Labor memorabilia collected at recent No Sweat reUNION event to celebrate past and future immigrant worker movements at the UCLA Labor Center, April 30,2022. / Caroline Luce |
|
Dear IRLE Community:
As the end of spring quarter quickly approaches, I write to you to share some brief reflections and preview our upcoming summer activities.
Similar to many of you, May Day is an important day for me and I always smile because I can’t help but think of my third child, Mateo, who was born on May 1 — so it’s an especially meaningful day in our household.
As our campus reopened, I found myself engaging more and more with students who are eager to continue in-person instruction and to graduate from UCLA. We are excited to be planning an in-person graduation on Saturday, June 11 at 2pm. Please join us to celebrate our students, their families and their accomplishments! To learn more about our upcoming commencement ceremony, I invite you to visit our website.
I’m looking forward to celebrating with our graduates and all of you as we close out this academic year and move into summer work and planning for the fall quarter.
Among other highlights, this summer our faculty and students will continue to investigate the social, economic, and political context and experiences of workers and learners, or those who work and attend college in Los Angeles County — an area of work that has garnered widespread media and public attention.
This summer, I’ll also be teaching an in-person class on Los Angeles and Inequality as part of the Transfer Summer Program that welcomes and orients community college transfers to UCLA (and Labor Studies)!
Additionally, this May edition of IRLE’s newsletter speaks to the wide-ranging research, teaching, and community service of the Labor Center, LOSH and HARRT that move the IRLE’s mission forward - please have a look at it! I look forward to re-engaging with you and keeping you informed of IRLE’s important work and growth in the coming months.
In unity,
Abel Valenzuela Jr.
Director, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
Professor of Labor Studies, Chicana/o and Central American Studies and Urban Planning
|
|
Our director Kent Wong discussed the 30th anniversary of the LA Uprisings after the police beating of Rodney King on 'Then & Now' by UCLA Luskin. Listen here.
Kent Wong also presented a webinar on worker and union solidarity in China. Learn more here.
Project Director Victor Narro held a virtual discussion of his new book, "The Activist Spirit: Toward a Radical Solidarity." Victor Narro also joined the Empathy Media Lab podcast to discuss his new book on integrating our inner spiritual core into social justice. Listen here.
Senior Research Analyst Lucero Herrera joined Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network, for a community dialogue on our new report on homecare. The report finds that the California homecare system will fail to meet rising needs for care and quality jobs, without urgent reform.
|
|
The Re:Work podcast was picked up for distribution by Making Contact, which airs on radio stations across the country and abroad. In "Redemption," Billy Taing shares his story of fleeing the Khmer Rouge and resettling in America with his family, only to continue facing hardship.
The UCLA Lawson Worker Justice Center hosted “No Sweat reUNION,” a celebration of the past and future of immigrant worker movements. Guests created a collective scrapbook of the garment workers’ struggles from old photos, flyers, keepsakes, and testimony. Organizers and activists shared their experiences and ways to get involved in the fight against sweatshops today.
|
|
CARE at Work program manager, Déjà Thomas, represented the Labor Center at the signature annual event for Women & Philanthropy at UCLA, an affinity group of women philanthropists connected in their commitment to support UCLA through philanthropy, leadership, and mentoring. Discussing the topic, "How Do We Move Forward? Navigating Life 'After' the Pandemic," Thomas discussed the impact on essential workers, immigrant workers, Black workers, and how our research has provided important reform during the pandemic. Thomas also highlighted the opportunities in the union resurgence and more visible worker campaigns to ensure that life after the pandemic offers better wages and conditions, paid leave and more opportunities for all Californians.
|
|
The UCLA Dream Resource Center (DRC) sponsored alumni to attend the California Immigrant Policy Center’s (CIPC) 2022 Immigrant Day of Action to learn about groundbreaking proposed investments that advance the health, safety, and wellbeing of all Californians, regardless of income or immigration status. As part of Immigrant Day of Action, Carlos Alarcon, an alum of the DRC’s Dream Summer fellowship, visited Senator Portantino to discuss major budgetary and legislative bills that support equity for immigrant families and communities. Learn about the bills here.
|
|
The UCLA DRC’s report, Resource Accessibility Across the University of California Campuses through Undocumented Students’ Experiences is having an impact on campus. Recently, the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) passed a resolution that recognizes the report and the work of the Undocumented Student-led Network (USN). The report was launched as a project for the DRC’s 2021 Dream Summer fellows who founded USN to continue advocating for undocumented students and communities. Read USAC’s resolution here. The resolution is number 23 on the 2021-2022 list.
