Huerta co-founded United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez, improving pay and conditions for farm workers

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

Dolores Huerta, a celebrated 1960s labor union leader and civil rights activist, died on Wednesday in California at the age of 96, her family said.

Huerta was co-founder with Cesar Chavez, another veteran unionist and political activist, of the United Farm Workers union (UFW), which was credited with improving pay and conditions for agricultural workers through a series of strikes, boycotts and protests in the 1960s and 1970s.

SEIU Local 1000, representing nurses and teachers, pushing for higher wages, telework and affordable healthcare

Thousands of California state workers walked off the job Wednesday in a sweeping one-day strike as tensions boiled over lapsed contract negotiations with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration.

SEIU Local 1000, a union that represents roughly 100,000 public employees, has been at an impasse with the state since its contract expired on 30 June.