News Analysis: Labor unions win big in California Legislature as hot labor summer drags into fall

By the time California state senators took up a bill Thursday night to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers, labor unions had already scored several monumental wins in the state Legislature. But by the time lawmakers gaveled down for the year late Thursday night, unions also had persuaded the Legislature to pass one bill gradually raising the minimum wage to $25 an hour for people who work in healthcare settings — including janitors, security guards, launderers and hospital gift shop workers — and another to make California the first in the nation to include housekeepers, nannies and other household staff in laws requiring health and safety protections. But this year brought a few new elements that added up in labor’s favor: Several new lawmakers with a progressive streak, a new Assembly speaker, Robert Rivas, who put his muscle behind some of labor’s priorities, and ongoing strikes in Southern California that have prompted many politicians to publicly side with workers. The strikes “helped people see the humanity involved,” said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who leads the California Labor Federation, the state’s arm of the AFL-CIO.