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Dear IRLE Community:
It's been a rainy winter across Southern California, but the energy of "Hot Labor Summer" continues to keep us busy across the IRLE. This quarter, we're highlighting programs that link the global city of Los Angeles to the world beyond.
In February, dozens of labor organizers from Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. gathered at the offices of the L.A. County Federation of Labor to build cross-border solidarity. Gaspar Rivera-Salgado led the two-day event as part of the Labor Center's on-going collaboration with the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in Mexico and with the financial support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, a German foundation. Labor Center staff supported multilingual groups of auto workers, homecare workers, and app-based drivers in strategy sessions about shared organizing challenges and the potential for cross-border campaigns. A highlight of the event was an impromptu march to the Mexican Consulate to show support for striking Audi workers in Puebla.
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This trinational gathering was a continuation of Rivera Salgado’s crossborder work supporting worker rights and independent unions in Mexico and Latin American migrant workers in the U.S. Since 2015, Rivera Salgado has led engagement and collaborative scholarship among the UCLA Labor Center, the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center and three Mexican universities exploring the impact of NAFTA and the USMCA trade agreements on workers, and the implications of recent reform of Mexico’s labor law. We highlighted the historical roots of the independent union movement in Mexico in two fascinating interviews by David Bacon with long-time union leaders Humberto Montes de Oca of the Mexico City electrical workers union (SME), Benedicto Martinez of the Authentic Labor Front (FAT), and Robin Alexander of the United Electrical workers union in the U.S. These interviews also marked a productive collaboration with the policy journal NACLA Report on the Americas, a quarterly magazine and leading source of research and analysis on Latin America and the Caribbean where abridged versions of these and future interviews will be available. In addition to leading this crucial crossborder dialogue, Gaspar has been busy advising government agencies on migrant language rights and supporting binational community organizing among Oaxacans in California.
Stay tuned for more news about our international programming in future messages!
In Solidarity,
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Tobias Higbie
Director
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
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UCLA Labor Center Director Saba Waheed facilitates discussion among domestic, auto and platform workers./ UCLA Labor Center | |
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LABOR CENTER
UCLA Labor Center hosts tri-national summit promoting worker solidarity in response to USMCA
The UCLA Labor Center convened over 80 labor leaders and workers from the U.S., Mexico and Canada for the "Worker Solidarity in Action: A Tri-national Labor Response to the USMCA" summit held on Feb. 9-10 at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The event aimed to create a space for strategic discussions surrounding worker rights campaigns across North America. Learn more.
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UCLA LOSH
COVID-19 Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP)
Funded through the California Department of Industrial Relations, LOSH is one of four UC-based programs helping to lead the COVID-19 Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP). CWOP supports nearly 80 labor and community-based organizations (CBOs) across the state to educate workers about their rights under state law, including protections from COVID and other workplace health & safety hazards, wage & hour provisions and anti-retaliation protections. Learn more here. LOSH’s role has supported CBOs in Los Angeles and Orange Counties and a statewide Black Worker Hub. For more information contact Jon Salazar at JSalazar@irle.ucla.edu.
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Automation and the Future of Dockwork at the San Pedro Bay Port Complex
On Jan. 30, the UCLA Labor Center published a new report examining the potential impacts of increased automation at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The study examined automation’s impact on port efficiency, job quality, and local harbor communities. Among other key findings, the report found that industry stakeholders questioned the immediate benefits of increased automation. Neither their experience nor the relevant literature unequivocally demonstrates that automation is more productive, safer, or cheaper than conventional cargo-handling equipment. Furthermore, globally, there remains little evidence of positive return on investment at terminals that have implemented large-scale automated infrastructure. Learn more here.
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Hollywood Diversity Report 2024, Part 1: Theatrical
Part of IRLE’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative (EMRI), UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report 2024, Part 1: Theatrical was released on Thursday, March 7, right before Oscar Sunday. The key takeaway: BIPOC & female moviegoers propped up the struggling film industry. Other key findings: Actors with disabilities gained ground in shares of all theatrical roles (7.1%) and as leads (11.3%); Filmmakers of color are key to driving diversity in casts. Nearly 90% of films had racially and ethnically diverse casts when a filmmaker of color helmed the production; among other findings. Read the full study here.
Related Media Coverage:
Los Angeles Times | UCLA diversity report finds women and minorities drove Hollywood’s biggest successes
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On Feb. 28, UCLA Labor Center Project Director Ana Luz González-Vásquez was appointed to the California Cradle-to-Career Data System (C2C) as a Governing Board Member. The C2C is a data system that compiles reliable tools and information about Californians’ journey through early education, K-12 schools, higher education and employment in an effort to close equity gaps across the state. In this role, González-Vásquez will guide the strategic direction and implementation of the data system and provide operational oversight.
Previously, our team spotlighted González-Vásquez’s pathbreaking approaches to high road program evaluation, learn more: UCLA Labor Center to expand research and support of high road approaches to work this fall.
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Labor Studies Class of 2024 Commencement
🗓 SAT, June 15 at 2pm PST
📍 UCLA Covel Commons, Grand Horizon Room
The Labor Studies graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 15 at UCLA Covel Commons. Commencement registration coming soon. Learn more here.
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2024 UCLA Strategic Labor Research Conference
🗓 FRI-SUN, August 2-4
📍 UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Led by UCLA Labor Studies Faculty Chair, Chris Zepeda-Millan and hosted by UCLA Labor Studies, this annual convening of movement researchers will take place Aug 2-4 at UCLA’s School of Public Affairs. Additional information and applications will be available soon, sign up to receive updates: here.
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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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Read previous IRLE Newsletters here.
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