent,” Bueso said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Legislature is currently in the final stages of deciding how to spend a $75 billion budget surplus. Some believe the surplus should include more support for immigrant workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The issue of political will is always a question, but financially it’s viable,” said Lucas Zucker, policy and communications director for Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, which organized the protest. “The rich have gotten richer in this pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Zucker said the state of New York has shown leadership on the issue with its establishment of an \u003ca href=\"https://access.nyc.gov/programs/excluded-workers-fund/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">excluded workers fund\u003c/a>, which is a direct payment for low-income workers who don’t qualify for other benefits. Zucker said he’d like to see that same kind of leadership in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In terms of the recovery, California’s recovery won’t be complete if families are still left behind,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bueso said that through today’s action, she would like to see the inclusion of immigrant workers in the state budget “because we are essential parts in the state’s economy.” The current plan doesn’t include workers like Bueso, she said, even though “we are a fundamental part of the state’s economy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, undocumented workers were for the first time eligible for the California Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax credit for Californians who earn up to $30,000 and which may provide as much as $3,027 depending on the number of dependents in a family. But since those benefits are dependent on an undocumented worker filing taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), and since getting one \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11874637/the-stimulus-gap-why-many-undocumented-immigrants-arent-getting-the-golden-state-stimulus-theyre-entitled-to\">can itself be an ordeal\u003c/a>, advocates say this means an unknown number of undocumented workers are still left out of California’s current stimulus plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too many of our families lost our entire life savings, went thousands of dollars in debt, or risked our lives in deadly jobs to make ends meet, while the rich continued to get richer,” said Jennifer Alejo of Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, who helped lead the die-in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2016/cb16-139.html\">5 million Americans today work in information technology, \u003c/a>based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That marks a growth of more than 35% over the last two decades, and doesn’t even factor in the many millions of workers in other industries whose jobs have become increasingly tech-focused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Marcus Courtney, former Microsoft contractor\"]‘Your actual personal experience as a tech worker is very different than the perception that’s been shaped in the popular culture and media.’[/pullquote]Despite the rapid growth of its workforce, the tech sector is still among the least unionized major industries in the country. But that’s not for lack of trying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20200318140849/https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1071&context=lrr\">For decades\u003c/a>, tech workers have faced consistent hurdles to organizing: lack of power on the job, workforces spread across the world, false narratives about working conditions, and staunch resistance from management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Noyce, co-founder of Intel, \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=GGQLLFDTudIC&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=remaining+non-union+is+an+essential+for+survival+for+most+of+our+companies.+If+we+had+the+work+rules+that+unionized+companies+have,+we%27d+all+go+out+of+business.+noyce&source=bl&ots=hCegxKzk0m&sig=efIv11ybFeTj6nqLgC3mlIeqgdA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMntDJw-jSAhUG1mMKHZfgCysQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=remaining%20non-union%20is%20an%20essential%20for%20survival%20for%20most%20of%20our%20companies.%20If%20we%20had%20the%20work%20rules%20that%20unionized%20companies%20have%2C%20we'd%20all%20go%20out%20of%20business.%20noyce&f=false\">once reportedly argued\u003c/a> that “remaining non-union is essential for survival for most of our companies. If we had the work rules that unionized companies have, we’d all go out of business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite staunch opposition, tech workers decades ago tried to build solidarity, first in high-tech manufacturing and then IT work.\u003ca href=\"https://truthout.org/articles/up-against-the-open-shop-the-hidden-story-of-silicon-valley-s-high-tech-workers-2/\"> In the 1970s\u003c/a>, organizing in Silicon Valley was led by largely underpaid women and people of color at semiconductor plants in Silicon Valley, like Fairchild Semiconductor and National Semiconductor. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/40787/permatemps-contretemps\">In the 1990s,\u003c/a> there was another surge of organizing among IT workers at software companies like Microsoft and then-nascent online retailers like Amazon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"tech-industry\"]More recently, labor organizers have succeeded at unionizing tech workers at a handful of companies, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839817/how-a-scrappy-group-of-tech-workers-formed-one-of-the-only-unions-in-the-industry\">Kickstarter \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873927/they-work-for-an-app-they-deliver-groceries-and-now-they-have-a-union\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Imperfect Foods\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But organizing efforts are also running into many of the same historical roadblocks — along with some new ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Organizing in the CD-ROM Era\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Marcus Courtney got an intimate look at the wave of tech worker organizing efforts in the 1990s. At the time, he was a test engineer at Microsoft, working on “mail products,” and a bunch of applications that now sound ancient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney said that, like today, many people then thought they’d be set for life if they got a job working on cutting edge technology at a place like Microsoft. But similar to many modern tech workers, Courtney was a Microsoft contractor, not an employee, so he didn’t enjoy the benefits, relatively high salaries or stock options of some of the people he worked alongside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your actual personal experience as a tech worker is very different than the perception that’s been shaped in the popular culture and media,” Courtney said. “And I think that’s why we decided it was time to take action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney and other contractors formed a group called Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227538285_Collective_Representation_Among_High-Tech_Workers_at_Microsoft_and_Beyond_Lessons_from_WashTechCWA\"> WashTech\u003c/a>, with help from the Communications Workers of America union. Around the same time, several hundred IBM workers created a group called \u003ca href=\"https://www.postbulletin.com/news/business/alliance-ibm-dissolves-after-years/article_a1724fe8-a672-5442-986a-77a3259fd951.html\">Alliance@IBM\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these union organizing efforts fell far short of recruiting the large percentage of workers required for recognition by the National Labor Relations Board. And most of these group are now long since defunct.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Myth of the Pampered Tech Worker\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Following the dot-com bust in 2000, a wave of new tech companies promised more power and autonomy for their workers. The general pitch: These startups wouldn’t have standard top-down corporate hierarchies. Instead they would be “flat organizations,” where anyone with a good idea could be heard and rewarded with perks and pay. Meritocracy would rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Media outlets ate up and amplified this narrative for years, running stories that marveled at the gilded conditions of a relatively small group of elite workers at Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/_QqT38QRA84\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The media portrays tech workers as being in a position of power and control — the world is their oyster. They can switch jobs if they want and they have huge bargaining power,” said Ronil Hira, a political science professor at Howard University who has followed the tech labor market for two decades. “In reality, most tech workers are on the receiving end. They don’t have much control over their employment situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This stereotype of privilege and power has long obscured the realities of the tech workforce, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hira notes that a majority of tech workers are not even located in Silicon Valley; they can more often be found in the back offices of insurance agencies, banks, and media organizations around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And unlike the common depiction of pampered engineers in Silicon Valley, he adds, many tech workers face the same labor issues as those in other industries: stagnant pay, temporary contracts, the threat of outsourcing, and little say over working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Changing Attitudes on Unions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>After some initial scrutiny in the 1990s, federal labor regulators largely let up on the tech industry after the dot-com bust, taking a generally light-handed approach to ongoing concerns like its heavy reliance on long-term temporary workers and outsourcing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as labor issues persisted, there still wasn’t much appetite among workers to unionize. While tech workers in the U.S. shied away from unions, those in other countries more commonly adopted them, a contrast that \u003ca href=\"https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=clsoc_crim_facpub\">prompted a string of studies\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=clsoc_crim_facpub\"> \u003c/a>detailing various tech worker organizing efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Jennifer Dorning, Department for Professional Employees\"]There was a general belief in the early 2000s that folks felt they could do better on their own and that they didn’t need a union.’