The demonstration was organized by the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice alongside several regional groups, including the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, Inland Empire Labor Institute, Inland Empire Labor Council and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. Participants gathered at Feldheym Public Library before beginning the march around 1:30 p.m.

    Marchers moved through the downtown area, making stops near San Bernardino City Hall and the city’s Immigration Field Office before converging at the intersection of E Street and Rialto Avenue. Protesters temporarily blocked traffic while chanting, holding signs and listening to speakers during the afternoon rally.

    May Day, also recognized internationally as International Workers’ Day, traces its roots back to labor demonstrations connected to the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago and the push for an eight-hour workday. In recent years, May Day events throughout the United States have increasingly tied together issues involving labor rights, immigration reform, affordable living and public safety concerns.

    San Bernardino resident Ron Alvarado, who is currently running for the city’s First Ward council seat, said he attended the march to advocate for stronger labor protections and community-centered development projects.

    “I’m here because I want to stand for the community, for public sector jobs, for living wage jobs and for community benefit agreements,” Alvarado said during the event.

    Alvarado said local leaders need to focus more on keeping tax revenue and economic opportunities within San Bernardino neighborhoods. He added that developers should be required to create agreements that directly benefit residents through better wages and job opportunities.

    Ontario resident Andrea Galvan said the event highlighted how closely labor issues, environmental concerns and immigration policies are connected throughout the region.

    “I’m here today to be part of this movement of labor groups, immigrant rights groups and environmental justice groups that have come together across the Inland Empire to fight for our communities,” Galvan said. “All of these issues are connected.”

    Galvan said residents deserve cleaner air, safer neighborhoods and fair treatment for workers while also ensuring immigrant families feel welcomed and protected.

    Fontana resident Luz Perez, who is also running for city council in Fontana, said immigration enforcement actions have created fear for many local families and negatively impacted small businesses.

    “It has really affected our communities, especially our small businesses,” Perez said. “People are afraid to come out, and families are living in fear.”

    Perez said demonstrators were urging leaders to end immigration raids and expand protections for immigrant communities throughout the Inland Empire.

    Even as temperatures climbed throughout the afternoon, marchers from communities including San Bernardino, Fontana and Ontario continued walking through downtown streets while carrying banners and chanting in support of workers and immigrant families.

    Organizers said the turnout reflected the Inland Empire’s growing labor and community activism movement, particularly in a region heavily impacted by warehouse industry growth, air quality concerns and immigration-related issues.

    For many attendees, the demonstration served as both a show of solidarity and a call for broader investment in working-class communities, safer neighborhoods and stronger protections for immigrant residents across the region.

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Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to quickly sign the bill.

The change comes after allegations became public last week that Chavez had sexually abused girls and women during his days building a major farmworker labor rights movement in the 1960s in California’s agricultural heartland. Among those who accused him was Dolores Huerta, who co-led the movement that eventually became the United Farm Workers.

The state’s effort to rename the holiday is part of a wave of other moves to alter memorials honoring the man who, in the 1960s and 1970s, helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and had been admired by many Democratic leaders. The swift and sweeping effort to erase Chavez’s name from public life was previously unthinkable, as his status had only grown more iconic since his death in 1993.

Republican Sen. Suzette Valladares said Thursday that her family built a life in California by working the fields and that the movement brought together workers from different backgrounds.

“This is not about one person. This is not about one narrative,” she said. “It’s about honoring generations of sacrifice, of resilience and hope.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limon said honoring farmworkers is especially important in the face of a series of federal raids across the state last year. A worker in her district died after being chased by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last summer, Limon said.

“His death is a reminder of how much farmworkers risk every day to put food on our table,” she said before the vote. “Our farmworkers remind us that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”

California was the first state to designate Chavez’s birthday, March 31, as a holiday to honor the civil rights leader nearly 30 years ago. The Legislature then, in 2000, passed a bill to make it an official paid day off for state employees and require that students learn about his legacy and his role in the labor movement in California. The legislation passed Thursday didn’t address the curriculum requirement. State leaders said they’re in conversation with school officials to adjust lesson plans.

The California bill also passed in the Assembly with bipartisan support on Monday.

“We cannot ignore wrongdoing and we should not continue to celebrate a single person when the movement itself is so much bigger,” Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry said before the vote Monday.

Since the allegations came to light, California State University, Fresno, has covered up Chavez’s statue on campus, while cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento have taken steps to erase his name from public landmarks. Some advocated for Huerta’s name to replace Chavez’s, and several states already said they won’t observe the day.

As his birthday approaches, cities across the country have remade or canceled annual celebrations to honor him. In Tucson last weekend, the annual César Chavez and Dolores Huerta March and Rally were scaled back and rebranded. There was no march or car show, and it was billed instead as the Comunidad y Labor Unity Fair to focus more broadly on labor rights without mentioning Chavez.

In Grand Junction, Colorado, the organizers of the annual event in Mesa County had already printed flyers and T-shirts, all bearing Chavez’s name. There has been a flurry of social media posts in recent days to let people know the event will go on Saturday as the Sí, Se Puede Celebration instead.

