About Us About Unions Elections Advocacy Press Releases Working People Standing Together ABOUT UNIONS What is a union? It’s simple, really. Unions are working people standing together. In our grandparents generation, working people stood together in their unions to create the 40-hour work week, paid vacations and good, American, wages. Sitting across from employers at the negotiating table, they made American companies the envy of the world and built our middle class, brick by brick. But now that middle-class is being systematically dismantled by Wall Street bankers and their lobbyists outsourcing our jobs and slashing wages and health care to get bigger bonuses for themselves. Big corporations and CEOs are demanding more corporate tax breaks even if it means teachers who challenge our kids and firefighters who put their lives on the line lose their jobs. With no one sitting across from them at the table negotiating for working families, CEOs walk away with bigger bonuses and workers walk away wondering how they’ll feed their families. Today, the only thing that stands in the way of the CEOs and corporate lobbyists is what stood in their way in our grandparent’s generation: working people standing together. That’s why workers and their unions are innovating to keep California competitive by retraining workers for new industries, partnering with small businesses to keep jobs here at home, and fighting alongside parents for smaller class sizes so teachers can teach and students can learn. Want to learn more about unions? Check out these helpful resources: Unions 101 How to Join a Union Labor Unions in the News Faces of Labor: This is Who We Are California Labor History SEARCH Search for: California Labor Federation Executive Officers Executive Council What We Do Our Staff/Contact Us Events Boycott, Do Not Hire, Buy Union In The News Press Releases California Labor News & Views Legislation Elections Workforce & Economic Development BWP 2022 conference Terminated or Laid off the Job Join an Apprenticeship About WED Issues & Campaigns Organizing Vote! Endorsements Contact Us Central Labor Councils What We Do Our Staff Executive Officers Executive Council Job Opportunities Resources Payments Constituency Groups Problems at Work? Know Your Rights Worksite Safety and Health Covered California Senior Advocacy / Activism Union Member Resources Build Back Better with Unions—Pass the PRO Act! Not in the US? Content developed and maintained by California Labor Federation staff, members of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America, Local 39521