These are some noteworthy labor headlines we read this week.

Weekly Labor Reads:

TOP STORY

More and More Unions Are Joining the Fight Against ICE

Organized labor has taken a stand against the federal government’s immigration raids in Minneapolis and across the country. The killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in January sparked a wave of unions publicly denouncing the Trump administration’s immigration campaign, particularly among unions representing healthcare workers. Pretti worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital and was a member of the Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3669. After Pretti’s killing, the AFL-CIO called “for ICE to immediately leave Minnesota,” and the Communications Workers (CWA) soon followed. They joined other unions that have been making similar calls since the January 7 killing of Renee Good, including SEIU and the Postal Workers (APWU), which both called for an end to ICE operations in Minneapolis. On Thursday, the Trump administration announced that it was ending its deployment of immigration agents to Minnesota.



Truthout

Alexandra Bradbury

NEW RESEARCH

US union elections declined in 2025 after Trump hobbled labor board

The Guardian 

Michael Sainato

LOCAL POLITICS

L.A. County labor coalition backs Karen Bass, slams Raman as a ‘political opportunist’

Los Angeles Times 

David Zahniser

ENTERTAINMENT WORKERS

Hollywood reboots labor negotiations, three years after strikes

Marketplace from NPR

Nova Safo

CALIFORNIA TEACHERS

United front: California teachers unions raise stakes in contract talks

Politico

Eric He

IRLE IN THE NEWS

NONVIOLENT EDUCATION



Summer 2025 with the Nonviolence Education Project

UCLA Labor Center

Siyue Lena Wang

LABOR STUDIES NOW

“Generation Union”: The people and strategies powering the labor movement in the 2020s

UCLA Labor Studies

Remember This!

Memory Work Los Angeles is a project of UCLA IRLE. We bring the past to the present to highlight the diverse experiences and perspectives of working people in Southern California, the changing world of work, and the continuing struggle for equality.

Guess? Who Pockets the Difference (1996)

In 1995, UNITE! (Union of Needle Trades and Industrial Textile Employees) launched a campaign against Guess? Jeans, the largest apparel manufacturer in Los Angeles. Known for its distinctive stone-washed jeans, Guess? operated its own retail stores and made down-market lines sold at department stores. UNITE estimated that some 5000 workers in Los Angeles cut and sewed garments for Guess? , including around 1000 employed at the Guess? warehouse. Their campaign relied on creative new tactics, including “hot shop” strikes at two Guess? subcontractors and direct actions at retail stores targeting the Guess? brand. Their media strategy included videos like this one, where Guess? workers shared their testimonios and rallied support for the union drive.

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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.