[/pullquote]“There was a general belief in the early 2000s that folks felt they could do better on their own and that they didn’t need a union,” said Jennifer Dorning, president of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the late 2000s and early 2010s, as a new class of tech startups took off, Dorning said attitudes among rank-and-file workers began shifting. In the early 2000s the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees started conducting survey of tech workers across the country found. In 2004, the survey showed that just 33% supported unionizing their workplace. By 2016, that had grown to 59%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Top-Down Organizing\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Tech workers at places \u003ca href=\"https://current.org/2021/04/npr-plans-to-recognize-digital-staffers-union/\">like NPR\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/following-unionization-glitch-signs-collective-bargaining-agreement/\">software collaboration company Glitch\u003c/a> have since unionized. And at The New York Times, a group of over 650 IT workers are currently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11869185/the-biggest-tech-unionization-effort-is-happening-at-the-new-york-times\">trying to join the union\u003c/a> that represents their journalist peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexander Peterson is a software engineer trying to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11854528/new-google-union-triples-in-size-in-first-week-but-faces-formidable-challenges\">organize his co-workers at Alphabet-owned Google\u003c/a>. “We really want to save Alphabet from itself,” he said, to “stop it from becoming just another one of these huge, inhuman, faceless entities that just bulldozes humanity for the sake of profit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]That’s language former Microsoft contractor Marcus Courtney said he can’t imagine programmers using back when he was on the frontlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, you have programmers and these coders that are at the top of the pyramid — they are actually leading the organizing,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why it’s been more successful. They are empowering workers who don’t feel they have as much leverage to step up and join them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this shift, tech workers still face enormous organizing challenges, often having to face off against some of the largest, most powerful companies in the country. All of which suggests that further unionizing the industry will remain an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Despite the rapid growth of its workforce, the tech sector is still among the least unionized major industries in the country. But that’s not for lack of trying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20200318140849/https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1071&context=lrr\">For decades\u003c/a>, tech workers have faced consistent hurdles to organizing: lack of power on the job, workforces spread across the world, false narratives about working conditions, and staunch resistance from management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Noyce, co-founder of Intel, \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=GGQLLFDTudIC&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=remaining+non-union+is+an+essential+for+survival+for+most+of+our+companies.+If+we+had+the+work+rules+that+unionized+companies+have,+we%27d+all+go+out+of+business.+noyce&source=bl&ots=hCegxKzk0m&sig=efIv11ybFeTj6nqLgC3mlIeqgdA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMntDJw-jSAhUG1mMKHZfgCysQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=remaining%20non-union%20is%20an%20essential%20for%20survival%20for%20most%20of%20our%20companies.%20If%20we%20had%20the%20work%20rules%20that%20unionized%20companies%20have%2C%20we'd%20all%20go%20out%20of%20business.%20noyce&f=false\">once reportedly argued\u003c/a> that “remaining non-union is essential for survival for most of our companies. If we had the work rules that unionized companies have, we’d all go out of business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite staunch opposition, tech workers decades ago tried to build solidarity, first in high-tech manufacturing and then IT work.\u003ca href=\"https://truthout.org/articles/up-against-the-open-shop-the-hidden-story-of-silicon-valley-s-high-tech-workers-2/\"> In the 1970s\u003c/a>, organizing in Silicon Valley was led by largely underpaid women and people of color at semiconductor plants in Silicon Valley, like Fairchild Semiconductor and National Semiconductor. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/40787/permatemps-contretemps\">In the 1990s,\u003c/a> there was another surge of organizing among IT workers at software companies like Microsoft and then-nascent online retailers like Amazon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>More recently, labor organizers have succeeded at unionizing tech workers at a handful of companies, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839817/how-a-scrappy-group-of-tech-workers-formed-one-of-the-only-unions-in-the-industry\">Kickstarter \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873927/they-work-for-an-app-they-deliver-groceries-and-now-they-have-a-union\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Imperfect Foods\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But organizing efforts are also running into many of the same historical roadblocks — along with some new ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Organizing in the CD-ROM Era\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Marcus Courtney got an intimate look at the wave of tech worker organizing efforts in the 1990s. At the time, he was a test engineer at Microsoft, working on “mail products,” and a bunch of applications that now sound ancient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney said that, like today, many people then thought they’d be set for life if they got a job working on cutting edge technology at a place like Microsoft. But similar to many modern tech workers, Courtney was a Microsoft contractor, not an employee, so he didn’t enjoy the benefits, relatively high salaries or stock options of some of the people he worked alongside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your actual personal experience as a tech worker is very different than the perception that’s been shaped in the popular culture and media,” Courtney said. “And I think that’s why we decided it was time to take action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney and other contractors formed a group called Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227538285_Collective_Representation_Among_High-Tech_Workers_at_Microsoft_and_Beyond_Lessons_from_WashTechCWA\"> WashTech\u003c/a>, with help from the Communications Workers of America union. Around the same time, several hundred IBM workers created a group called \u003ca href=\"https://www.postbulletin.com/news/business/alliance-ibm-dissolves-after-years/article_a1724fe8-a672-5442-986a-77a3259fd951.html\">Alliance@IBM\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these union organizing efforts fell far short of recruiting the large percentage of workers required for recognition by the National Labor Relations Board. And most of these group are now long since defunct.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Myth of the Pampered Tech Worker\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Following the dot-com bust in 2000, a wave of new tech companies promised more power and autonomy for their workers. The general pitch: These startups wouldn’t have standard top-down corporate hierarchies. Instead they would be “flat organizations,” where anyone with a good idea could be heard and rewarded with perks and pay. Meritocracy would rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Media outlets ate up and amplified this narrative for years, running stories that marveled at the gilded conditions of a relatively small group of elite workers at Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/_QqT38QRA84'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/_QqT38QRA84'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“The media portrays tech workers as being in a position of power and control — the world is their oyster. They can switch jobs if they want and they have huge bargaining power,” said Ronil Hira, a political science professor at Howard University who has followed the tech labor market for two decades. “In reality, most tech workers are on the receiving end. They don’t have much control over their employment situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This stereotype of privilege and power has long obscured the realities of the tech workforce, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hira notes that a majority of tech workers are not even located in Silicon Valley; they can more often be found in the back offices of insurance agencies, banks, and media organizations around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And unlike the common depiction of pampered engineers in Silicon Valley, he adds, many tech workers face the same labor issues as those in other industries: stagnant pay, temporary contracts, the threat of outsourcing, and little say over working conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Changing Attitudes on Unions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>After some initial scrutiny in the 1990s, federal labor regulators largely let up on the tech industry after the dot-com bust, taking a generally light-handed approach to ongoing concerns like its heavy reliance on long-term temporary workers and outsourcing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as labor issues persisted, there still wasn’t much appetite among workers to unionize. While tech workers in the U.S. shied away from unions, those in other countries more commonly adopted them, a contrast that \u003ca href=\"https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=clsoc_crim_facpub\">prompted a string of studies\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=clsoc_crim_facpub\"> \u003c/a>detailing various tech worker organizing efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There was a general belief in the early 2000s that folks felt they could do better on their own and that they didn’t need a union,” said Jennifer Dorning, president of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the late 2000s and early 2010s, as a new class of tech startups took off, Dorning said attitudes among rank-and-file workers began shifting. In the early 2000s the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees started conducting survey of tech workers across the country found. In 2004, the survey showed that just 33% supported unionizing their workplace. By 2016, that had grown to 59%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Top-Down Organizing\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Tech workers at places \u003ca href=\"https://current.org/2021/04/npr-plans-to-recognize-digital-staffers-union/\">like NPR\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/following-unionization-glitch-signs-collective-bargaining-agreement/\">software collaboration company Glitch\u003c/a> have since unionized. And at The New York Times, a group of over 650 IT workers are currently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11869185/the-biggest-tech-unionization-effort-is-happening-at-the-new-york-times\">trying to join the union\u003c/a> that represents their journalist peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexander Peterson is a software engineer trying to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11854528/new-google-union-triples-in-size-in-first-week-but-faces-formidable-challenges\">organize his co-workers at Alphabet-owned Google\u003c/a>. “We really want to save Alphabet from itself,” he said, to “stop