Southern California union leaders say 2025 labor surge is most in decades

Angie Ayala, a pharmacy technician at Ralph’s Fare Fresh in Pasadena, drives in from her Hollywood apartment for a five-day-a-week job that pays $24.10 hourly.

She and her husband are raising two daughters, 10 and 6, in a one-bedroom apartment.

Not long ago, Ayala bought an upright piano and pushed it under the steps that lead to her upper floor apartment. She’d like to get paid more so that she can hire a piano teacher for her oldest daughter — maybe even save to buy a home. But her budget is too tight...