In the 1980s and into the 1990s, labor in Los Angeles was not as necessary as it had been in the past. Deindustrialization had occurred because of the cost of leasing space in Los Angeles among other reasons. Along with deindustrialization, deunionization also occurred and a service economy rose, which means the economy had shifted to a service and entertainment focus. Labor jobs had been downgraded and many workers had moved to other industries or other cities. Immigrants came in to fill the labor market at a much lower wage than previously demanded. Some thought that the immigrants could not be organized into a union. This belief was based on the fact that immigrants came from many different countries and there were language and cultural barriers. Also, many were undocumented and did not want to be in a group that would call attention to them. These factors made it easy for employers to exploit them by paying them very low wages, not caring about the working conditions and not providing health benefits. This is an example of class consciousness because the groups with higher socioeconomic status tried to exploit those with lower socioeconomic status. Unions, however, recognized the potential of immigrant workers. The Service Employees International Union organized janitors and the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union organized hotel workers. New unions also came into being such as the National Union Labor Organizing Network and the Koreatown Immigrant Worker Association. Several labor campaigns were started too such as Justice for Janitors and CLEAN Car Wash Campaign also helped to get better pay and working conditions for immigrants in the labor sector.
Several groups found that it was not hard to organize the “unorganizable” because they all had similar desires—better pay and working conditions. The Justice for Janitors campaign took place in April of 1990. It smartly included women who are also part of the work force but often ignored or discriminated against. “Inequality regimes are highly various in other ways; they also tend to be fluid and changing. These regimes are linked to inequality in the surrounding society, its politics, history, and culture. Particular practices and interpretations develop in different organizations and subunits.”[3] The movement staged a three-week strike by janitors with support from religious leaders, community leaders and politicians. It addressed wages and working conditions of janitors and helped to improve the lives of the immigrants who were the majority of janitors in the city. The cleaning companies that hire the janitors signed a contract that gave the janitors a wage increase and health benefits. Since the immigrants were hired so that the industry could be downgraded by not paying the immigrants what the work demanded, cleaning companies made lots of profit. When the immigrants organized, they were able to get better pay and benefits, which helped to reduce income inequality. Justice for Janitors is an example of social movement unionism.
Other groups such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles or CHIRLA also focused on human rights. CHIRLA was created in Los Angeles but is now a national organization. This is because of its ability to create social networks for people who feel marginalized such as immigrants, both documented and undocumented. Those who are experiencing marginalization feel powerless. However, CHIRLA (and others like them) organizes immigrants, organizations and other groups so that there is power in their numbers. They campaign to change public opinion and try to get civil, labor and human rights for immigrants especially, but really for everyone. They have been a group that has influence laws and policies that benefit all immigrants including undocumented immigrants. They organized domestic workers, day laborers and undocumented students. It later and currently organizes street vendors and household workers too. One of its most notorious campaigns was against sweatshops and in favor of garment workers.
The activities of CHIRLA and other groups in Los Angeles include largely getting numbers of the same type of workers together so that they can form a powerful group. They help them to form a message and then to deliver that message to the relevant parties through marches, labor strikes, speeches, rallies and the other typical type of organizing strategies. CHIRLA and others also advocate for worker and immigrant rights at the local, state and national levels of government by organizing groups to vote for politicians that favor their cause, helping to write legislation, and by running informative campaigns about the activities of politicians they would like to see voted out of office.
One group that h
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