it from becoming just another one of these huge, inhuman, faceless entities that just bulldozes humanity for the sake of profit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That’s language former Microsoft contractor Marcus Courtney said he can’t imagine programmers using back when he was on the frontlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, you have programmers and these coders that are at the top of the pyramid — they are actually leading the organizing,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why it’s been more successful. They are empowering workers who don’t feel they have as much leverage to step up and join them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this shift, tech workers still face enormous organizing challenges, often having to face off against some of the largest, most powerful companies in the country. All of which suggests that further unionizing the industry will remain an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Last summer, Imelda Arroyo and a co-worker at an Oakland fast food restaurant filed a complaint with the California agency in charge of enforcing health and safety regulations in the workplace. Colleagues had been diagnosed with COVID-19, but their boss hadn’t notified staff and had failed to ensure all employees and customers wore face masks, Arroyo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like they were putting us and customers at too great of a risk,” she said, in Spanish. “I was afraid. I knew that at any moment I could get sick at work, and get my family sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother of three worried about bringing the coronavirus home to her kids and a diabetic sister with a higher risk of severe illness. Arroyo wanted state inspectors from Cal/OSHA to come investigate quickly and make her workplace safer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the months that followed, her employers at the restaurant still failed to follow state \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/COVIDOnePageFS.pdf\">rules\u003c/a> to prevent exposure to the virus, and more co-workers got infected, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Imelda Arroyo, Oakland fast food worker\"]‘I was asking for protection. But they didn’t listen to me, and they took too long.’[/pullquote]“I was asking for protection,” Arroyo said. She submitted her complaint to Cal/OSHA in June 2020 after trying unsuccessfully to get her manager to address the concerns. “But they didn’t listen to me, and they took too long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Arroyo finally heard back from Cal/OSHA nine months later, on Feb. 22, 2021, officials said their inspection had found no violations at the restaurant. Yet no Cal/OSHA inspector had ever interviewed her, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Cal/OSHA, more formally known as the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, has been understaffed. But vacancies in the ranks of field inspectors, who conduct investigations, only worsened during the pandemic, crippling the agency’s ability to protect millions of workers who faced new risks from COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, as the head of Cal/OSHA and the state’s labor secretary are in line for top positions in the Biden administration, the lack of enforcement in California is facing new scrutiny.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Enforcement of health and safety regulations has been minimal to non-existent due to the lack of occupational health inspectors,” staffers of a California Senate committee wrote in a February 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/20792875/02252021_sub-5-agenda-final.pdf\">report on Cal/OSHA\u003c/a>. “As a result, workers in California continue to be exposed to COVID-related and other health hazards, and sustain serious illnesses and injuries, including death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government has also identified deficiencies. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has long criticized low staffing levels at Cal/OSHA which have resulted in delays in issuing citations for violations, according to the same report by the California Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As COVID-19 cases, and deaths, spiked across the state last fall and winter, Cal/OSHA received thousands of worker complaints related to the virus. Yet the vacancy rate for field inspectors doubled to 26% as of late February, compared to 13% two years earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Garrett Brown, former Cal/OSHA field inspector\"]‘It’s a very sad situation. It has never been this bad.’[/pullquote]In recent months, the agency has hired some new inspectors, but others have left, and 52 positions — 22% of the total — remained vacant statewide as of April 30, according to officials with the Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a very sad situation. It has never been this bad,” said Garrett Brown, a former field inspector who worked for more than two decades at Cal/OSHA, and who has been \u003ca href=\"https://insidecalosha.org/staffing/\">tracking\u003c/a> low staffing levels at the agency since the 1990s. “And it has just a tremendously adverse, harmful impact on the health, safety and rights of workers in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the pandemic began, Cal/OSHA has received 13,000 complaints related to COVID-19, out of about 18,500 complaints overall. The agency conducted on-site, workplace inspections in 18% of the coronavirus cases, while responding to the rest with letters requiring employers to address safety and health concerns. As of May 20, the agency had issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/COVID19citations.html\">citations\u003c/a> for 550 violations, assessing $5.1 million in proposed penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman with the Department of Industrial Relations said both agencies “have been working hard” to find qualified candidates for field inspector positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the past several months, we have conducted a nationwide recruitment campaign in order to fill industrial hygienist and safety engineer positions,” DIR spokeswoman Erika Monterroza said, in a statement. “Cal/OSHA’s goal is to fill all enforcement positions as quickly as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for most of the last two years, the hiring process has been slower than normal, in part because the Department of Industrial Relations lost its authority to make hires directly due to a nepotism \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Major-California-labor-official-accused-of-13728257.php\">scandal\u003c/a> involving former director Christine Baker, who retired in 2018. From April 2019 to March 2021, DIR required pre-approval from the California Human Resources Department to hire staffers, Monterroza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='calosha']Brown, the former Cal/OSHA inspector, said the dysfunction in hiring dates back many years. He faulted the current agency director, Doug Parker, and especially state Labor Secretary Julie Su, who previously served as state \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/\">labor commissioner\u003c/a>, for not doing more to solve it. Both officials could soon leave their positions, Parker to head federal OSHA and Su to become deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very disappointing, is all I can say,” said Brown. “Julie Su had quite a successful record of protecting worker rights as labor commissioner, but as labor secretary, she presided over the hollowing out of Cal/OSHA.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through her special assistant, Colton Stadtmiller, Su declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, who heads the state Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, was less critical of Su and Parker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think this falls necessarily with one individual including the department heads, I think this is something that has been long-standing,” said Kalra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kalra said the pandemic has made hiring a challenge for all sorts of employers, and it’s difficult to recruit qualified personnel to inspector positions. But he is hopeful that Cal/OSHA can begin to do a better job of enforcing safety and health regulations, because worker protection is getting fresh attention from the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom has \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2122/FY2122_ORG7350_BCP4475.pdf\">proposed\u003c/a> to increase funding for the agency to create 70 new positions, including 33 inspectors, with potentially more in coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a great sign,” Kalra said. “If that’s the governor’s intention…I think it gives us momentum to fill these positions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Cal/OSHA staffs up, he said, it should hire inspectors who speak different languages, because many of the state’s nearly 6 million frontline workers are immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In recent months, the agency has hired some new inspectors, but others have left, and 52 positions — 22% of the total — remained vacant statewide as of April 30, according to officials with the Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a very sad situation. It has never been this bad,” said Garrett Brown, a former field inspector who worked for more than two decades at Cal/OSHA, and who has been \u003ca href=\"https://insidecalosha.org/staffing/\">tracking\u003c/a> low staffing levels at the agency since the 1990s. “And it has just a tremendously adverse, harmful impact on the health, safety and rights of workers in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the pandemic began, Cal/OSHA has received 13,000 complaints related to COVID-19, out of about 18,500 complaints overall. The agency conducted on-site, workplace inspections in 18% of the coronavirus cases, while responding to the rest with letters requiring employers to address safety and health concerns. As of May 20, the agency had issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/COVID19citations.html\">citations\u003c/a> for 550 violations, assessing $5.1 million in proposed penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman with the Department of Industrial Relations said both agencies “have been working hard” to find qualified candidates for field inspector positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the past several months, we have conducted a nationwide recruitment campaign in order to fill industrial hygienist and safety engineer positions,” DIR spokeswoman Erika Monterroza said, in a statement. “Cal/OSHA’s goal is to fill all enforcement positions as quickly as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for most of the last two years, the hiring process has been slower than normal, in part because the Department of Industrial Relations lost its authority to make hires directly due to a nepotism \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Major-California-labor-official-accused-of-13728257.php\">scandal\u003c/a> involving former director Christine Baker, who retired in 2018. From April 2019 to March 2021, DIR required pre-approval from the California Human Resources Department to hire staffers, Monterroza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Brown, the former Cal/OSHA inspector, said the dysfunction in hiring dates back many years. He faulted the current agency director, Doug Parker, and especially state Labor Secretary Julie Su, who previously served as state \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/\">labor commissioner\u003c/a>, for not doing more to solve it. Both officials could soon leave their positions, Parker to head federal OSHA and Su to become deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very disappointing, is all I can say,” said Brown. “Julie Su had quite a successful record of protecting worker rights as labor commissioner, but as labor secretary, she presided over the hollowing out of Cal/OSHA.