Social Justice & Community
Research uncovers local labor issues that may be driving increased unionization
Surveys show young workers suffer from scheduling instability, and those who are LGBTQ+ are more likely to experience wage theft and workplace injuries. Meanwhile, census data show a harmful pay gap for Latina workers.
Researchers share findings from a survey of more than 2,000 young workers in Santa Cruz County. Photo: Alma Villa
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UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Labor and Community recently gathered students, local researchers, labor organizers, and community members on May 16 to discuss the unique challenges facing young workers in Santa Cruz County and share ideas for how to act collectively and empower the region’s growing workforce.
The free public event, hosted at the 418 Project in downtown Santa Cruz, featured tabling by local organizations, screen-printed t-shirts, and a panel discussion among young worker-organizers leading unionization efforts with Starbucks Workers United, the REI Union, the Oakland Educators Association, and the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. Student researchers from UC Santa Cruz and faculty from UCLA also shared findings from a survey of over 2,000 Santa Cruz County residents between the ages of 18 and 34.
“When you combine our survey data with the testimony of young labor leaders, it all presents a pretty stark picture of some serious local issues that need to be addressed, but also plenty of opportunities to act,” said Sociology Professor Steve McKay, director of the Center for Labor and Community.
Initial findings from the survey indicated a high degree of interest in unions among Santa Cruz County young workers, and the newest findings flag several underlying issues that might be helping to drive the trend. One major issue was scheduling instability. Only 37% of surveyed workers in the 18-34 age group received their work schedules at least two weeks in advance. 39% had less than a week of notice. Among those, 9% were only informed of their schedules the day of their shift.
“Unpredictable scheduling is pervasive in industries where young people work, and unreasonable demands—like the need for open availability and ‘just-in-time’ scheduling—take away workers’ ability to control their lives,” explained Veronica Hamilton, a UC Santa Cruz graduate student who led the research and co-authored the report. “Essentially, these practices shift the burden of business fluctuations onto workers, often with devastating results.”
Researchers say the degree of scheduling instability uncovered in Santa Cruz County would make it almost impossible for many young workers to arrange for childcare, attend classes, or budget for basic living expenses. But union advocacy could potentially help to regularize working hours, as could policy solutions like “Fair Work Week” ordinances, which have already been adopted in many Bay Area cities.
Another concern revealed by survey responses is that there are clear disparities in workplace protections for LGBTQ+ workers, who make up 29% of the local workforce in the 18-34 age group. 35% of LGBTQ+ people surveyed reported working additional unpaid hours before or after their shifts, compared to 21% of their heterosexual peers. LGBTQ+ workers were overall more likely to experience wage theft and workplace injuries.
Researchers say further study is needed to understand the causes of these inequities, but increased union representation could support workers in advocating for their rights, and stronger enforcement of labor laws seems to be needed, along with education for both workers and employers.
Veronica Terriquez, director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center, partnered with the Center for Labor and Community on the survey of young workers and all of the reports stemming from it. She also undertook an additional effort focused on Santa Cruz County’s Latina wage gap, in coordination with Professor Sylvanna Falcón and UC Santa Cruz’s Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas. Findings from that study were also shared during the event.
Researchers looked at data from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and found that Latinas earned only 50 cents in the time it took a non-Hispanic white man to earn a dollar. Because Latinas are often the primary income earners in their households —and make up approximately 34% of the female civilian labor force in Santa Cruz County—when they are underpaid, the results ripple out across families and through the entire community.
There’s still more work to be done to determine how these issues for Latinas in Santa Cruz County might intersect with the trends uncovered for young workers. But the research team believes that understanding these problems is a crucial first step toward implementing solutions.
“Young people in Santa Cruz County are navigating the transition to adulthood in a region characterized by stark economic inequality and an exceptionally high cost of living,” Terriquez said. “These challenges make it critical to examine the educational and employment pathways that support their ability to build stable and fulfilling futures.”