In El Paso, Texas, March 31 will be celebrated as the Community and Labor Heritage Day.

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A new report, “The State of Work: Home Care Providers in the Inland Empire” published by UC Riverside’s Inland Empire Labor and Community Center, or IELCC, shows the state’s senior population increased from 4.5 million in 2012 to 6.1 million in 2022 and is projected to increase to nearly 8.5 million by 2035. Additionally, the number of seniors with disabilities is expected to rise from 1.2 million in 2022 to 1.7 million by 2035. 

Between 2012 and 2035 the number of people 65 and older comprising the Inland Empire’s population is expected to nearly double, changing from 470,000 to 910,000.

The report also found that more than 83% of care for older Americans in the Inland Empire is primarily administered by women; in Riverside County more than 58% of workers are Hispanic or Asian and about 28% are white. In San Bernardino County more than 60% of workers are Hispanic or Asian and about 23% are white.

As the Inland Empire’s population ages, researchers note the increased demand for services, including those provided through California’s In-Home Supportive Services Program, known as IHSS. IHSS provides publicly subsidized in-home assistance for eligible low-income clients over 65 years of age and disabled people. Most home care providers are employed directly by IHSS or through private agencies. Researchers found five major challenges: low pay, little access to additional training/education, bureaucratic barriers, long work hours and unpaid labor, and family responsibilities among the workers they interviewed.

“Home care workers in the Inland Empire, as elsewhere in California, earn very low incomes. Our analysis of 2022 American Community Survey 5-year data estimates reveal that the median personal annual income of home care workers is $21,402 in California, $21,000 in Riverside County, and $19,488 in San Bernardino County,” researchers indicate in the report.

Many of these workers are family members caring for their own elderly or disabled relatives; for others home care is their job, but with most IHSS cases these workers are only allotted about 3 to 5 hours of labor per week. It’s a rigid number of hours that does not reflect the true time it takes to care for elders, especially those with disabilities, researchers said. In San Bernardino County IHSS home care providers receive $18.10 an hour, compared to $18.50 in Riverside County through their union contracts.

“IHSS workers’ level of compensation is inadequate to meet rising living costs and fails to recognize the critical services these workers provide,” researchers wrote in the report. 

“California’s home care workers, predominantly women and often from marginalized communities, exemplify the persistent gender inequality in labor markets. Despite their critical role in supporting seniors and individuals with disabilities, they face wages far below the state’s living standards, averaging $16.64 per hour,” said David Mickey-Pabello, director of research at the IELCC. 

Currently labor unions are working with Inland Empire IHSS workers to raise their pay as well as improve their working conditions and their access to education and training. However, many private sector home care workers are not unionized. 

“Unions have been pushing for a policy change so that the state is the employer of record and unions can negotiate IHSS contracts statewide rather than county by county,” said Chuy Flores, IELCC policy and strategy director. This policy change is likely to help to improve IHSS workers’ wages and benefits while and addressing unequal compensation among IHSS workers across counties.”

Collective bargaining, along with increased public investment in the home care workforce at all levels of government, can also help decrease worker burnout and turnover as well as staffing shortages, Flores said. 

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It started among engineers inspired by a 2017 research paper. Next came venture capitalists eager to profit from a new boom. They were followed by government officials racing to impose regulations.

Now it’s labor’s turn.

More than 200 trade union members and technologists gathered in Sacramento this week at a first-of-its-kind conference to discuss how AI and other tech threatens workers and to strategize for upcoming fights and possible strikes.

The Making Tech Work for Workers event was convened by University of California labor centers, unions, and worker advocates and attracted people representing dock workers, home care workers, teachers, nurses, actors, state office workers, and many other occupations. 

A key takeaway from the proceedings: Workers of all stripes are determined to fight — during contract negotiations and amid day to day operations — for the right to negotiate more control over how AI is deployed within companies. Union representatives detailed ways AI threatens jobs, from screenwriting to driving taxis to ringing people up as a cashier. 

It takes a toll on your physical and mental health when tech tracks your every movement, said Luis, an Amazon worker from California’s Inland Empire who asked CalMatters not to use his last name due to fear of retribution. He felt like he couldn’t stop moving or get help from coworkers when lifting heavy objects. That led to back pain that made it hard to sleep at night, and feelings of depression and diminished self-worth.

“I just couldn’t deal with being a robot,” he said, describing why he quit. Later he returned to the job because he had no other opportunities.

Amazon spokesman Steve Kelly responded that “employees are encouraged to work with intention, not speed and can take short breaks at any time to use the restroom, grab water, stretch, or step away from their screen. In addition, there’s nothing unusual about using cameras to help ensure employee safety, inventory quality, or protect against theft—this is common practice at nearly every major retailer in the world. Employees who have questions or concerns about any aspect of this technology or their jobs generally aren’t just permitted, but encouraged on a regular basis, to bring them to their managers and they’re provided several tools to support them in that process.”

The gathering comes as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his second administration and shortly before a Feb. 21 deadline to propose bills for the current session of the California Legislature. Precisely how Trump will respond to issues related to tech and workers is unclear. He has made some promises that seem favorable to big tech, like vowing to cut regulations he sees as harmful to innovation and promising to repeal an executive order signed by his predecessor that put safeguards on AI. 

