by AnaStacia Nicol Wright Heat illness is a serious concern for California and its workers. While once known for its year-round pleasant weather, the state’s summer temperatures have been rapidly increasing, along with the rest of the world’s temperatures, in the face of global warming. Outdoor heat protections have been…

AnaStacia Nicol Wright and Rachel van Geenhoven July 20, 2023, The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board Meeting. A young man named Leobardo Segura-Meza speaks of coming to this country from Mexico at the age of sixteen to find a job and start a family. …

by Karin Umfrey Prescribed fire is a form of planned and controlled burning to manage landscapes by reducing the likelihood of catastrophic burning. Long before becoming a part of government forest management practices, cultural burning, the intentional use of fire “to achieve [Indigenous] cultural objectives,” was practiced for millennia. (Kira…

by Rachel van Geenhoven and Jora Trang Worksafe is part of the Coalition of Low-Wage and Immigrant Worker Advocates (CLIWA), and we attended the recent annual retreat, which included many important discussions about the intersection between legal aid and worker advocacy. Unsurprisingly, the question of unauthorized practice of law came…

by Karin Umfrey Today, we’d like to share with you part 1 of 2 for updates on bills we are supporting this year. SB 553 (Cortese): Workplace Violence SB 553 is a strong occupational health and safety bill which would create a new Labor Code section which requires that “every…

Over four hundred California workers per year on average die on the job. Those deaths are largely preventable if proper care is taken according to the law, yet many employers tragically fail to make the safety of their employees their top priority. Workers Memorial Day was established in 1970 by…

by Karin Umfrey A sea of voices chanting “si se puede!” A chorus of applause. An echo of booing to Governor Newsoms’ veto message. A lively jam of music and dancing. These sounds encapsulated the experience of the documentary viewing event held by the California Domestic Workers Coalition. This event…

by Karin Umfrey Domestic workers and day laborers in California have been battling Governor Newsom to remove the exclusion of household domestic services that keeps these workers from receiving the same fundamental health and safety protections as other workers in the state. When the bill to remove the exclusion, SB…

by AnaStacia Nicol Wright The fight for worker protections during COVID, much like COVID itself, continues: exclusion pay is in the current COVID-19 safety standard and has been included in past iterations as well; however, in response to pressure from the business community and other political powers, it will not…