2008 - The Fight for Good Jobs

This year, L.A.’s workers face unprecedented challenges and opportunities - a year in which more than 350,000 workers, belonging to 30 local unions, will re-negotiate their union contracts; this is the largest number of workers in the history of the L.A. Labor Movement. These workers hail from key sectors reflecting the core of L.A.’s economy: actors, longshoremen, homecare workers, teachers and janitors.  So we're calling 2008 The Fight for Good Jobs.

The Fight for Good Jobs hits at the heart of what is wrong with Los Angeles - a diminishing middle class, a place where 3.7 million live in poverty, home to the low wage Capital of the country and a place where the dream of owning a home is often unattainable. Today, one third of the county's 3 million full-time workers earn less than $25,000 a year, an income not even near the $133,506 needed to purchase a median priced home. READ MORE>>>

ACTION TOOLKIT 

Below are analysis and fact sheets you can use to explain the fight for good jobs to your friends and colleagues.

The Fight for Good Jobs

Why we must fight for good jobs.

The Economic Footprint of Unions in Los Angeles

A briefing paper by the Economic Roundtable quantifying the economic effect of union jobs that have higher wages than non-union jobs.

2008 Contract Fights by the Numbers

A summary of the figures revealed in the The Economic Footprint of Unions in Los Angeles

What does it take to live in Los Angeles?

A family with a household income over $70,000 a year can only live modestly in this city.