Welcome back to IRLE's Weekly Labor Reads! Here are some noteworthy labor headlines we read this week:

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Catch up on labor news from previous weeks here.

Weekly Labor Reads:

TOP STORY

Revenge of the labor movement: Democrats with union backgrounds aim to retake Congress

More than three dozen nominees for open House and Senate races across the US have backgrounds as labor union representatives or members. Most are Democrats, though some are running as independents. Several nominees are running in heavily blue districts, making it almost certain they will win the seat in November’s midterms, while others are in highly contested races that are likely to determine control of the House and possibly the Senate. The early success of so many candidates with ties to labor comes as Democrats work to rebuild their support among working-class voters, centering their campaign messaging around affordability issues.

The Guardian

Michael Sainato

HIGHER EDUCATION

Newsom again vetoes bill to allow undocumented college students to work on campus

CalMatters

Mikhail Zinshteyn

WORKER WINS

California gig drivers secure collective bargaining power with new union

Los Angeles Times

Caroline Petrow-Cohen

LABOR & AI

On AI, Newsom gives labor most of what it demanded

CalMatters

Khari Johnson

LABOR & POLITICS

How a Labor Union Bested the Political Establishment in New York

The New York Times

Sally Goldenberg

POWER FROM THE PAST!

The Memory Work Research Initiative (MWRI) engages community partners, activists, scholars and students in a thoughtful process of collecting, preserving and sharing the rich history of organizing in Southern California. The MWRI strives to establish collaborative modes of remembrance grounded in the IRLE’s commitment to advancing quality education and employment for all. 

"Alto Prop 187," 1994

This image comes from a “March and Rally for the Respect and Dignity of Immigrant Rights,” organized by Justice for Janitors in Boyle Heights on May 28, 1994. The march coincided with the announcement that an extreme anti-immigrant proposition, Prop 187, would appear on the November ballot. 

Next Friday, the IRLE will host a conversation on Prop 187 with veteran organizers who contributed to the campaign. The speakers include Cristina Ramirez-Vasquez, Former Regional Manager and International Vice President of Workers United; David Sickler, Former Western Regional Director; Joel Ochoa, a Labor and Community Organizer; and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, a current UCLA Labor Studies Lecturer. This event is part of the IRLE’s fall “Meeting the Moment, Building the Movement” speaker series. Learn more about IRLE's upcoming and past events here.

View more Los Angeles labor history on the Memory Work website.

UPCOMING IRLE EVENTS

"Meeting the Moment, Building the Movement" Part I: Prop 187 and Labor’s Fight for Immigrant Rights

Date and Time: October 9, 2026, 10-11:30 am PDT

Location: Virtual

Part one of the IRLE's "Meeting the Moment, Building the Movement" webinar series welcomes three veterans of the campaign to stop Proposition 187 to discuss how the campaign forged coalitions between immigrant rights and labor organizers, setting the stage for a historic shift in organized labor’s policy on undocumented workers.

Cristina Ramirez-Vazquez, former Regional Manager and International Vice President of Workers United, David Sickler, former Western Regional Director of AFL-CIO, and Joel Ochoa, labor and community organizer, will join in conversation. 

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UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) advances labor research and education for workplace justice. Through the work of its units – the UCLA Labor Center, the Human Resources Roundtable, the Labor Occupational Safety and Health program (LOSH) and its academic program, UCLA Labor Studies – the Institute forms wide-ranging research and agendas that carry UCLA into the Los Angeles community and beyond.