|
|
UCLA LOSH (Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program) |
|
In honor of Workers' Memorial Day, LOSH staff participated in the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California’s (IDEPSCA) mural unveiling to honor workers who have died during the pandemic. The event paid tribute to the sacrifices of these frontline workers and renewed the collective commitment to empowering all workers to know and exercise their rights in the workplace.
|
|
|
UCLA HARRT (Human Resources Round Table) |
|
HARRT held their Annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Summit on April 22. The theme was "Building Belonging: A Framework for the Future". The Summit was hosted by the UCI Paul Merage School of Business and was attended by 80+ Diversity & Inclusion executives from the Orange County and Los Angeles areas.
|
|
On April 17, the Labor Studies program held a virtual hangout with Class of 2020 labor studies alum Julio Chávez, who credits his experience through the Workers and Learners research in helping him obtain his current role as a policy fellow for the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
|
|
On April 26, UCLA academic workers participated in an action in Westwood. They were joined by numerous student groups which included some labor studies students. Labor studies minor Chloe Rosenstock, who is an organizer with UAW 2865, documented her experience at this action to educate fellow students and the public as to what the UC academic workers are fighting to achieve. Watch the video here.
|
|
On May 1st, members of the labor studies community participated in the May Day 2022 march and rally in Los Angeles. Professor Kent Wong and Academic Programs Manager Elizbeth Espinoza met with students at the march and labor studies major Odette Avendaño shared her experience organizing the event with CHIRLA and the May Day Coalition.
|
|
A California law allowing workers to sue their employers is facing a Supreme Court challenge. Cal Matters breaks down the case with support from a UCLA Labor Center report on wage theft. Patch.com also highlighted the report in a story on a Torrance car wash ordered to pay back stolen wages.
UCLA Labor Center researcher Déjà Thomas spoke to the LA Times about South L.A.’s lack of economic gains on the 30th anniversary of the 1992 uprisings.
The Daily Bruin spoke to UCLA Labor Center research director Saba Waheed, who talked about how technology can help change the workplace without cutting out jobs in an opinion piece on revolutionizing the hospitality industry.
UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong discussed Amazon organizing with the Associated Press. Wong noted Amazon’s famously high turnover rate makes it hard to organize unlike individual Starbucks locations, with 15 to 20 workers. Wong also discussed these efforts with KTTV-TV.
In anticipation of local May Day actions, Labor Center Project Director Victor Narro was interviewed for a story covering the annual march rally, immigration reform and wage theft. Read the story here.
|
|
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, May 2022
This month we celebrate the history and contributions of AANHPI. In honor of this month, IRLE will highlight the contributions of AANHPI leaders to the labor movement. Visit the series on Instagram.
Pandemia y Trabajo en Latinoamérica / Pandemic and Work in Latin America, Thursday, May 12, 2022
The IRLE in partnership with the UCLA Latin American Institute and the UCLA Center for Mexican Studies will host a webinar on labor and the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America. The webinar will focus on gig and agricultural workers. Register here.
Labor Studies Virtual Hangout: A Conversation with UCLA Student Organizers, Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Join the labor studies program for a conversation about organizing at the grassroots level with labor studies majors Bryanna (Bry) Gonzalez and Jazmin Rivera from the Student Labor Advocacy Project (SLAP) at UCLA. Learn about how UCLA students empower each other to get involved in the labor movement! RSVP here.
|
|
General labor reads, listens, research etc. |
|
In this piece, Jon Hiatt, previous general counsel of the Service Employees International Union and then general counsel and chief of staff at the AFL-CIO, urges unions to move beyond the the calls for labor law reform and to seize on the extraordinary energies and creativity of so many of the self-organizing workers.
The Daily, a New York Times podcast, considered: Are Unions Making a Comeback? In the episode, Noam Scheiber, who covers workers and the workplace, explained what the explosion of union membership during the 1930s can tell us about today’s revival. Listen here.
For one Denver store, where labor culture isn't strong, their union drive is notable – and as soon as it was announced, high-ranking company figures began visiting. Read this analysis here.
|
|
From the Memory Work Los Angeles Files |
|
Memory Work Los Angeles is a project of UCLA IRLE. We bring the past to the present to highlight the diverse experiences and perspectives of working people in southern California, the changing world of work, and the continuing struggle for equality. |
|
Cristina Vázquez reflects on the lessons of organizing immigrant workers in the 1970s.
As part of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), she remembers how they were the only union who was in the front of the fight against employer abuses in the immigrant community. The union was leading a lot of fights against INS in the L.A. garment industry while fighting for union contracts. Read more here.
|
|
We hope you enjoyed This Month at IRLE. Media inquiries for the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and its labor experts can be sent to citlallichavez@ucla.edu.
Did someone forward you this newsletter, want to sign up to received IRLE regular updates? Sign up here.
Read previous IRLE Newsletters here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
