Forging Resilient Partnerships: 2000-Today

Profound economic, social and political tensions have reshaped the world and the IRLE over the past quarter century. The global financial crisis that came to a head in 2008 slowed economic growth and suppressed wages, worsening income inequality to a degree not seen since the late 1920s. The COVID-19 pandemic devastated working-class communities, upended ways of work and instigated sweeping government policy responses. American politics whipsawed between profound reckoning with structural inequality and the rollback of hard-won civil rights. Also in these years, a new brand of technologically-enabled capitalism began to reshape labor markets, work routines and political power. The social media platforms launched in the early 2000s promised easy communication, but over time they delivered new forms of corporate power over workers and consumers.

The first decade of the new century brought more changes as sociologist Ruth Milkman took the lead as director and the IIR became the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE). The Labor Center expanded significantly in these years, moving into a historic union hall in MacArthur Park and launching new research and outreach programs like the Dream Resource Center, the Center for Racial Equity at Work, as well as research programs focusing on international labor issues and low-wage workers. Faculty affiliates of the IRLE helped develop new programs exploring employment patterns in the entertainment industry, strategic campaign research, and labor history.

Along with this expanded programming, the IRLE welcomed new leaders. Economist Chris Tilly succeeded Ruth Milkman as IRLE director in 2008 until 2016, when urban planning scholar Abel Valenzuela took the reins. Historian Tobias Higbie became IRLE director in 2022 when Valenzuela was appointed as Dean of Social Sciences. In 2021, Kevin Riley became the director of the Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) program, following the retirement of long-serving director Linda Delp.

In 2020, UCLA purchased the building and rededicated it the following year as the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center. After more than three decades of leadership, the UCLA Labor Center’s director Kent Wong stepped down in 2023. Saba Waheed, previously the research director at the UCLA Labor Center, succeeded Wong as the first woman of color to lead the center.

Since its founding 80 years ago, the IRLE has supported trailblazing labor education programming on campus and in the community. In the early 2000s, the IRLE developed the Labor and Workplace Studies undergraduate program, launching a year-long course for first-year students on “Work, Labor, and Social Justice.” As student interest in labor issues grew, the IRLE built an undergraduate minor in Labor and Workplace Studies, and in 2019, won approval for the first bachelor’s degree program in labor studies at the University of California. In 2025, the program was elevated to the first Department of Labor Studies in the UC system. Departmental status for UCLA Labor Studies brings new possibilities to support labor research and education in all of its forms, strengthening the labor movement and society.

In 2026, 80 years after its founding, the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment remains steadfastly committed to advancing economic justice for all through its impactful research and education initiatives.

2000
Bringing students into the movement
Mae Weston, a UCLA undergraduate student and participant in Union Summer, leads chants at a CAUSE (Coalition for Accountability in the Universal Studios Expansion) picket line at Universal Studios headquarters, 1998 / IRLE Archives

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the UCLA Labor Center and the IIR created a suite of new opportunities linking UCLA students to campaigns for workers’ rights across the city. The Labor Summer program, established in 2001, recruited and trained a new generation of young activists to be leaders in the social justice movement. The Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program also began connecting undergraduate students with unions and worker centers through the Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP). Student interns have provided crucial support to campaigns to end silica exposure among construction workers and the use of toxic chemicals in nail salons.
2002
Grand opening of the Downtown UCLA Labor Center
UCLA IRLE leaders and labor movement activists participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Downtown UCLA Labor Center. Standing at the ribbon (left to right): IIR Director Ruth Milkman; Rev. Jesse Jackson; Governor Gray Davis; Kent Wong; Miguel Contreras, September 2, 2002 / IRLE Archives

On Labor Day in 2002, the UCLA Labor Center opened its doors in the working-class historic MacArthur Park neighborhood, providing a shared space for working people, community members, scholars and researchers in the heart of the city. Formerly home to the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union and UNITE, the UCLA Labor Center carries on the building’s legacy today, still operating out of the historic site.

2002
2003
UCLA Labor Center Boards the Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders from Los Angeles pose for a photo en route to Washington D.C. during the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in 2003 / LAANE Photo Collection, IRLE Archives

In 2003, nearly one thousand undocumented immigrant workers traveled across the country by bus to demand full and equal rights as citizens and workers. The “Freedom Riders” took inspiration from civil rights activists who fought to enforce the desegregation of interstate travel in the early 1960s. With the support of the organized labor movement, the immigrant Freedom Riders made pit stops across the country to lobby elected representatives in Washington D.C., attend a massive immigrant rights rally in New York and meet with local activists and people in over one hundred communities. UCLA Labor Center staff Carolina Muñoz and Angela Jamison developed the curriculum for teach-ins conducted during the journey.
2007
The IRLE responds to a period of financial hardship
Professor of sociology and IIR Director Ruth Milkman (2001-2004, 2005-2007) at the inaugural conference of the Institute for Labor Education in 2001. Milkman was instrumental in restoring funding to the IIR during the fiscal difficulties of 2007. / IRLE Archives

The IRLE and the nation faced significant financial challenges in the first decade of the twenty-first century. After a period of budget cuts and uncertainty, a transformative grant revived the IRLE and its units in 2007. However, the newly established Miguel Contreras Labor Program, dedicated after the labor leader, was soon specifically targeted and eliminated from the state budget by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, which threatened to defund the IRLE and labor education programs on both UCLA and Berkeley campuses. More than 400 UC faculty and staff members signed a letter of protest, leading university and state leadership to agree to continue funding for the Institutes for that fiscal year.