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through her special assistant, Colton Stadtmiller, Su declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, who heads the state Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, was less critical of Su and Parker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think this falls necessarily with one individual including the department heads, I think this is something that has been long-standing,” said Kalra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kalra said the pandemic has made hiring a challenge for all sorts of employers, and it’s difficult to recruit qualified personnel to inspector positions. But he is hopeful that Cal/OSHA can begin to do a better job of enforcing safety and health regulations, because worker protection is getting fresh attention from the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom has \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2122/FY2122_ORG7350_BCP4475.pdf\">proposed\u003c/a> to increase funding for the agency to create 70 new positions, including 33 inspectors, with potentially more in coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a great sign,” Kalra said. “If that’s the governor’s intention…I think it gives us momentum to fill these positions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Cal/OSHA staffs up, he said, it should hire inspectors who speak different languages, because many of the state’s nearly 6 million frontline workers are immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>DoorDash is launching lower-priced delivery options for U.S. restaurants, responding to criticism that the commissions it charges are too high for the beleaguered industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said Tuesday it will offer a new basic plan that will charge restaurants 15% per order for delivery, or around half the cost of previous plans. That plan will limit the delivery area and shift more delivery costs to customers — they might pay $4.99 instead of $2.99, for example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restaurants can pay more — commissions of 25% or 30% — for other plans if they want a larger delivery area, more visibility in DoorDash’s app or lower customer delivery fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash said local restaurants and chains with less than 75 locations are eligible for the new rates. The company wouldn’t say how many of its partner restaurants meet that criteria. But DoorDash delivers from nearly 400,000 restaurants using a network of 1 million freelance drivers, or gig workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the pandemic, DoorDash, Grubhub and other delivery companies had a rocky relationship with restaurants, who criticized their high fees, lack of transparency and sometimes spotty service. That relationship was further tested by the pandemic, which closed dining rooms, greatly expanded customer demand for delivery and forced many restaurants to shift to carryout and delivery to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sympathetic lawmakers temporarily capped delivery companies’ commission fees — generally at 15% — in dozens of cities and states during the pandemic in an effort to help restaurants. In those cities, DoorDash said, the new rates will go into place once those caps expire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But DoorDash insisted the caps weren’t the reason it changed its fees. Instead, the company said it was acting in response to restaurant owners who wanted more options. DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said the company spent the last six months developing a plan that would help restaurants but still ensure drivers — and DoorDash itself — can make money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One size fits all really doesn’t work with restaurants,” Payne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Payne said restaurants can change their plans depending on their needs at any given time. A new restaurant that wants to boost traffic and visibility might elect a plan with a higher commission fee, while an established restaurant that doesn’t rely much on delivery might choose a lower-cost plan. [aside tag=\"doordash, gig, gig-economy\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash said it’s also dropping its commission fee for pickup orders — which customers place through the DoorDash app but pick up themselves — to 6% from 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash rival Uber Eats has also been experimenting with lower-priced plans in recent months. A light plan — with a 5% commission fee — lets restaurants use their own drivers, for example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some restaurant owners remain wary. David Singh, who owns Mesa Pizza Co. in Santa Barbara, California, said he would welcome a plan with a 15% commission. But he is concerned there will be hidden fees attached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh partnered with Grubhub early in the pandemic but quickly found he was losing money on every order. Grubhub was not only charging him a 30% commission, but also a credit card processing fee, and customers were getting charged a raft of service fees on top of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Singh does his own delivery, but the liability is expensive, so he’d gladly hand that off if he could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fifteen percent I would do, as long as there are no hidden costs and they take care of my customers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>DoorDash is launching lower-priced delivery options for U.S. restaurants, responding to criticism that the commissions it charges are too high for the beleaguered industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said Tuesday it will offer a new basic plan that will charge restaurants 15% per order for delivery, or around half the cost of previous plans. That plan will limit the delivery area and shift more delivery costs to customers — they might pay $4.99 instead of $2.99, for example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restaurants can pay more — commissions of 25% or 30% — for other plans if they want a larger delivery area, more visibility in DoorDash’s app or lower customer delivery fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash said local restaurants and chains with less than 75 locations are eligible for the new rates. The company wouldn’t say how many of its partner restaurants meet that criteria. But DoorDash delivers from nearly 400,000 restaurants using a network of 1 million freelance drivers, or gig workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the pandemic, DoorDash, Grubhub and other delivery companies had a rocky relationship with restaurants, who criticized their high fees, lack of transparency and sometimes spotty service. That relationship was further tested by the pandemic, which closed dining rooms, greatly expanded customer demand for delivery and forced many restaurants to shift to carryout and delivery to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sympathetic lawmakers temporarily capped delivery companies’ commission fees — generally at 15% — in dozens of cities and states during the pandemic in an effort to help restaurants. In those cities, DoorDash said, the new rates will go into place once those caps expire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But DoorDash insisted the caps weren’t the reason it changed its fees. Instead, the company said it was acting in response to restaurant owners who wanted more options. DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne said the company spent the last six months developing a plan that would help restaurants but still ensure drivers — and DoorDash itself — can make money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One size fits all really doesn’t work with restaurants,” Payne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Payne said restaurants can change their plans depending on their needs at any given time. A new restaurant that wants to boost traffic and visibility might elect a plan with a higher commission fee, while an established restaurant that doesn’t rely much on delivery might choose a lower-cost plan. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash said it’s also dropping its commission fee for pickup orders — which customers place through the DoorDash app but pick up themselves — to 6% from 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DoorDash rival Uber Eats has also been experimenting with lower-priced plans in recent months. A light plan — with a 5% commission fee — lets restaurants use their own drivers, for example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some restaurant owners remain wary. David Singh, who owns Mesa Pizza Co. in Santa Barbara, California, said he would welcome a plan with a 15% commission. But he is concerned there will be hidden fees attached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh partnered with Grubhub early in the pandemic but quickly found he was losing money on every order. Grubhub was not only charging him a 30% commission, but also a credit card processing fee, and customers were getting charged a raft of service fees on top of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Singh does his own delivery, but the liability is expensive, so he’d gladly hand that off if he could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fifteen percent I would do, as long as there are no hidden costs and they take care of my customers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Front-line workers in the Bay Area and other parts of California say their bosses often fail to inform them of their rights during the pandemic, and sometimes even retaliate when they ask for COVID-19 protections, according to a new survey of hundreds of workers in the restaurant, home health care, janitorial and other industries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.advancingjustice-alc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ALC-Workers-Rights-COVID-Report-202103-R7_digital.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a>, which was published Wednesday, polled more than 630 mostly low-wage workers as coronavirus cases spiked last fall. It found a troubling lack of workplace protections for reducing the spread of COVID-19, with many employees worried they were putting their lives at risk to earn a paycheck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About two-thirds of the survey’s respondents were concentrated in the Bay Area, and included many immigrants and people of color. Many feared contracting the virus at work and infecting others at home, as well as not being able to support their families if they got sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, employers \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/ETS.html#:~:text=California%20recently%20approved%20Cal%2FOSHA,OSHA's%20Aerosol%20Transmissible%20Diseases%20standard.