These are some noteworthy labor headlines we read this week.

Weekly Labor Reads:

TOP STORY

Why Labor Unions Can’t Ignore ICE

This article explores the links between the immigrant rights and labor movements and argues that immigration enforcement is inherently a labor issue. The author claims that immigration enforcement is used by governments as a tool to discipline workers, structure industries and prevent workplace organizing. Immigration raids, which so often target individuals at their place of work, create atmospheres of fear and instability that harm all workers regardless of immigration status. The article cites rigorous bodies of evidence that show that deportations do not improve work prospects for Americans by freeing up jobs, as is often claimed. Instead, immigration enforcement campaigns damage local labor markets and worsen wage and work environments for all. The author urges the labor movement and unions to hold true to the enduring slogan, “an injury to one is an injury to all,” and speak out against the federal government’s deportation agenda.

Jacobin

Alex N. Press

LONG FORM REPORTING

‘The Biggest Act of Union-Busting in U.S. History’: Trump’s War on Federal Workers

The New York Times

Dan Kaufman

LABOR ACTIONS

Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers launch open-ended strike

Los Angeles Times

Suhauna Hussain

AUDIO STORIES



Rideshare drivers in California can now unionize for better pay and conditions

NPR

Laura Fitzgerald

MOVEMENT STRATEGY

How to Block ICE In Your City

Labor Politics

Eric Blanc

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.

I am a Human Being | Soy un Ser Humano

In September 2006, UNITE HERE Local 11 organized what was likely the largest act of civil disobedience in Los Angeles History. Union members, faith leaders, elected officials and community allies joined in a large march to protest low wages at corporate hotels along Century Blvd outside of Los Angeles International Airport. Fall 2026 will mark the 20th anniversary of the event. The protest demonstrated the union’s ability to build a broad coalition in support of worker and immigrant rights at a time when the union was negotiating with hotel employers over a new contract. Building on the themes of the spring 2006 immigrant rights marches, Century Blvd. marchers also evoked the civil rights movement. The slogan “I am a Human Being” echoed the famous message Memphis sanitation workers strikers of 1968, “I am a Man.” Over 300 demonstrators were arrested by Los Angeles Police and bused to Van Nuys for processing. Produced by UNITE-HERE Local 11, this film combines TV news footage, interviews, and street scenes to document the union’s mass action on Century Blvd.

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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.