But he has also positioned himself as an advocate for blue-collar workers left behind by tech elites: Just last month he called automation harmful to workers. Observers have also been left baffled by where, exactly, the incoming president stands on issues like H-1B visas for foreign tech talent or how he might be swayed by high-profile adviser Elon Musk, the omnipresent tech billionaire.

Participants at the conference did not focus much on Trump. Instead, they centered discussions on how to protect workers from tech that can exploit them or automate discrimination. Union representatives unanimously urged workers to negotiate how AI and other forms of tech are used in the workplace when bargaining. Many also urged workers to engage more on tech issues by considering how to use tech for organizing or pushing for the establishment of committees where management must discuss tech with workers before implementation.

The roughly 150,000 United Food and Commercial Workers union members — folks who work at stores like Kroger and Albertsons — and the 100,000 National Nurses Union members will both face key fights related to automation this year as they bargain new contracts. The grocery workers will challenge the role of self-checkout stands while nurses contest AI tools they say can influence their duty to care and prioritize profits for health care and insurance companies over patient health.

Corporations have long marketed AI to consumers and investors as a technology that will transform the world for the better. But gatherings like the conference in Sacramento show that unions are also using AI as a way to galvanize workers to organize their workplace.

Unions have a steep hill to climb to grow membership and worker power, said AFL-CIO Tech Institute executive director Amanda Ballantyne, but including AI in collective bargaining negotiations is key, because there are so many use cases for AI in the workplace and workers tend to have strong opinions about them since they are experts in their own jobs and know best the safety implications of a new tool.

A number of union representatives argued at the conference that workers need to gain and exercise power to push back against the rollout of technology with the potential to exploit them, visit indignity upon them, or take their jobs.

A report released earlier this year by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute found that 4.5 million Californians are in 20 industries labeled at high risk of job loss due to automation, and that more than half of high-risk workers are Latino. Automation that takes jobs away is a major concern for three out of four Americans, according to a Gallup poll taken last year, but AI that makes predictions about workers, manages workers, or attempts to track and quantify their every move is also a major risk, said UC Berkeley Labor Center director Annette Bernhardt. She previously told CalMatters she’s less concerned about AI taking jobs than she is about algorithms used in the workplace treating people like machines.

AI has the potential to reduce discrimination and improve worker health and safety but it also has the potential to drive job losses, help suppress worker organizing efforts, and intensify demands placed on workers, a phenomenon that led to higher injury rates at Amazon warehouses. 

SAG-AFTRA executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that AI underscores why it’s important for workers to organize, because doing so can force employers to negotiate their use of AI during contract bargaining rather than unilaterally deciding to introduce the technology in the workplace. But obtaining such contract clauses  requires foresight by union leaders, who must craft a message that can resonate with workers and the public.

“We’re up against the biggest corporate interests and the biggest political interests that you can imagine, and working together in unity is absolutely where our power comes from,” he said. “Especially because we’re going to have so many challenges on the federal level, in California, we can use public policy to advance collective bargaining and use collective bargaining to advance public policy.”

A lot of tech getting introduced in the workplace is just surveillance of workers, advocates said, and that’s nothing new. “It’s the old boss with new tools,” said California Labor Federation president Lorena Gonzalez. Three years ago, as an assemblymember, Gonzalez coauthored a law that prevents algorithms from denying workers break time or worker safety violations. 

Amid uncertainty of how the Trump administration will address union concerns around tech, Gonzalez told CalMatters last week that she is working with counterparts in other states, including Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington, and Wisconsin to pass legislation to protect workers’ privacy in spaces like break rooms and bathrooms and ensure that they know when an employer is collecting data about them or monitoring job performance.

The California Privacy Protection Agency is currently drafting rules that would require businesses to inform job applicants and workers when AI is in use and allow them to opt out of data collection on the job without consequence. California would become the first state to enact such rules but that regulation is still under negotiation. The California Civil Rights Department is also drafting rules to protect workers from AI that can automate discrimination.

Gonzalez said she doesn’t like to rely on such rules because they  can take a long time to finalize and enforce, pointing to the fight to keep workers safe from hot workplaces, a battle that’s gone on for the better part of a decade.

Meanwhile, people like Amba Kak see opportunities for gains by workers against technological threats but said that it may require strategically picking the right battles. Kak previously advised the Federal Trade Commission and is executive director of the AI Now Institute, a nonprofit that researches the human rights impact of the technology.  

Seizing those opportunities requires paying attention to issues that can build bridges between labor and other actors in the tech justice movement. For example, the activity of data centers can bring together people concerned about the climate and labor and people in local communities who see data centers consume vast amounts of water and energy. 

Kak told CalMatters she plans to pay more attention to activity in state legislatures in places like California and New York, where lawmakers are already considering a bill that protects people from AI in a manner similar to California’s to Senate Bill 1047, a controversial bill requiring AI safeguards that Newsom vetoed last year.

“Labor has been at the forefront of rebalancing of power and asserting that the public has a say in determining how and under what conditions this tech is used,” she said.

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