2007
2008
California DREAMers
Student organizers of the “Underground Undergrad” Teach-In at UCLA, 2008 / IRLE Archives

In October 2001, the California DREAM Act was signed into law, ensuring that undocumented residents would qualify for in-state tuition at state schools. This landmark piece of legislation was passed thanks to the energy of a growing immigrant rights movement among students across the state. In 2008, students hosted an “Underground Undergrad” Teach-In at UCLA to raise awareness of undocumented student experiences. Student organizers fighting to expand immigrant access to public higher education also contributed testimonials to the 2007 Labor Center report “Undocumented Students: Unfulfilled Dreams.”
2010
UCLA Labor Center expands initiatives
UCLA students attend the UCLA Labor Center’s 2010 banquet / UCLA Labor Center

In the 2010s, the UCLA Labor Center expanded its initiatives, renewing its focus on the needs of diverse working communities. In 2010, the Labor Center established the Los Angeles Black Worker Center (now CARE at Work) to advance economic justice for African American workers through research, education and training. In 2011, the Labor Center inaugurated its Dream Summer program, a ten-week national internship opportunity for immigrant youth to gain hands-on professional experience in community organizations. In 2013, the UCLA Labor Center continued to embrace its collaborative approach to research, launching the ReWork Research Initiative and airing the first episodes of its radio show, Re:Work, then called “Labor Review” on KPFK. Meanwhile, the Labor and Workplace Studies minor, a joint initiative of the UCLA Labor Center and IRLE, continued to attract more students and expand course offerings.

2010
2019
UCLA Labor Studies major program established
UCLA Labor Studies 2019 graduating class / UCLA Labor Studies

In 2019, the undergraduate Labor and Workplace Studies minor was expanded to a major program, the first of its kind at the University of California. Since 2019, hundreds of students have completed the degree program, graduating with a multidisciplinary theoretical education and applied skills in social movement theory, research justice and working-class history. The labor studies major offers students unique opportunities to gain hands-on research and professional experience with local worker centers, unions and other labor-allied groups, thanks to the IRLE and Labor Center’s deep community partnerships. UCLA Labor Studies alumni have gone on to have successful careers in community organizing, labor relations, social justice research and public policy.
2019
IRLE participates in UCLA’s centennial celebration – “Our Stories, Our Impact”

UCLA marked its centennial in 2019 and celebrated 100 years of achievement as a public institution through the “Our Stories, Our Impact” traveling art exhibit. The exhibit, led by the IRLE in partnership with other UCLA units, highlighted exceptional alumni who faced barriers to higher education. The multimedia experience included this video profile on Robert Singleton, who conducted research on Black workers at the IRLE in the 1960s.

2019
2020
UCLA LOSH and UCLA Labor Center respond to Covid-19 pandemic
Cover of the report “Worker Ownership, Covid-19, and the Future of the Gig Economy,” 2020 / UCLA Labor Center

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic created a litany of challenges for working people, especially “essential” frontline workers who could not work from home or socially distance. UCLA LOSH rapidly pivoted its operations to support workers and mitigate health risks by performing outreach and providing extensive educational resources and trainings. The UCLA Labor Center produced timely policy-informing research in the aftermath of the pandemic, including studies on fast food workers, gig workers and young workers.
2020
Purchase of 675 S. Park View St.
Reverend James Lawson Jr. at UCLA Labor Center building dedication ceremony in his honor, 2021 / UCLA Labor Center

In 2020, the UCLA Labor Center officially secured a permanent home in the working-class neighborhood of MacArthur Park. A historic union hall, the building was first occupied by the UCLA Labor Center in 2002. In 2021, the building was dedicated as the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, in honor of the prominent activist, labor leader and labor studies professor.

2020
2021
An era of new leadership at the IRLE
UCLA IRLE director Toby Higbie, UCLA Labor Center director Saba Waheed, UCLA Labor Studies interim chair Jennifer Chun and chair Chris Zepeded-Millán at IRLE faculty advisory committee meeting, 2025 / IRLE Archives

2021 kicked off an era of new leadership at the IRLE and its units. That year, Kevin Riley succeeded long-time director of LOSH, Linda Delp. In 2022, Chris Zepeda-Millán was appointed Labor Studies chair, and Tobias Higbie stepped up as IRLE’s director after Abel Valenzuela’s six year term. Ana-Christina Ramón joined the IRLE in 2022 as the director of the newly established Entertainment and Media Research Initiative (EMRI). In 2023, Saba Waheed became director of the UCLA Labor Center, making her the first woman of color to lead the center.
2023
Five new labor centers open at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz
Exterior of UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, 2023 / UCLA Labor Center

In 2022, California legislators approved a transformative $13 million ongoing funding allocation to expand UC labor centers in the state budget. In March 2023, five new labor centers opened at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz, modeled after existing centers at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Merced. The new centers expanded rigorous research and education to advance economic justice across California and significantly deepened UC’s ties to worker-allied community organizations in the state’s economic hubs.

2023
2025
UCLA Labor Studies Department established
UCLA Labor Studies students march through Downtown Los Angeles on May Day, 2026 / UCLA Labor Studies

In 2025, UCLA Labor Studies celebrated another significant milestone at the University of California, becoming the first academic department of its kind. As an academic department, UCLA Labor Studies is expanding its course offerings, appointing core faculty and developing a master’s degree program.
2026
UCLA IRLE celebrates its 80th anniversary!
In 2026, 80 years after its founding, the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment remains steadfastly committed to advancing economic justice for all through its impactful research and education initiatives. As part of its 80th anniversary programming, the IRLE is hosting a special two-part conversation series on the intertwined history and future of the labor and immigrant rights movements. Learn more about the IRLE’s 80th anniversary here.

2026