Workers in California are now getting important information about their labor rights, for example the right to paid sick leave and protection from retaliation, thanks to the COVID-19 Workplace Outreach Project or CWOP.  

LOHP is part of this statewide project funded by the California Department of Industrial Relations. Developed during the pandemic, the CWOP network now includes over 75 community-based organizations and is playing a key role in protecting and empowering California’s most vulnerable workers by providing multilingual information on workers’ rights through messengers workers trust.

LOHP administers the Bay Area and Sacramento Regions, working closely with regional leads Worksafe, Stepforward Foundation and Sacramento Central Labor Council (CLC). So far this year, regional organizations reached 75,000 workers through events, door knocking, phone canvassing and training. They have reached many thousands more through social media outreach and appearances in the ethnic media.

LOHP also provides capacity-building support and educational resources for organizations to address health and safety conditions. We sponsored a five-workshop series including one on strategies to take action to improve conditions. We also work with partner organizations providing one-on-one support. For example, LOHP led a workshop on heat illness prevention with Promotoras con Alma, and others on job hazards and protections with Nuestra Alianza de Willits, Ayudando Latinos a Soñar and Promotoras con Alma. We have collaborated with Vision y Compromiso and East Bay Sanctuary Covenant on outreach events, and are providing resources and support on young worker health and safety to the Sacramento CLC.

LOHP is hosting four interns this summer through the Occupational Health Internship Program. One project will conduct a needs assessment and impact evaluation of the seven-year old Cal/OSHA Silica in Construction Standard in collaboration with Laborers Int’l Union of North America (LIUNA). LIUNA is interested in assessing the silica standard now because there have been many deaths related to silica in the countertop refinishing industry.



The other project will collaborate with the Pilipino Association of Workers and Immigrants (PAWIS) to survey caregivers who work with the elderly about their experience with wage theft, retaliation and violence at work. 

Last year OHIP interns worked with the National Nurses United and Laborers Local 67.



In May, LOHP marked Safe Jobs for Youth Month by premiering our 2024 resource kit: What's the Deal with AB800? What you need to know about workplace readiness week. AB800 is a new law that requires all California public high schools to educate young workers on their workplace rights and the resources available to protect and enforce those rights. The resource kit includes information about work permits, what teens should do if they get hurt on the job, and fact sheets for employers on how to safely employ teens.

Congratulations to high school student Christine Choi, who won the Safe Jobs for Youth Month 2024 Poster Contest. View and download this year's winning posters.  

Visit youngworkers.org to learn more about Safe Jobs for Youth Month and access our young worker resources.



The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board approved a new standard this month that will provide long-awaited heat protections for workers in indoor settings. California has already experienced heat waves this summer and, as temperatures continue to rise, workers can suffer from heat illness, cardiac arrest and kidney failure from working long hours in the heat.

When temperatures reach 82 degrees, the new standard requires employers to provide workers with access to water and cool down areas kept below 82 degrees. Employers must also monitor workers for signs of illness and take action by cooling work spaces or changing tasks and schedules once the temperature or heat index reaches 87 degrees.  

“The new standard will help protect workers in California working in warehouses, kitchens and laundries who are at risk of grave illness,” said LOHP’s Director Laura Stock. “With temperatures in our state rising, I’m really pleased to see that we finally have these basic protections in place.”



The standard was amended to exempt the Department of Corrections facilities and comes after a long fight and delays to protect workers in California. California passed a heat standard for outdoor workers in 2006.

LOHP will be providing training for worker leaders and union staff on ways to prevent heat illness and what is required of employers under Cal/OSHA’s indoor and outdoor heat standards. The training will give advocates the tools they need when advocating for worker safety in high heat. For more resources, check out Cal/OSHA’s Heat Illness Prevention page. For more on LOHP's heat training program, contact Alejandra Domenzain at alejandra.domenzain@berkeley.edu.



