Winter 2023

IRLE's Quarterly Newsletter

The new labor centers at UC will be modeled after existing centers at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Merced. Located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, UCLA’s Labor Center, recently named the building that houses its work in honor of labor and civil rights icon, Reverend James Lawson Jr. Photo: Reed Hutchinson/ UCLA Labor Center.

Director's Message

These are exciting times for labor research and education! Five new labor centers have opened their doors at University of California campuses in Davis, Irvine, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Cruz, while planning is advancing for a sixth labor center in Santa Barbara. These new programs, along with the expanded activities at the Los Angeles, Merced, and Berkeley campuses, represent the biggest expansion of labor education since the Works Progress Administration of the New Deal. We look forward to supporting the new programs as they develop to meet the needs of working people in their regions of the state.

The statewide expansion has not slowed down the work of the UCLA IRLE, as you'll see detailed below. Whether exploring labor standards in the nail salon industry, training car wash workers to avoid chemical hazards, documenting racial inequity in the film and television industry, or teaching the next generation of labor researchers, IRLE people are at the forefront of understanding and improving the world of work.

Sincerely,

Tobias Higbie

Director, UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

• Modeled after our own UCLA Labor Center, we announced the historic labor center expansion across UC. Representing the biggest expansion of labor education since the New Deal, in March five new labor centers were launched at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz. Read the full announcement here. Relatedly, LAist interviewed IRLE’s Director about the expansion over the weekend, listen here (0:51-1:39).

• The UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report 2023 Part 1: Film, part of IRLE’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, will be released on March 30. For the first time, the report will analyze top streaming originals separately from top theatrical releases in 2022. In addition, due to new data sources, the report will include data on disability of actors and South Asian counts in the key employment categories. This report will again provide more in-depth international and domestic market analyses that were last published in the 2020 report before the pandemic. Lastly, the report will include box office opening weekend ticket buyer stats, streaming and social media ratings among the major demographic groups.

• IRLE Director Tobias Higbie and Labor Center Project Director Gaspar Rivera Salgado published an article exploring the history of unions and immigrant workers in Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s: “The Border at Work: Undocumented Workers, the ILGWU in Los Angeles, and the Limits of Labor Citizenship,” in the journal Labor: Studies in Working-class History. Read it here.

• We are gearing up to host our first annual UC Strategic Labor Research Conference taking place on July 14-16, 2023 at UCLA in partnership with UC Santa Barbara. The conference will include workshops on applied skills for new and experienced union and labor movement researchers. Dynamic keynote speakers and a variety of exciting training sessions will help strengthen the skills of union researchers. Recently, we announced additional workshops and confirmed our keynote speaker Kate Brofenbrenner from Cornell University. Learn more here.

• In partnership with California’s Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, our ReWork project, released “Nailing New Labor Models” which explores High Road Training Partnerships (HRTPs) and sectoral boards to address workplace conditions, job quality and climate resilience in sectors where unionization and/or industry-wide changes are difficult. Read more here.

• Our POWER in Workforce Development Project Manager, Ana Luz Gonzalez-Vasquez, will form part of the 2023 Workforce Leadership Network cohort. She will spend four months honing her professional leadership capacity in order to make a lasting positive impact in the communities she serves. Learn more here.

• The Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity at Work (CARE at WORK) at the UCLA Labor Center hosted the homecoming celebration for recently-elected California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D- Los Angeles) on March 10 at UCLA’s James West Alumni Center. Prior to being sworn in to represent California’s 28th Senate District, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas worked at the UCLA Labor Center for 15 years where she directed the CARE at Work project and co-founded the LA Black Worker Center, the country’s first Black worker center. Read coverage of the event here..

• In an effort to expand black worker justice and labor education across UC, in February our CARE at Work team held an “Open House for our We Gon’ Be Alright Class” at UC Riverside. Connecting with bright and talented young students, CARE was able to engage students with opportunities for future collaboration and hosted a dialogue regarding modern labor issues relevant to Black youth. Check out an image from the event and give CARE at Work a follow.

• The UCLA Labor Center, UFCW #770 and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and LAANE, hosted “John Grant's Retirement Celebration” on March 3. His dedication to empowering the working people of Los Angeles for the last 42 years will continue to influence the future of LA’s labor movement. You can view photos here.

• Throughout March, the UCLA Dream Resource Center (DRC) continued to support the Opportunity for All campaign to ensure all University of California (UC) students—regardless of their immigration status—have equal access to education and employment opportunities. The Opportunity for All campaign, launched in October 2022, urges the UC to remove hiring restrictions for students who don’t have access to DACA or other immigration protections. Check out this recent news coverage highlighting the campaign and its obstacles. Watch latest campaign webinar here.

• DRC Project Coordinator Justine Lim and Empowering API celebrated the release of their zine “Did You Eat Yet?,” on March 12. The zine is a collection of stories, poems, and artwork created by undocumented Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants. On March 8, Justine also hosted a Facebook live conversation with UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong on anti-Asian violence and solidarity. Watch the conversation here.

