Community Labor Rally for Farmworkers
2024-04-24 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Bruin Reception Room, 308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us on April 24th at 3pm PT at UCLA Ackerman Union, Bruin Reception Room for a community labor rally for farmworkers.
Hear from UFW President Teresa Romero, the first woman to lead the United Farm Workers Union, on the development of the best labor laws in US history that provide unparalleled support for new organizing of farmworkers. Learn about their recent campaigns and how you can help.
The rally will feature:

Art, Food, and Music
Solidarity
Farmworker Testimony
Student and Community Speakers
Labor and Food Education

Date: Wednesday, April 24th
Time: 3pm PT
Location: UCLA Ackerman Union, Bruin Reception Room
Contact: ufw.ucla@gmail.com

Canceled: Career Development Workshops within the Labor Commissioner’s Office and Department of Industrial Relations
2024-05-07 14:00 - 15:30
The California Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO) is hiring! Join UCLA Labor Studies and the UCLA Labor Center to learn more about career opportunities within the LCO and Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to support their mission of improving working conditions for California’s workers.
This winter and spring, the UCLA Labor Center will lead workshops to provide students with resources for preparing state employment applications. The workshops will break down the application process, teach best practices for applications, and provide time for students to ask questions about the process and start working on their applications. A member of the LCO team will also talk about their experience and path to the LCO.
The workshops will include a resume workshop, so please come to the session with a completed resume.
Workshop Date: May 7th @ 2-3:30pm
Location: Zoom
RSVP HERE.

Labor @ UCLA Research Showcase
2024-05-24 11:00 - 13:00 | Online – Zoom
Our second annual Labor@UCLA Research Showcase is part of Undergraduate Research Week, a week-long presentation of undergraduate research and creative inquiry at UCLA.
Now in its tenth year, Undergraduate Research Week, which will be held May 20-24, 2024, is UCLA’s largest undergraduate conference.
The Labor@UCLA Research Showcase will spotlight UCLA undergraduate student research in the field of Labor Studies. Labor Studies is an interdisciplinary program of study which critically analyzes the theory and practice of current workplace issues. Students develop a deeper understanding of the relationships between their education and society at large and how they, as college graduates, can transform the nature of work.
Students who were selected will be presenting on past or current work developed for a capstone, honors theses, or other Labor Studies and related classes (both approved and related).
The showcase will be in a Zoom webinar format.
Date: Friday, May 24th
Time: 11 AM – 1 PM
Location: Zoom
RSVP to attend the event HERE.

Labor Summer Research Program 2024 Final Presentations: Workers and Learners in Los Angeles County
2024-08-21 10:00 - 14:00 | Online – Zoom
This summer, students participating in the Labor Summer Research Program (LSRP) collected surveys and interviews about how working students navigate barriers and opportunities in fulfilling their educational, career and work goals.
Join us on Wednesday, August 21st, as student researchers share their findings, key issues impacting workers and learners, and share strategies and solutions to support students who work and workers who study.
There will be four webinars, and you are welcome to join as many sessions as you’re able to – similar data will be presented at each webinar but with different student teams.

Webinar 1: 10:00-10:55AM: Aline Silva Rodrigues, Carolyn Morelos, Jack Butcher, Klara Daniaud, Marshall Olmos, Mehar Madan, Mireya Rodriguez, Yesenia Aragon, and Zihan Zhang.

Webinar 2: 11:00-11:55AM: Angelina Quint, Gabrielle Aung, JJ Jacho, Jun Li, Kayla Lopez, Keyshawn Sealie, Luisa Ortiz, and Simran Kaur.
Webinar 3: 12:00-12:55PM: Emilia Benitez, Hina Malik, Jimmy Mancilla, Joaquin Antonio, Mia Tracy, Sean Clenista, Victoria Fierro, and Vijay Rikhye.
Webinar 4: 1:00-1:55PM: Joseph Wu, Sofia Barajas, Sophia Raymond, and Ritika Sarma.
RSVP: bit.ly/LSRP24RSVP

2024 Labor Studies Open House
2024-10-08 12:30 - 14:00 | Bruin Reception Room, 308 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Join us for our in-person Labor Studies Open House! Learn about the Labor Studies Major and Minor and meet your faculty, staff, alumni and fellow students!
Date: Tuesday, October 8th
Time: 12:30pm – 2pm
Location: Bruin Reception Room (Ackerman Second Floor)
RSVP deadline: October 1st, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Event Details:

Open to current students and those interested in Labor Studies.
Food will be provided.