During her tenure on the Board, Laura Stock helped pass life-saving regulations that included protections from COVID-19, lead poisoning and silica dust.

“I am very proud of the work we accomplished and was inspired by the many workers who had the courage to come and share their experiences and speak up about what was needed to protect them on the job,” Stock said.

Governor Gavin Newsom removed Stock from the Cal/OSHA Standards Board earlier this month and also demoted Dave Thomas, a labor representative, from the position of chair. Many in the labor and health and safety community raised concerns about the decision and saw the moves as retaliatory for speaking out against the last minute cancellation of a planned vote on the indoor heat standard during the Board’s March meeting.  



“Laura Stock has been one of the Board’s strongest and most experienced voices for worker health and safety, and Dave Thomas as Chair steered the Board through the biggest worker safety crisis in 100 years during COVID,” Worksafe Executive Director Stephen Knight said in a press release. “Worksafe is concerned about what these surprise removals may mean about Governor Newsom's commitment to worker health and safety and climate justice.”

“Board members Stock and Thomas brought professionalism and deep and practical experience to their roles,” said Warehouse Workers Resource Center Legal Director Tim Shadix. “They made the Board stronger and we are disappointed that they appear to be experiencing retaliation for simply moving worker protections forward.”



Sarah Jackson

Communications Specialist

A former journalist, Sarah has worked with foundations, think tanks, and community-based organizations on communications projects of all types. She recently completed a multi-year reporting project on wage theft for the James Irvine Foundation. Sarah’s deep commitment to the labor movement brought her to LOHP. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and two teenagers.



Theo Leenman

Research Coordinator

A sociologist by training, Theo has worked in applied social science research for the past ten years, having studied HIV prevention, community health needs and the social determinants of health. He grew up in Central Vermont as the child of Dutch immigrants who were both mental health professionals. Theo joined LOHP because he believes that the labor movement is the way to move the needle on the larger inequities that exist in our society. As LOHP’s research coordinator, Theo is working on an evaluation of a worker wellness model to prevent workplace violence, as well as helping LOHP expand other community-based research projects. Theo lives in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco with his partner Wesley and their long-hair tortoiseshell cat Simba. 

Jordan Nguyen

Public Education Specialist

Jordan is a recent graduate of UC San Diego, where he was a public health major. He also studied biology. He grew up doing community work with his mom, delivering meals to people experiencing food insecurity in Santa Ana and Los Angeles. Public health was a way of marrying his interest in community and science. As a public education specialist, Jordan will be supporting WOSHTEP and the Young Worker projects. Jordan is a fairly new resident of Millbrae where he and his partner are enjoying the great food scene. They are thinking of adopting a dog. 



In Half Moon Bay training farmworkers to prevent ergonomic pain and exposure to pesticides with Ayudando a Latinos a Soñar; In San Francisco at Carnaval sharing safety information along with Vision y Compromiso; In Oakland, co-hosting the Alameda County Worker Health and Safety Fair along with the Alameda County Central Labor Council, UFCW Local 5, Machinists Institute and EBASE.

In Chicago presenting workshops at the Labor Notes conference on young workers’ health and safety and on climate as a workplace safety fight; In Oakland with the UC Berkeley Labor Center, training Labor Summer interns on workplace justice through health and safety; With the California Labor Lab at the annual Modern Work & Workers’ Voices Virtual Conference.

With UFCW members working in grocery stores facilitating a series of two-part remote after-hours Know Your Health & Safety Workers' Rights workshops; With National COSH leading a teach-in for union and worker organizations on collective bargaining for safety and health. 



Collective Bargaining Guide for

Health and Safety

Our online Collective Bargaining Guide, updated for 2024, has sample contract language, taken from actual collective bargaining agreements that union leaders, activists and negotiating committees can use to bargain over health and safety issues. For example, the guide includes contract language about how employers can protect workers from extreme temperatures and staffing levels, excessive workload and language about how the employer will inform and train employees about hazards on the job.