• Laist featured the graduation of 22 car wash workers who completed the “CLEAN Carwash Worker Center's auto detail program.” The effort reflects our continued collaboration with this path breaking worker center. As part of this initiative: LOSH taught course participants how to: identify hazards, prevent workplace injuries and illnesses and know their rights as workers. Read the full story here.

• LOSH recently created two new publicly-available fact sheets: 
• The Legal Aid Referral List/Lista de Referencias de Asistencia Legal. This bilingual fact sheet provides a legal aid referral list for topics such as Employment, Worker’s Compensation, Immigration and Domestic Violence. 
• What Workers Need to Know About the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Standards. This fact sheet provides an overview of the new Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Standards that were approved in December 2022 and remain in effect until February 3, 2025. Cal/OSHA requires employers to take steps to reduce COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. This fact sheet is also available in Spanish: "Lo Que Trabajadores Deben Saber Sobre Las Regulaciones De No-Emergencia Para La Prevención De Infección De COVID-19." 
• Download both of these sheets and learn about many others at LOSH Fact Sheets page, here.

HARRT

• HARRT continues to coordinate a variety of events, talks and a variety of other activities, visit this unit’s events page to learn more.

• UCLA Labor Studies hosted two visiting scholars. Professor Christina Heatherton spoke about the past, present, and future of radical labor organizing based on her book, Arise! Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution. Professor Nadia Y. Kim discussed her new book, Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in L.A. Both events welcomed audiences in-person and online.

• Our team provided a variety of resources for students that include summer programs, useful campus accounts to follow, tips for enrollment, and more. Labor Studies also amplified labor and student organizers, and Black leaders of the labor movement such as Chris Smalls and Hattie Canty. Check out the Labor Studies Instagram page to learn more.

• UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong co-authored this opinion editorial in the Orange County Register highlighting the historic nature and importance of our statewide labor center across UC. The authors review our decades-long impact and how these centers will continue to advance labor research and education in service of all Californians. 

• Released during Black History Month, Spectrum 1, profiled Reverend James Lawson Jr. on their weekly show, "LA Stories with Giselle Fernandez.“ Stream the broadcast here: “Civil Rights icon Rev. James Lawson continues his fight against racism.”

• UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong spoke with The New York Times on the recent LAUSD worker strike. Wong spoke about the various conditions that led to the strike: widespread frustration with poor working conditions and low wages. 

• While Uber and Lyft fares have increased, driver pay has not reflected that increase. Vice reported on this phenomenon by citing a recent UCLA Labor Center study which finds that ride-hailing companies continue to make a profit while keeping drivers’ wages low.   

• Labor Speaker Series | Critical Industrial Relations: centering social identity in our understanding of the employment relationship - On April 20, UCLA Labor Studies will host an in-person event at UCLA Public Affairs 5391 with Professor Tamara Lee as she discusses her work on racialized worker control at Amazon’s fulfillment centers and contemporary uprisings for social and economic justice. RSVP here. 

• Paul Schrade: A Celebration of Life - Join the UCLA Labor Center on Friday, April 21st for a celebration of life for Paul Schrade, the Region 6 Director of the United Auto Workers (UAW) who dedicated his life to social and economic justice. RSVP here.

‘It’s just crazy’: Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise | The Guardian, February 11, 2023

In this piece, journalist Michael Sainato analyzed new laws that aim to roll back child labor protections, exempt child workers from worker compensation, and expand work hours and the type of work 14 and 15-year-olds are permitted to do. As many reports cite an increase in child labor violations and on-the-job worker injury, many fear these new laws will exacerbate poor working conditions and labor violations. Read more here.

General Labor Reads, Listens, Research

Our colleagues at UCLA Urban Planning and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs organized a sharing of memories of distinguished Los Angeles urban theorist, Mike Davis, during an on-campus event. You can stream the event here.

On Equal Pay Day 2023, California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom announced that the cities of: Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach and Fresno became the first cities across the state to sign the equal pay pledge. Learn more here.

Job Opportunities at the IRLE

• Senior Research Analyst at the UCLA Labor Center - The Senior Research Analyst (SRA) is a 24-month position that will support the Labor Center's automation research and staff the California Labor Agency's Port Automation Industry Panel. The SRA will help scope, conduct, analyze, and publish research related to shipping industry automation for the AB 639 Industry Panel. Learn more: Visit bit.ly/UCLAcareeropps; Click “Search Jobs” tab; Enter requisition number: 38624.

• Labor Center Event & Operations Specialist - The incumbent is responsible for providing finance and operations support, event coordination/logistics, clerical and technical support and assistance. Learn more: Visit bit.ly/UCLAcareeropps; Click “Search Jobs” tab; Enter requisition number: 37867.

This newsletter was published by IRLE's communications team. Media inquiries for the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and its labor experts can be sent to citlallichavez@ucla.edu.

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