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">must\u003c/a> provide health and safety information and training, and let workers know of coronavirus-related benefits available to them, such as paid sick leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more than half of the surveyed workers said their employer did not inform them what to do if they had COVID-19 symptoms or exposure. And three in five surveyed said they weren’t informed about their right to use paid sick leave for COVID-19, according to the report titled “Few Options, Many Risks.” [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Winnie Kao, attorney with the Asian Law Caucus\"]‘Workers really feel that they’re risking their livelihood to push back in any way, and that if you speak up either about your symptoms or about lack of protections, you’re potentially losing your job.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results are troubling for efforts to contain the virus, since one in three respondents felt uncomfortable reporting coronavirus symptoms to their bosses, said Winnie Kao, an attorney with San Francisco’s Asian Law Caucus and one of the authors of the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There might be protections out there on paper, but many folks don’t know about them,” said Kao, who leads her organization’s workers rights project. “Workers really feel that they’re risking their livelihood to push back in any way, and that if you speak up either about your symptoms or about lack of protections, you’re potentially losing your job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao said many workers are not speaking up about COVID-19 concerns out of fear of retaliation or doubt that their employer will address the problem. But even worse, dozens of workers who did ask for COVID-19 protections, such as masks or paid leave, reported retaliation from their employers, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870819\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11870819\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos-800x919.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"919\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos-800x919.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos-160x184.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos.jpeg 828w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorena Velazquez, a mother of two sons, says her employer retaliated by cutting her hours after she took time off to get her COVID-19 vaccine and recover from side effects. \u003ccite>(Fight for $15 campaign)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The survey was disseminated through nonprofit groups serving immigrants and low-wage workers, and about 40% of respondents identified as Asian, with another 40% Latinos. The vast majority of participants responded to the survey in Chinese or Spanish, suggesting they were immigrants, said Kao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lower-income communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. For example, since the beginning of the pandemic, 10,400 working-age Latinos in California have died from COVID-19, four times the number of white people in the same age group, according to California Department of Public Health figures. People who work outside the home face a higher risk of exposure to the virus, say public health experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But basic prevention measures were not available to many of the workers surveyed, with 33% of all respondents — including more than half of restaurant workers — saying they could not physically distance most of the time at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers in California are responsible for providing masks or reimbursing employees who buy their own, but 12% of respondents said they did not receive face coverings or protective equipment from their bosses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another troubling finding of the report: nearly one in five workers reported being paid less than the state’s minimum wage. The report authors say that’s often a signal of other violations in the workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for the California Department of Industrial Relations said the agency’s enforcement divisions have been working hard to educate employers about their responsibilities and to investigate workplace complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the pandemic, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued more than $4.6 million in citations for COVID-related health and safety violations, said Erika Monterroza, with the Department of Industrial Relations. She added that the Labor Commissioner’s Office is investigating more than 1,200 wage and retaliation complaints connected to the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unsafe working conditions, wage theft and employer retaliation are long-standing problems for the lowest paid workers in the state. But the pandemic has brought a new urgency to addressing these abuses, and fixing them will require more funding, staffing and attention at the government agencies that enforce labor laws, said Alejandra Domenzain, a co-author of the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"center\" citation=\"Alejandra Domenzain, program coordinator, Labor Occupational Health Program, UC Berkeley\"]‘As long as there is no vigorous enforcement of labor laws, employers will continue to violate workers’ rights.[/pullquote]\u003cbr>\n“As long as there is no vigorous enforcement of labor laws, employers will continue to violate workers’ rights,” said Domenzain, a program coordinator at the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley. “If an employer knows that there will be absolutely no accountability, then there’s very little incentive for a lot of these low-wage employers to comply with the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/covid/paid-sick-leave.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">are entitled\u003c/a> to up to 80 hours of paid sick leave (depending on the size of their employer) if they have coronavirus symptoms, must care for a relative with COVID-19 or have vaccine-related side effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Lorena Velazquez took time off to get her vaccine on April 6 and then recover from an ensuing fever and arm pain, she said her employer at a McDonald’s in Oakland retaliated by cutting her hours in half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I used to work four days per week regularly, but then they only gave me two days,” said Velazquez, 45, in Spanish. “Now I’m worried about paying my bills and rent.” [aside tag=\"workers-rights, low-wage\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of worker advocates, Velazquez filed a complaint about the alleged retaliation with the Labor Commissioner’s Office this week. Other workers at the same McDonald’s also filed complaints with Cal/OSHA, alleging their employer failed to notify them of potential exposure to co-workers confirmed with COVID-19, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/AB6852020FAQs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">as required\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant’s manager was not available to respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Velazquez, who has two young sons to support, rallied with other fast food workers outside the McDonald’s on E. 12th St. in Oakland in support of a state bill that aims to improve conditions for fast food workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB257\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Assembly Bill 257\u003c/a>, by Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, would also make fast food franchisors liable for violations of employment, safety and other laws by their franchisees.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Resources:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Additional information on reporting a labor violation can be found \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/Know_Your_Rights.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a> (available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Report a labor law violation \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToReportViolationtoBOFE.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How to file a retaliation/discrimination complaint can be found \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileRetaliationComplaint.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao said many workers are not speaking up about COVID-19 concerns out of fear of retaliation or doubt that their employer will address the problem. But even worse, dozens of workers who did ask for COVID-19 protections, such as masks or paid leave, reported retaliation from their employers, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11870819\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11870819\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos-800x919.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"919\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos-800x919.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos-160x184.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/View20recent20photos.jpeg 828w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorena Velazquez, a mother of two sons, says her employer retaliated by cutting her hours after she took time off to get her COVID-19 vaccine and recover from side effects. \u003ccite>(Fight for $15 campaign)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The survey was disseminated through nonprofit groups serving immigrants and low-wage workers, and about 40% of respondents identified as Asian, with another 40% Latinos. The vast majority of participants responded to the survey in Chinese or Spanish, suggesting they were immigrants, said Kao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lower-income communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. For example, since the beginning of the pandemic, 10,400 working-age Latinos in California have died from COVID-19, four times the number of white people in the same age group, according to California Department of Public Health figures. People who work outside the home face a higher risk of exposure to the virus, say public health experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But basic prevention measures were not available to many of the workers surveyed, with 33% of all respondents — including more than half of restaurant workers — saying they could not physically distance most of the time at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers in California are responsible for providing masks or reimbursing employees who buy their own, but 12% of respondents said they did not receive face coverings or protective equipment from their bosses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another troubling finding of the report: nearly one in five workers reported being paid less than the state’s minimum wage. The report authors say that’s often a signal of other violations in the workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokeswoman for the California Department of Industrial Relations said the agency’s enforcement divisions have been working hard to educate employers about their responsibilities and to investigate workplace complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the pandemic, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued more than $4.6 million in citations for COVID-related health and safety violations, said Erika Monterroza, with the Department of Industrial Relations. She added that the Labor Commissioner’s Office is investigating more than 1,200 wage and retaliation complaints connected to the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unsafe working conditions, wage theft and employer retaliation are long-standing problems for the lowest paid workers in the state. But the pandemic has brought a new urgency to addressing these abuses, and fixing them will require more funding, staffing and attention at the government agencies that enforce labor laws, said Alejandra Domenzain, a co-author of the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n“As long as there is no vigorous enforcement of labor laws, employers will continue to violate workers’ rights,” said Domenzain, a program coordinator at the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley. “If an employer knows that there will be absolutely no accountability, then there’s very little incentive for a lot of these low-wage employers to comply with the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/covid/paid-sick-leave.