By the end of 2013, Latinos will make up 40% of California's population. By the end of 2050, that number will rise to 48%. The growing Latino and immigrant communities in California are changing the way Californians view immigration reform, New York Times' Jennifer Medina writes. In a state where, a generation ago, voters passed what is considered one of the most anti-immigrant ballot initiatives, recent polls show a dramatic shift in perception of aspiring Americans. Californians now say that "immigrants are a benefit to the state, according to public opinion polls from the Public Policy Institute of California."

Christian Torres worked as a cook in the Pomona College dining hall for more than six years. Torres and 16 of his co-workers were fired from Pomona College for not re-verifying their work eligibility after the college asked for documents, which were requested while he was leading an effort to organize to form a union. Torres and his brother came to the United States while still teenagers to join their mother and father who were already in the U.S. He supports the movement to create a common-sense immigration process. Although Torres was fired from Pomona, he continues to support his co-workers in their struggle for better working conditions at the college. 

More than 10,000 Angelenos, including members of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor’s “Team Homeless Heroes,” took part in the United Way’s 2012 HomeWalk 5K Run/Walk Nov. 17 to raise funds to combat homelessness in the Los Angeles area. The more than 500 members of Team Homeless Heroes are from Los Angeles unions and the team is organized by the L.A. Fed’s AFL-CIO Community Services/United Way partnership. It focuses on the men and women who served our country and who are now facing homelessness. 

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is making creative use of modern technology to fight the anti-working families Prop. 32, a law that would prevent unions from using any money raised through payroll deduction on political causes. People who have iPhones or iPads can download an application that allows them to take a photograph of themselves and turn it into a representation of the effects of Prop. 32, if it were to pass—the silencing of people's political voices.

If you want your Halloween to be all treats and no tricks, make sure all your candy is union-made, made in America. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411, has an extensive list of union-made candies. Here are some highlights, featuring sweets made by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW):

1. Baby Ruth

2. Butterfinger

3. Caramello 

4. Hershey's Candy Corn Kisses

5. Hershey Extra Dark Chocolate bar

This is a cross-post from the California Labor Federation's blog, Labor's Edge, by Danielle Tipton. 

Latinos are among the fastest growing groups of the electorate. About 5 million more Latino voters are eligible to vote this year than in 2008—but historically, voter turnout among Latinos hasn’t been particularly strong. In 2008, only 50% of eligible Latino voters showed up to the polls (according to the Los Angeles Times). But that’s all going to change this year in California, as more and more Latinos are discovering what’s really at stake in the upcoming election if Prop. 32 becomes law.

For the first time in history, Wal-Mart workers have gone on strike. Workers participating in the one-day strike at several Southern California stores say they are striking to protest attempts by Wal-Mart to silence and retaliate against associates who speak out about working conditions, low-pay, lack of respect and other issues that plague workers at the notorious anti-union retail giant.

While the striking workers are not union members, they have joined together in OUR Wal-Mart, a worker-led organization that stands up to make change in its company.

This is a cross-post by Labor Lou. 

A neighborhood on the eastern edge of the L.A. basin and shorthand for the movie and television industries, Hollywood had its own city charter for fewer than 10 years before being annexed by Los Angeles in 1910. By joining L.A., it gained access to the water supply then beginning to flow by aqueduct from the Owens Valley, 233 miles to the north.

D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille and Charlie Chaplin filmed there but now, in fact, studios and related businesses are situated throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area, with particular concentrations in Culver City, Burbank, the San Fernando Valley and—of course—the part of town known as Hollywood.

Looking for a little taste of England as you settle in for a weekend of the Olympic Games? How about some fish and chips—union made? Our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, have compiled a list so you can have this classic fare with a side of solidarity.

This weekend thousands of California union members, working families and community leaders marched in Los Angeles protesting Walmart’s plan to open a store in the historic Chinatown neighborhood.