Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center, speaks during the ceremony where the Labor Center building was named in honor of civil and worker rights icon Rev. James Lawson Jr., December 2021 |
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California’s 2022-23 budget, signed by Gov. Gavin Newson on June 30, includes a $13 million allocation to fund research, education and public engagement on labor issues throughout the UC. This will expand the work of Labor Centers and Labor Studies at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Merced, and will also help launch new Labor Centers on the other six UC campuses. Read about this historic, ongoing budget allocation.
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On June 29, our POWER in Workforce Development team held a webinar, in partnership with the L.A. Worker Center Network, linking workforce development, grassroots worker power, and racial and economic justice. California worker centers shared what workforce development looks like when driven by marginalized communities.
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On June 29, Ana Luz Gonzalez-Vasquez, who leads our POWER in Workforce Development team, presented at the National Skills Coalition's webinar, "Advancing Equity and Job Quality through Industry Partnerships."
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On June 24, the UCLA Labor Center and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) co-hosted a forum at the national AFL-CIO headquarters on the role of workers and their unions to combat anti-Asian hate. The forum was possible thanks to generous support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, California Department of Social Services and the Cathay Bank Foundation. Learn more here.
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In advance of the forum, the Labor Center launched a social media campaign highlighting stories from AAPI members of unions, worker centers and community groups, regarding their experiences with anti-Asian hate and how they are organizing to keep their coworkers and community members safe. Read more here.
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On June 13, our Research Director Saba Waheed joined the CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative's conference with nail and hair salon workforce members, advocates, researchers and government representatives, speaking at the session focused on the background and history of the nail and hair salon movement.
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The Re:Work podcast episode "Get up Stand Up" gained distribution through Self Evident: Asian America's Stories, a podcast focused on the full range of Asian American perspectives, which are too often erased from the national discourse. The Re:Work podcast completed its miniseries on Rev. James Lawson Jr. Read more here.
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We Gon’ Be Alright students have successfully completed their Black worker organizing class for Spring quarter 2022! |
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CARE at Work’s Freedom Fellowship has started! This 10-week summer fellowship gives students hands-on experience working with activists and community organizers involved in the movement for civic and economic justice for Black workers.
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UCLA LOSH (Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program) |
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Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) - The 2022 summer Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) has begun! The UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) hosted a 3-day orientation in Los Angeles on June 14-16 for OHIP’s 24 interns who participated in a number of interactive educational activities to support the work they’ll be involved with this summer. OHIP has not had an in-person orientation in three years so the excitement was high. Orientation activities included worksite tours, a worker panel, and a variety of sessions related to occupational safety and health.
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The 2022 OHIP interns will present their summer projects at a national web-conference on Tuesday, August 9th -- SAVE THE DATE! Details will be provided in the coming weeks. If you have questions about OHIP, reach out to National OHIP Coordinator, Sarah Jacobs at sjacobs@irle.ucla.edu or visit the OHIP website.
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UCLA HARRT (Human Resources Round Table) |
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HARRT at UCLA hosted a conversation for its chief human resources officer (CHRO) members and the greater UCLA human resources community featuring Laurie Weingart, the Richard M. and Margaret S. Cyert Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University and co-author of the new book, “The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work.”
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HARRT's Faculty Director, Professor Corinne Bendersky and Dr. Weingart discussed how COVID-19 has altered all aspects of work and has significantly impacted employees’ personal and professional goals. As companies re-evaluate how work is performed and compete for future talent, an examination of gender equity is critical. While organizations strive to provide employees with access to flexible, challenging, and rewarding work, data shows the pandemic has adversely impacted women. Dr. Weingart and her co-authors provide evidence-based research on how less-challenging tasks and a disproportionate amount of 'non-promotable work' are performed by women. Dr. Weingart shared ways to mitigate these disparities, including strategies for women to “say no '' and more importantly how management and HR departments can re-design work to ensure that promotable and non-promotable tasks are distributed evenly.
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In June, UCLA Labor Studies held an in-person commencement celebration for the Labor Studies Class of 2022 with special guest California State Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower, who delivered the keynote address at the event. This year, the interdepartmental program conferred 40 bachelors degrees and 59 academic minors. Watch here. Read about the event here.
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On June 8, labor studies students who participated in community-engaged internships presented reflections from their experiences and research findings at the virtual Labor Studies 195CE End of Year Recap and Recognition event. |
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IRLE Associate Director Tobias Higbie spoke with Austin’s NPR station, KUT 90.5, on contract negotiations between Starbucks and the newly unionized baristas in Austin, Texas. Higbie pointed out that Starbucks is slowing down the negotiation process to dissipate the energy of the union drive.
The Los Angeles Times spoke with UCLA Labor Center Project Director and Center for Mexican Studies Gaspar Rivera-Salgado on the issue of migration amid the Summit of the Americas. He discussed the Biden administration's difficulty with convincing Latin American countries to address their domestic policies around migration.
Dream Resource Center Director Ju Hong spoke with KQED during the 10th anniversary of DACA. Hong reflected on what it meant for him to be a DACA recipient, and the continued organizing efforts for a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants.
Wage theft has been a significant issue for many workers. The San Jose Spotlight addressed the issue of wage theft and collecting unpaid wages in Santa Clara County citing a UCLA Labor Center report that finds many workers do not receive compensation even after winning a wage theft claim.
IRLE Director Abel Valenzuela spoke with the UCLA Magazine on the connection between UCLA and Boyle Heights. A Boyle Heights native, Valenzuela discussed a project he directs where he sends transfer students to the community to map out assets and produce research the community can use.
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2022 Racial Justice Workshop Series: In July and August 2022, the UCLA Labor Center and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) will host five virtual workshops to educate and mobilize community members and leaders. The workshops will engage activists in critical conversations about racial justice, organizing, reproductive rights, political power, and immigration. Register here.
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In this story, writer David G. Savage explains how the Supreme Court ruled in favor of California employers in the case, Viking River Cruises vs. Moriana. The case looked into the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which allowed employees to file lawsuits against their employers even if they had agreed to resolve their disputes through individual arbitration. The court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act, which allows for resolution through arbitration, overrides PAGA. Workers who had agreed in contract to arbitration can no longer file lawsuits, and in most cases, arbitration favors employers, further weakening worker power. Read more here.
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In this piece, columnist James B. Stewart analyzes the consequences of overturning Roe V. Wade and what that could mean for Lochner v. New York, an important case in labor history. In Lochner, the court ruled that bakery workers could work more than 10 hours a day because of the freedom of contract, which later changed during the New Deal era by introducing the 8-hour work day. Stewart argues that the justices approach to “originalism,” would open the door to a reappraisal of the Lochner case. This would curtail the government’s power to regulate business and to enact pro-worker regulations, such as increasing the minimum wage, because it would infringe the freedom of contract between employee and employer. Read more here.
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From the Memory Work Los Angeles Files |
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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. |
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A former Regional Director for the AFL-CIO, David Sickler recounted the changing relationship between immigrant workers and organized labor in Southern California and identifies some of the mistakes unions have made in their approach to immigrant workers. Sickler would then go on to launch the California Immigrant Workers Association (CIWA) to organize undocumented workers into unions. Read the speech here.
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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.
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Read previous IRLE Newsletters here.
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