Free Republic

The push to unionize Amazon, Starbucks and other major U.S. companies is spreading to another employment sector that historically has resisted worker efforts to organize: America's colleges. Students employed as residential advisers, assistant instructors and in campus dining halls are uniting to demand better pay and working conditions, as well as pushing more broadly for a seat at the table in setting policies that affect their lives.

SACRAMENTO - While critics believe California state government is bloated, a new analysis from a Silicon Valley think tank suggests the state has one of the leanest work forces in the country. Census data released this week shows California had 393,609 full-time-equivalent employees as of last March, working out to 105 employees per 10,000 state residents, according to the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. That makes California the third-lowest in the nation in state employees per resident, behind every state except Illinois (at 103) and Nevada (at 104). The federal government has 142 employees per...