For questions, please email laborstudies@irle.ucla.edu.
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Filipinos That Strike
2024-10-21 17:30 - 19:30 | United Teachers Los Angeles, 3303 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90010, United States
Please join UTLA educators, leaders, and organizers in partnership with UCLA Labor Studies for the launch of the ongoing oral history and archive project to document the role of Filipinos in the UTLA 2019 and 2023 strikes.
The event will be held on the 2nd floor of UTLA. Please park at the UTLA parking lot, whose entrance is on Berendo between 6th and Wilshire Blvd. Park and bring your parking ticket with you for free validation.
Date: Monday, October 21st
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Location: United Teachers Los Angeles, 3303 Wilshire Boulevard #10th fl Los Angeles, CA 90010
To RSVP, click HERE.

How Should Culture Industry Workers Respond to Artificial Intelligence?
2024-12-04 11:00 - 12:15 | Royce 362 & Zoom
How Should Culture Industry Workers Respond to Artificial Intelligence?
Join Us for a Roundtable Discussion
Discover how SAG-AFTRA members are tackling the challenges posed by AI in the culture industry. Learn about:

Negotiating the first contract regulating AI use in film and television.
Organizing strikes against video game makers over AI technology misuse.
Advocating for state and federal legislation to control AI.

Event Details
Date: December 4, 2024
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Location: Royce 362 & Zoom
Panelists
Zeke Alton is a professional Actor and volunteer SAG-AFTRA negotiator for TV/film, interactive media, animation, and commercials. He has a background in contract negotiation, system design/management, and strategic planning. His performance credits span film, television, and all genres of voice acting. He is known for roles in video games such as The Callisto Protocol and Call of Duty, and Animated series like Boss Baby: Back in the Crib.
Woody Schultz is an actor and producer and serves on both the Los Angeles Local and National Boards of SAG-AFTRA where he is also national chair of the AI Task Force, Vice-Chair of the Innovation and New Technology Committee and member of the Government Affairs and Public Policy Committee. He was also a member of the negotiating committee for the most recent TV/Theatrical contract.
Sarah Elmaleh is an actor and voice director with a passion for collaborative creation, and serves as Chair of the Interactive Negotiating Committee. Best known for roles in AAA games like Hi-Fi Rush, Halo Infinite and Gears 5, and for indies like Afterparty, Pyre and Gone Home, her directing credits likewise span production scope from Goodbye Volcano High to Fortnite. Led by her desire to foster stronger inter-disciplinary collaboration within games, she has spent years organizing, advising, and educating in the games industry and academic programs.
RSVP BELOW:
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Data Economies and Futures: An In-Depth Dialogue
2025-02-12 12:00 - 13:30 | 3312 Murphy Hall
Join UCLA Data X for a discussion on how data and digital ecosystems have reshaped our world, intertwining technology with entrepreneurial and economic outcomes, and changing the way people live and think on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 3312 Murphy Hall, 12 pm panel and Q&A, 1 pm lunch.

What ethical and practical questions does this shift raise?
What skills do students need now to remain relevant in an AI-driven job market?
What policies must be in place to ensure our economic security?

