Throughout our nation’s history, unions have played a tremendous role in securing the rights of our civilian labor force. The labor movements have lead to many advancements in health and safety restrictions, maximum working hours, minimum wage, disability and worker’s compensations. In essence, unions brought together a nation of workers for purposes benefiting both the individual and society. And truly, those movements that occurred in California have been among the most important in this struggle for labor and worker rights.

When asked to describe California in one word, “diverse” comes straight to mind. We are a state with a diverse population. We are a state with a diverse landscape. And most definitely we are a state with a diverse economy. California’s workers are employed in all sorts of industries ranging from agriculture to aerospace, or education to entertainment. And in each industry we have had struggles that have united workers to collectively shape the definition of what we call labor in California. Many times these issues have become significant in the national forefront, politically and emotionally for the people represented. One clear example of this was

Consequently, a surge of new membership in unions occurred in the mid-20th century. As a result, California reaped the benefits from this, where the number of farmers without farms living in other areas moved to California and with them came a significant amount of union members. These old generation union members would build the foundation for future generation of workers. New laws and legislation were pushed and passed through the decades. More recently the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor- Congress of Industrial Organization) won major victories including paid family leave and worker layoff notification, which again show the vital purposes of having unions in the first place.

Another important event in which not only effected the Union forces of California but the nation as a whole, was the Great Depression of the 1930s. During this dreadful situation, the nation was socially in disarray, in addition to being economically paralyzed. This drastic increase in unemployment meant a sharp drop in worker wages, worker benefits, and indeed worker rights. It would seem that unions should have been hurt incredibly during this era, yet the 1930s were a time that actually benefited unions. During this time President Franklin Delano Roosevelt undertook many programs that would feed and revive a dying economy, including the passing of the Wagner Act, which guaranteed workers the right to join unions and collectively bar

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