Larry Willis’s colleagues liked to joke that he kept a copy of the Railway Labor Act, passed a few years before the Great Depression, under his pillow.

“He loved the wonk,” said his wife, Amy York. “He could explain things in a way that normal people could understand.”

“It’s absolutely essential,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in an interview.

California has become the fourth and largest state to adopt emergency workplace protections for COVID-19. Nearly 20 million workers in California will be protected by the new mandate, which includes requirements for face masks, physical distancing and reporting of outbreaks in the workplace.

Trece Andrews spent the last three months phone-banking and sometimes canvassing for Joe Biden in Michigan.

Democrat Joe Biden gained more of the vote from members of the AFL-CIO than Hillary Clinton did four years ago, its president said, crediting laborers for the party’s wins in key states.