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">are entitled\u003c/a> to up to 80 hours of paid sick leave (depending on the size of their employer) if they have coronavirus symptoms, must care for a relative with COVID-19 or have vaccine-related side effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Lorena Velazquez took time off to get her vaccine on April 6 and then recover from an ensuing fever and arm pain, she said her employer at a McDonald’s in Oakland retaliated by cutting her hours in half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I used to work four days per week regularly, but then they only gave me two days,” said Velazquez, 45, in Spanish. “Now I’m worried about paying my bills and rent.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of worker advocates, Velazquez filed a complaint about the alleged retaliation with the Labor Commissioner’s Office this week. Other workers at the same McDonald’s also filed complaints with Cal/OSHA, alleging their employer failed to notify them of potential exposure to co-workers confirmed with COVID-19, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/AB6852020FAQs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">as required\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant’s manager was not available to respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Velazquez, who has two young sons to support, rallied with other fast food workers outside the McDonald’s on E. 12th St. in Oakland in support of a state bill that aims to improve conditions for fast food workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB257\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Assembly Bill 257\u003c/a>, by Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, would also make fast food franchisors liable for violations of employment, safety and other laws by their franchisees.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Resources:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Additional information on reporting a labor violation can be found \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/Know_Your_Rights.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a> (available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Report a labor law violation \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToReportViolationtoBOFE.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How to file a retaliation/discrimination complaint can be found \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileRetaliationComplaint.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Thirty years ago, The New York Times did not have a website. Now, the company employs more than 700 tech workers, almost half its number of journalists. On Tuesday, those tech workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/13/business/stock-market-today#new-york-times-tech-workers-form-a-union\">announced they want to form a union\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost half the Times is already unionized, including most of the journalists, along with more traditional newspaper technologists: the printers. Now, the tech workers want to join the journalists in their union, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nyguild.org/about-the-new-york-times\">The NewsGuild\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Times’ tech workers include everyone from software engineers and data scientists to designers and project managers. These are the people who develop the apps and website, make tools for journalists, analyze data about traffic, and just like the journalists, work around the clock when there is big news like an election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the latest in a series of unionizing efforts by both white collar tech workers and blue collar workers impacted by the internet and digital technology. If the Times workers are successful in their union bid, it will become the largest of any contemporary white collar tech worker organizing effort to be recognized by the National Labor Relations Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At KQED, we have been covering tech worker union efforts, but this story hits closer to home. My older brother is a programmer at the Times and part of the organizing effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I would obviously be partial when it comes to any negotiations with management, so I’m not reporting on any of that. Katie Robertson at The New York Times \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/13/business/stock-market-today#new-york-times-tech-workers-form-a-union\">is covering how the union came together and how this union bid is being received\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What is happening at the Times though is a major development in a bigger story I have been reporting on for years: the growing realization among tech workers that they don’t have as much say on the job as they’d wish, and how organizing could be a way to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New York Times is a large media company, but like many remaining big newsrooms it’s also a growing tech company. Some of the tech workers do jobs specific to media, like making sure the story layouts transfer to print or helping journalists create visualizations for data. But there are teams of developers and engineers doing the same kind of work that happens at Google or Facebook: building apps, managing traffic and analyzing user data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spoke with tech workers at The New York Times about why they wanted to form a union and how they see themselves in relation to other workers in the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Organizing to Make a Different Kind of Tech Company\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Senior software engineer Nozlee Samadzadeh helps build the internal site for Times journalists to compose and edit their stories. She got into tech after working as a writer and editor herself. Samadzadeh says it’s important for her to have a say in what she builds and how it is used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samadzadeh says, “Unionizing is the only way to introduce a democratic process in your workplace, to kind of get a seat at the table with people in charge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Labor Coverage' tag='labor']Like many of the tech workers at the Times, Samadzadeh says she’s at the company because of the mission. She doesn’t want to work at big tech companies or startups. “I just could not ever, I think, justify that for myself,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samadzadeh says she couldn’t be somewhere focusing primarily on profit instead of social good. She hopes a union will help workers at the Times advocate for the company to resist that influence from Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shay Culpepper is an engineer who makes dashboards to track metrics on the Times’ homepage. She feels the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really like going to work every day and not having to sit and contemplate the ethics of the tech I am building,” Culpepper says. “There are definitely ethical considerations, but I am not having cognitive dissonance about the things we are building.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the workers have firsthand experience of doing exactly that in Silicon Valley. Dylan Nugent is a senior software engineer at the Times. He works on tools to take the stories input by journalists and display them across all the Times’ platforms. Before that, he worked at startups in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these companies were not very diverse, and did not have an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity,” Nugent says. “A lot of them had the mentality of like: ‘We pay you well so any form of mistreatment or unpaid overtime, well, you shouldn’t have to worry about it because you’re already compensated well.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nugent says tech workers, and especially white men like him, should organize so they can use their relative privilege to help others in tech, as well as those in industries where workers have less power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I have a more powerful voice, let me use it to amplify the concerns of the people who aren’t being listened to,” he says. “Let me use it to help build a democratic workplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Kathy Zhang, New York Times senior analytics manager\"]‘There is this myth of meritocracy that says, ‘If you can work really hard or if you gain these specialized skills, that will set you apart from everyone else and you’ll be able to reap these benefits that other people don’t have.”