From the Classroom
The convention is one named box per chapter, chosen for the example that teaches the chapter’s hardest idea from an angle the author did not expect. Other consented examples are woven into the prose by name. Everyone listed here said yes in writing.
Chapter 1 · Introduction to Labor and Industrial Relations in California
Manuscript v3The Walkout Down the Hall
Lizette T.
The February–March 2025 walkout at CSUDH, used to test the hardest distinction in the chapter: is this a pluralist story or a critical one? The box sits right after “Telling Pluralist from Critical” and ends on a twist: most of the students who walked out were not employees and had no labor to withhold, which raises the question of who counts as a worker.
Chapter 2 · The Legal Framework
Manuscript v3One Handbook, Several States
Angie V.
A multi-state employer’s handbook meets California travel-time pay, and the federal floor runs into the California ceiling inside one HR binder. (At her request, the employer stays unnamed.)
Also in this chapter
- Lawrence D. — A Los Angeles County contract two years past expiration, as the MMBA example
- Myeisha R. — A sister working in a public school, as the EERA example
- Adrienne G. — “Which rules cover this employee?” became the hinge of the preemption case study
- Lena F. — A phlebotomist’s view of staffing ratios and break rules
- Branden B. — Servers and scheduling, in the Section 7 discussion
Chapter 3 · History of the American and California Labor Movements
Manuscript v4One Pipeline, Many Jobs
Byron T.
Clerks, eligibility workers, and social workers in a Los Angeles County IHSS office work as one pipeline, which is the industrial model operating inside a public office. The box connects his office to the 1999 Los Angeles County home care vote that came after Justice for Janitors.
Also in this chapter
- Myeisha R. — Gig drivers are called unorganizable for the same reason assembly-line workers once were. Her point leads into the AB 1340 news box.
Chapter 4 · Union Structures, Governance, and Membership Trends
Manuscript v3One Grievance, Every Carrier
Eric B.
A postal uniform-allowance grievance goes from steward to second representative to local president. The fix covered every carrier in the same position, and the box points ahead to the duty of fair representation.
Also in this chapter
- Samantha T.-N. — A sister who serves as a hospital steward, in the steward paragraph
- Rachel T. — Why the Steelworkers represent workers at a hospital, a sentence her own question prompted
- Makenna R. — Four generations in IBEW Local 11, in the international-union passage
Coming in later chapters
Held for placement- Ashlei G. — Nurses win a 4×10 schedule Bargaining chapter (Ch. 6 or 7)
- Angie V. — Hotel strikes and contracts that expire in an Olympic year Bargaining chapter
- A classmate (anonymous) — What a strike costs the people on the line Strikes chapter (Ch. 8)
- A classmate (anonymous) — A patient’s-eye view of a large health system A later chapter