While union membership continues to shrink nationwide, California has bucked the trend by maintaining one of the strongest labor movements in the country. A new University of California report credits steady organizing in education, health care, and public service, along with union-driven state policies like fast food and health care wage laws. Researchers note the state’s unionization rate remains well above the national average, and likely even undercounted due to excluded categories like home health care workers. As Trump’s second term brings heightened hostility toward organized labor, California’s model of persistence and policy influence may serve as a guide for unions elsewhere.
See "Unions Are Shrinking Nationwide—But Not in California", Mark Kreidler, The American Prospect, September 2, 2025