News Analysis: Labor unions win big in California Legislature as hot labor summer drags into fall

By the time California state senators took up a bill Thursday night to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers, labor unions had already scored several monumental wins in the state Legislature. They landed a major deal to raise fast food wages to $20 an hour. They convinced lawmakers to pass a bill requiring driverless trucks to have a human safety driver. They persuaded the Democratic-led Legislature to send Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill giving all workers in California a minimum of five paid sick days -- up from the current requirement of three. So when the time came to vote on allowing striking workers to receive unemployment benefits, an exasperated Republican state senator rose to make the case that businesses wouldn't be able to stay afloat if their employees could get paid while on the picket line.