Moderator:
Ramesh Srinivasan
Professor of Information Studies and Design|Media Arts departments; Director, UCLA Digital Cultures Lab; Community Engagement, UCLA DataX
Panelists:
Tobias Higbie, Professor of History and Labor Studies and Director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UCLA College, Social Sciences
Velibor Misic, Associate Professor of Decisions, Operations and Technology Management, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Shreya Shreya, Easton Fellow, MBA Candidate, UCLA Anderson School of Management

Book Talk: Post/Revolutionary Conditions: Renewed Visions of the Iranian Freedom Struggle with author Alborz Ghandehari
2025-02-27 15:00 - 16:30 | 2125 Rolfe Hall
Join the UCLA IRLE and CSW|Streisand Center’s Transnational Gender and Labor Working Group for a book talk on Post/Revolutionary Conditions: Renewed Visions of the Iranian Freedom Struggle with author Alborz Ghandehari on February 27, 2025 at 3 pm at 2125 Rolfe Hall.
The discussion will offer an intersectional analysis of how radical and progressive movement builders have re-envisioned liberation in the post-’79 era, despite new forms of oppression under the Islamic Republic and from US and other foreign imperial powers. Post/Revolutionary Conditions shows how potent reimaginings of a radically democratic future have been shaped by multiple generations of protest and kindred struggles globally.
About the author:
Alborz Ghandehari is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Utah. His research centers social movements in Iran and Southwest Asia/North Africa, as well as movements in the region’s diasporas.
To RSVP to attend the talk and book signing, click here

Visualizing Oral History
2025-03-04 15:00 - 18:00
Los Angeles-based artist Phung Huynh, whose work centers on Southeast Asian refugee experiences, will discuss labor issues through an immigrant/refugee lens.
She’ll share insights on her Metro public art commission, the 1990 Century City janitor strike, and Professor Virginia Espino’s oral history work on No Más Bebés. Together, they’ll explore how oral history and visual storytelling can shape meaningful community projects.

Date: March 4, 2025
Time: 3:30 – 6 pm
Location: Boelter Hall 2760

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The UCLA CSW|Barbra Streisand Center presents Thinking Gender 2025: "Gendered Labors and Transnational Solidarities"
2025-03-07 08:30 - 18:00 | Collins Alumni Conference Room at UCLA James West Alumni Center
Join the UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Barbra Streisand Center for their 35th annual graduate research “Thinking Gender” conference. The event will feature engaging student presentations and a keynote address by labor rights organizer Adriana Paz Ramirez (International Domestic Workers Federation). The UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment is a proud cosponsor of this year’s conference.
The 2025 Thinking Gender theme, “Gendered Labors and Transnational Solidarities,” highlights the rich repertoire of organizing strategies as well as contemporary and historical examples of campaigns led by precarious workers around the world. We are bringing together feminist, queer, and BIPOC scholars, artists, and organizers to reflect upon the meanings of labor solidarity and care to imagine a more livable society.
Event Details

Date: Friday, March 7, 2025
Time: 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM PST
Location: James West Alumni Center, The Collins Conference Room, Los Angeles, CA
To RSVP: CLICK HERE

A Labor Studies Book Talk with Professor Eric Blanc
2025-04-29 13:00 - 15:00 | Online – Zoom
The UCLA Labor Studies program and Department of History will co-host a Labor Studies Book Talk with Eric Blanc, assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. He is the author of We are the Union (UC Press, 2025) and will be joined by Alex Caputo-Pearl, UCLA Labor Movement Fellow and former UTLA president, and Mel Deorsola of Starbucks Workers United.
Blanc is also the author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics (Verso, 2019). His research focuses on worker-to-worker organizing, strikes, digital labor activism, and working-class politics.
Join us for a conversation on how worker-to-worker organizing is revitalizing labor and winning big.
Event Details:

Date: April 29, 2025
Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM Pacific Time
Location: Zoom

For those attending, please click here to RSVP.

A Labor Studies Book Talk with Professor Cedric de Leon
2025-05-07 13:00 - 14:30 | UCLA Bunche Hall 6275
Join us for a Labor Studies Book Talk with Cedric de Leon, professor of Sociology and Labor Studies at UMass Amherst, as he discusses his latest book, Freedom Train:Black Politics & the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity. This special event is in collaboration with the UCLA History Department and Sociology Department.
Drawing on a rich history of Black-led organizing, de Leon offers a powerful account of how multiracial labor coalitions were built—and what lessons they offer today.
Event Details:

Date: May 7, 2025
Time: 1:00PM – 2:30PM Pacific Time
Location: Bunche Hall, Room 6275

For those attending, please click here to RSVP.

