IRLE 80th Anniversary Message from Director Toby Higbie

October 6, 2026

Dear IRLE Community,

This fall, the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) is proud to celebrate 80 years of advancing workplace justice, labor research and education. Since 1946, the UCLA IRLE has shaped labor policy and practice, sustained the vitality of unions and working-class communities and prepared researchers and organizers for impactful careers. 

To commemorate 80 years of impact, the IRLE has launched an interactive timeline that traces IRLE history alongside important moments at UCLA, in Los Angeles and in our global community. The timeline chronicles the IRLE’s resilient commitment to labor research and education as cultural and economic shifts have dramatically reshaped work and higher education over eight decades.

As the IRLE reflects on its past, we engage the most urgent issues facing workers today and critically inquire the future of work in a changing world. 

Join the IRLE this fall for its “Meeting the Moment, Building the Movement” panel discussion series in honor of its 80th anniversary. The virtual events will bring together veteran organizers and prominent labor leaders to reflect on the history, present and future of the interconnected labor and immigrant rights movements. 

It has been my profound honor to extend this legacy as the Director of the IRLE, hand-in-hand with our staff and faculty affiliates, as well as our colleagues all across the UC system. A lot has changed for UCLA and the working world since 1946, but the IRLE remains committed to building a better world through collaboration between researchers, organizers, and policymakers.

In solidarity,

Toby Higbie

Director, UCLA IRLE

Professor of History and Labor Studies

Tobias Higbie is a labor historian, professor of history and labor studies and directs the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE), a multi unit research center that advances labor research and education for workplace justice through the work of its units — the UCLA Labor Center, Labor Studies, the Labor Occupational Safety (LOSH) and Health Program and the Human Resources Round Table (HARRT).