[/pullquote]Kathy Zhang is senior analytics manager on a team that measures traffic and other data for Times news products. She is excited to be part of a union that can push for diversity and equity in the workplace. She says tech workers need to realize they have something to gain from organizing just like any other worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is this myth of meritocracy that says, ‘If you can work really hard or if you gain these specialized skills, that will set you apart from everyone else and you’ll be able to reap these benefits that other people don’t have,’ ” Zhang says. “But I don’t think of myself as apart from other people. I don’t think that, just because I can write SQL and I can put some dashboards together, that means I should think of myself as exceptional. I don’t make any decisions in front of the board at shareholders meetings, right? I work for a paycheck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the tech workers I spoke with were drawn to the Times by the mission and journalism of the organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Allowing citizens around the world to be well-informed and to understand things, I think that sense of purpose is so beautiful,” Culpepper says. On top of that, she says the paper was doing incredible things digitally. She says she was obsessed with the cooking and sudoku apps before she started working there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My brother, Benjamin Harnett, used to read the paper cover to cover when he was a boy, and our mother had to politely ask for him to stop filling in the crossword before she got to it. He has been an engineer at the Times for nine years, disregarding the stream of recruitment emails from companies like Google and Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The normal thing in the tech industry is to hop from company to company every two years,” he says. “You do a big project, get a promotion and then move on. You can’t build anything meaningful that way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samadzadeh sees the union as a way for workers to be more involved and committed to the company. She says, “Everyone at the Times cares so much. The ability to get a chance to be part of making the Times better is just so exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tech Workers Are Workers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The tech workers at the Times could get material advantages they currently don’t have by joining The NewsGuild: things like overtime, a pension and a say in their health care through union reps. None of that is typical in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guild organizer Marybeth Seitz-Brown says there is an interesting parallel between the tech workers of today and the journalists at The New York Times who first organized back in the 1930s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Intellectual workers, like journalists, were often identifying as professionals instead of workers that have things in common with the people they work with,” Seitz-Brown says. “In some ways, we are seeing the next wave of that same process that journalists went through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While tech workers are relatively well paid compared to some other workers in the economy, they have similar concerns over pay and job protection as all workers. Over the decades they have faced the same kinds of attacks by management and owners that KQED detailed in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/howwegothere\">a three-hour documentary on the erosion of worker power\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been abrupt layoffs of tech workers during economic crises, with the pandemic being the latest example. Hundreds of workers at some companies were fired en masse, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52091615\">sometimes over Zoom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1990s, tech companies pioneered techniques to cut labor costs by outsourcing, contracting and temping workers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-vizcaino-v-microsoft-corp\">all of which led to a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft\u003c/a>. Today \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11741371/two-tiered-caste-system-the-world-of-white-collar-contracting-in-silicon-valley\">there is a distinct two-tiered system in Silicon Valley\u003c/a> of full-time workers with benefits, and part timers and contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11741371 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/04/04182019_Google-qut-1020x697.jpg']There is a lot of misinformation about the wealth of tech workers. Big payouts can come from stock options, but that’s rare. Most tech workers are not at startups or high up at big tech companies. A majority rely on their wages, which have been relatively \u003ca href=\"https://www.computerworld.com/article/2493845/if-tech-is-so-important--why-are-it-wages-flat-.html\">stagnant for decades\u003c/a> along with everyone else’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>An Upswing in Organizing Despite Opposition\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Big tech companies have made organizing harder for tech workers than it is at media organizations like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, where some tech workers are already unionized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one, the big tech companies are much larger than a media organization like the Times. On top of that, companies like Google and Facebook have divided their workers through contracting and outsourcing all over the globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tech giants are also actively fighting unionization efforts at the top and bottom of their workforces. Just last week, Amazon \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/982139494/its-a-no-amazon-warehouse-workers-vote-against-unionizing-in-historic-election\">defeated efforts to unionize workers\u003c/a> at its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Amazon stopped the union for blue collar workers, union efforts are growing among white collar tech workers. Over 800 workers at Alphabet, Google’s parent company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11853806/its-not-easy-to-unionize-at-tech-companies-but-google-employees-are-doing-it\">are organizing\u003c/a>. It’s a small fraction of the company’s approximately 250,000 workers – but just a few years ago you would have been hard pressed to find any tech worker in Silicon Valley \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11679302/in-a-direct-challenge-to-their-employers-tech-workers-begin-to-organize\">who was even talking about organizing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ruth Milkman, City University of New York\"]‘If you look historically at labor movements, they don’t grow incrementally, they grow in spurts. Everyone is wondering at the moment, are we at the early stage at such a spurt?’[/pullquote]The organizing movement in tech has spread from less privileged workers upward. First, service workers at companies like Apple and Facebook joined unions like the Teamsters and SEIU. Uber and Lyft drivers and other gig workers formed groups like \u003ca href=\"https://www.drivers-united.org/\">Rideshare Drivers United\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://gigworkersrising.org/\">Gig Workers Rising\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White collar tech worker organizing has been spurred by conflicts with management, but also over issues like a lack of diversity and equity, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714714/time-is-up-employee-unrest-grows-at-silicon-valley-companies\">and more political concerns about what their companies are building and how the products are being used\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tech workers have formed organizations like the \u003ca href=\"https://techworkerscoalition.org/\">Tech Workers Coalition\u003c/a> and employees at companies like Google and Microsoft have spoken out publicly against contracts with the military and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, a group of around 90 subcontracted workers at Google in Pittsburgh joined the United Steelworkers union. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839817/how-a-scrappy-group-of-tech-workers-formed-one-of-the-only-unions-in-the-industry\">Smaller companies like Kickstarter\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/following-unionization-glitch-signs-collective-bargaining-agreement/\">Glitch\u003c/a> started their own unions. Alongside this organizing, a string of online media organizations \u003ca href=\"https://culturalworkersorganize.org/digital-media-organizing-timeline/\">like Quartz, Vox and Slate have unionized\u003c/a>. The bid for a union at The New York Times is by far the biggest effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look historically at labor movements, they don’t grow incrementally, they grow in spurts,” says Ruth Milkman, a sociologist who teaches labor studies at the City University of New York. “Everyone is wondering at the moment, are we at the early stage at such a spurt?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milkman says we’re seeing lots of more privileged, educated workers starting to organize, which bodes well for the labor movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Skilled workers, in manufacturing and construction have often been in the vanguard of organizing, not so much out of a sense of, you know, that they can help their coworkers, but partly because they have the leverage,” Milkman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the future of more and more companies rests on their tech workers. Milkman says the core grievance of workers at The New York Times is simple — and the same as the factory workers of the past — they want more say on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At KQED, we have been covering tech worker union efforts, but this story hits closer to home. My older brother is a programmer at the Times and part of the organizing effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I would obviously be partial when it comes to any negotiations with management, so I’m not reporting on any of that. Katie Robertson at The New York Times \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/13/business/stock-market-today#new-york-times-tech-workers-form-a-union\">is covering how the union came together and how this union bid is being received\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What is happening at the Times though is a major development in a bigger story I have been reporting on for years: the growing realization among tech workers that they don’t have as much say on the job as they’d wish, and how organizing could be a way to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New York Times is a large media company, but like many remaining big newsrooms it’s also a growing tech company. Some of the tech workers do jobs specific to media, like making sure the story layouts transfer to print or helping journalists create visualizations for data. But there are teams of developers and engineers doing the same kind of work that happens at Google or Facebook: building apps, managing traffic and analyzing user data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spoke with tech workers at The New York Times about why they wanted to form a union and how they see themselves in relation to other workers in the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Organizing to Make a Different Kind of Tech Company\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Senior software engineer Nozlee Samadzadeh helps build the internal site for Times journalists to compose and edit their stories. She got into tech after working as a writer and editor herself. Samadzadeh says it’s important for her to have a say in what she builds and how it is used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samadzadeh says, “Unionizing is the only way to introduce a democratic process in your workplace, to kind of get a seat at the table with people in charge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Like many of the tech workers at the Times, Samadzadeh says she’s at the company because of the mission. She doesn’t want to work at big tech companies or startups. “I just could not ever, I think, justify that for myself,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samadzadeh says she couldn’t be somewhere focusing primarily on profit instead of social good. She hopes a union will help workers at the Times advocate for the company to resist that influence from Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shay Culpepper is an engineer who makes dashboards to track metrics on the Times’ homepage. She feels the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really like going to work every day and not having to sit and contemplate the ethics of the tech I am building,” Culpepper says. “There are definitely ethical considerations, but I am not having cognitive dissonance about the things we are building.