SACRAMENTO – In the face of the most anti-worker federal Administration in recent history, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed AB 288 by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D – Inglewood), which will protect California private sector employees’ right to join a union and address labor violations when the federal government fails to act in a timely manner.
Earlier this year, the federal government’s DOGE took a wrecking ball to our federal public sector workforce – making it more difficult for veterans to receive their benefits, more difficult for seniors to access their Social Security and Medicare benefits, more difficult to protect disabled students and more difficult to fight hunger and food insecurity.
“The current President is attempting to take a wrecking ball to public and private sector employees’ fundamental right to join a union and collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and safe working conditions,” said Assemblymember Tina McKinnor. “This is unacceptable and frankly, un-American. California will not sit idly as its workers are systematically denied the right to organize due to employer intransigence or federal inaction. The right to join a union and bargain collectively is essential to the state’s economic security and the human dignity of all California workers. AB 288 ensures that California workers can continue to exercise this right – even in the face of one of the most anti-worker Administrations in our nation’s history. Governor Newsom is on the right side of history by signing AB 288 into law and I am thankful for his continued leadership to protect workers across the Golden State.”
The federal government is also attempting to take a wrecking ball to private sector employees’ fundamental right to join a union and collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and safe work conditions. On March 28, 2025, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox was removed from the NLRB, making the Board lose its quorum and effectively preventing the NLRB from being able to make any decisions or take any actions that would allow a worker to join a union and collectively bargain.
AB 288 respects federal labor law, but affirms that if California workers are unable to receive a statutorily required and timely response from the NLRB, the California Public Employee Relations Board can act to protect a worker’s fundamental right to organize.
California labor leaders praised AB 288 becoming law.
“We commend Governor Gavin Newsom for standing up for California workers and our fundamental right to collectively bargain,” said Lorena Gonzalez, President of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, representing 1,300 unions with 2.3 million members. “This is the most significant labor law reform in nearly a century. California workers will no longer be forced to rely on a failing federal agency when they join together to unionize.”
AB 288 was approved by the California State Legislature in September with broad, bi-partisan support, including 41 bi-partisan co-authors. AB 288 takes effect on January 1, 2026.