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the workers have firsthand experience of doing exactly that in Silicon Valley. Dylan Nugent is a senior software engineer at the Times. He works on tools to take the stories input by journalists and display them across all the Times’ platforms. Before that, he worked at startups in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these companies were not very diverse, and did not have an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity,” Nugent says. “A lot of them had the mentality of like: ‘We pay you well so any form of mistreatment or unpaid overtime, well, you shouldn’t have to worry about it because you’re already compensated well.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nugent says tech workers, and especially white men like him, should organize so they can use their relative privilege to help others in tech, as well as those in industries where workers have less power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I have a more powerful voice, let me use it to amplify the concerns of the people who aren’t being listened to,” he says. “Let me use it to help build a democratic workplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘There is this myth of meritocracy that says, ‘If you can work really hard or if you gain these specialized skills, that will set you apart from everyone else and you’ll be able to reap these benefits that other people don’t have.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kathy Zhang is senior analytics manager on a team that measures traffic and other data for Times news products. She is excited to be part of a union that can push for diversity and equity in the workplace. She says tech workers need to realize they have something to gain from organizing just like any other worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is this myth of meritocracy that says, ‘If you can work really hard or if you gain these specialized skills, that will set you apart from everyone else and you’ll be able to reap these benefits that other people don’t have,’ ” Zhang says. “But I don’t think of myself as apart from other people. I don’t think that, just because I can write SQL and I can put some dashboards together, that means I should think of myself as exceptional. I don’t make any decisions in front of the board at shareholders meetings, right? I work for a paycheck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the tech workers I spoke with were drawn to the Times by the mission and journalism of the organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Allowing citizens around the world to be well-informed and to understand things, I think that sense of purpose is so beautiful,” Culpepper says. On top of that, she says the paper was doing incredible things digitally. She says she was obsessed with the cooking and sudoku apps before she started working there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My brother, Benjamin Harnett, used to read the paper cover to cover when he was a boy, and our mother had to politely ask for him to stop filling in the crossword before she got to it. He has been an engineer at the Times for nine years, disregarding the stream of recruitment emails from companies like Google and Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The normal thing in the tech industry is to hop from company to company every two years,” he says. “You do a big project, get a promotion and then move on. You can’t build anything meaningful that way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samadzadeh sees the union as a way for workers to be more involved and committed to the company. She says, “Everyone at the Times cares so much. The ability to get a chance to be part of making the Times better is just so exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tech Workers Are Workers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The tech workers at the Times could get material advantages they currently don’t have by joining The NewsGuild: things like overtime, a pension and a say in their health care through union reps. None of that is typical in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guild organizer Marybeth Seitz-Brown says there is an interesting parallel between the tech workers of today and the journalists at The New York Times who first organized back in the 1930s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Intellectual workers, like journalists, were often identifying as professionals instead of workers that have things in common with the people they work with,” Seitz-Brown says. “In some ways, we are seeing the next wave of that same process that journalists went through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While tech workers are relatively well paid compared to some other workers in the economy, they have similar concerns over pay and job protection as all workers. Over the decades they have faced the same kinds of attacks by management and owners that KQED detailed in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/howwegothere\">a three-hour documentary on the erosion of worker power\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been abrupt layoffs of tech workers during economic crises, with the pandemic being the latest example. Hundreds of workers at some companies were fired en masse, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52091615\">sometimes over Zoom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1990s, tech companies pioneered techniques to cut labor costs by outsourcing, contracting and temping workers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-vizcaino-v-microsoft-corp\">all of which led to a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft\u003c/a>. Today \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11741371/two-tiered-caste-system-the-world-of-white-collar-contracting-in-silicon-valley\">there is a distinct two-tiered system in Silicon Valley\u003c/a> of full-time workers with benefits, and part timers and contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There is a lot of misinformation about the wealth of tech workers. Big payouts can come from stock options, but that’s rare. Most tech workers are not at startups or high up at big tech companies. A majority rely on their wages, which have been relatively \u003ca href=\"https://www.computerworld.com/article/2493845/if-tech-is-so-important--why-are-it-wages-flat-.html\">stagnant for decades\u003c/a> along with everyone else’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>An Upswing in Organizing Despite Opposition\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Big tech companies have made organizing harder for tech workers than it is at media organizations like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, where some tech workers are already unionized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one, the big tech companies are much larger than a media organization like the Times. On top of that, companies like Google and Facebook have divided their workers through contracting and outsourcing all over the globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tech giants are also actively fighting unionization efforts at the top and bottom of their workforces. Just last week, Amazon \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/982139494/its-a-no-amazon-warehouse-workers-vote-against-unionizing-in-historic-election\">defeated efforts to unionize workers\u003c/a> at its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Amazon stopped the union for blue collar workers, union efforts are growing among white collar tech workers. Over 800 workers at Alphabet, Google’s parent company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11853806/its-not-easy-to-unionize-at-tech-companies-but-google-employees-are-doing-it\">are organizing\u003c/a>. It’s a small fraction of the company’s approximately 250,000 workers – but just a few years ago you would have been hard pressed to find any tech worker in Silicon Valley \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11679302/in-a-direct-challenge-to-their-employers-tech-workers-begin-to-organize\">who was even talking about organizing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The organizing movement in tech has spread from less privileged workers upward. First, service workers at companies like Apple and Facebook joined unions like the Teamsters and SEIU. Uber and Lyft drivers and other gig workers formed groups like \u003ca href=\"https://www.drivers-united.org/\">Rideshare Drivers United\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://gigworkersrising.org/\">Gig Workers Rising\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White collar tech worker organizing has been spurred by conflicts with management, but also over issues like a lack of diversity and equity, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11714714/time-is-up-employee-unrest-grows-at-silicon-valley-companies\">and more political concerns about what their companies are building and how the products are being used\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tech workers have formed organizations like the \u003ca href=\"https://techworkerscoalition.org/\">Tech Workers Coalition\u003c/a> and employees at companies like Google and Microsoft have spoken out publicly against contracts with the military and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, a group of around 90 subcontracted workers at Google in Pittsburgh joined the United Steelworkers union. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11839817/how-a-scrappy-group-of-tech-workers-formed-one-of-the-only-unions-in-the-industry\">Smaller companies like Kickstarter\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/following-unionization-glitch-signs-collective-bargaining-agreement/\">Glitch\u003c/a> started their own unions. Alongside this organizing, a string of online media organizations \u003ca href=\"https://culturalworkersorganize.org/digital-media-organizing-timeline/\">like Quartz, Vox and Slate have unionized\u003c/a>. The bid for a union at The New York Times is by far the biggest effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look historically at labor movements, they don’t grow incrementally, they grow in spurts,” says Ruth Milkman, a sociologist who teaches labor studies at the City University of New York. “Everyone is wondering at the moment, are we at the early stage at such a spurt?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milkman says we’re seeing lots of more privileged, educated workers starting to organize, which bodes well for the labor movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Skilled workers, in manufacturing and construction have often been in the vanguard of organizing, not so much out of a sense of, you know, that they can help their coworkers, but partly because they have the leverage,” Milkman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the future of more and more companies rests on their tech workers. Milkman says the core grievance of workers at The New York Times is simple — and the same as the factory workers of the past — they want more say on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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