Creating & Optimizing Your LinkedIn Account
2025-05-14 11:00 - 12:00
Join the UCLA Labor Studies program for a Spring Quarter Week 7 Career Development Presentation focused on “Creating & Optimizing Your LinkedIn Account.”
This virtual workshop will be hosted and presented by the UCLA Career Center and will take place on Wednesday, May 14, from 11:00am–12:00pm via Zoom.
(The Zoom link will be emailed to registered participants one day before the event.)
The presentation will provide students and alumni with practical tips on how to build a strong LinkedIn profile, showcase their skills and experiences, and leverage LinkedIn for career opportunities.
RSVP BELOW:
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2025 Labor@UCLA Research Showcase
2025-05-23 12:00 - 14:00
UCLA Labor Studies Faculty and Staff are excited to invite you to our third annual Labor@UCLA Research Showcase, taking place on Friday, May 23, 2025, from 12:00–2:00 PM.
This event is part of Undergraduate Research Week—UCLA’s largest undergraduate conference—celebrating student research and creative work across campus. Now in its tenth year, Undergraduate Research Week will run May 19–23, 2025.
Students who were selected will be presenting on past or current work developed for a capstone, honors theses, or other Labor Studies and related classes (both approved and related).
If you have any questions, please feel free to follow-up with Elizbeth Espinoza, espinoza@irle.ucla.edu or Caroline Luce, cluce@irle.ucla.edu.
Event Details:
Date: May 23, 2025
Time: 12:00–2:00 PM
Location: Public Affairs 2343 & Zoom
RSVP HERE
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Coffee & Cookies with our Labor Studies Student Affairs Officer
2025-10-08 12:30 - 14:00
Join us for an informal meet-and-greet with Gloria Chan, Labor Studies Student Affairs Officer (SAO)! Whether you’re curious about the Labor Studies major or minor, missed new student orientation, or are a returning student wanting to catch up on what’s new, this is the perfect opportunity to connect.
Drop by to:

Learn about program requirements and opportunities
Explore how Labor Studies might be the right fit for you
Ask questions about courses, advising, and career pathways
Enjoy coffee, cookies, and good conversation with Gloria

📅 Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025🕧 Time: 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM📍 Location: Bunche Hall 9246

2025 Labor Studies Open House!
2025-10-15 12:30 - 14:00
Discover all that Labor Studies at UCLA has to offer. At this event, you’ll have the chance to:

Meet our incoming Chair, Professor Jennifer Chun
Learn about the Labor Studies Major and Minor requirements
Explore our courses, programs, internships, and student opportunities
Connect with Labor Studies faculty and staff who are here to support your academic journey
Network with prominent labor organizations on campus during our mixer and tabling session

*LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED
📅 Date: Wednesday, October 15⏰ Time: 12:30 – 2:00 PM📍 Location: Bruin Reception Room🔗 RSVP: CLICK HERE!
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Labor Studies 10 Talk: Social Movement Unionism and Immigrant Worker Organizing with SEIU-USWW and CLEAN
2025-10-15 17:00 - 18:30 | Haines Hall, Room 39
Labor Studies 10 Talk
Social Movement Unionism and Immigrant Worker Organizingwith SEIU-USWW and CLEAN
Join us for an engaging discussion on how worker centers and unions are collaborating to advance immigrant worker organizing and the growing movement of social movement unionism.
Featuring:

David Huerta, President, SEIU-USWW and SEIU California State Council
Flor Rodriguez, Executive Director, CLEAN Carwash Worker Center

📅 Date: October 15, 2025
🕔 Time: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
📍 Location: Haines Hall, Room 39
🔗 RSVP: bit.ly/LS10TALK

Labor Studies Now Series - Labor and Right in the U.S., Then and Now
2025-10-30 12:00 - 14:00 | History Conference Room, 6275 Bunche Hall
During the 2025-26 academic year, the newly formed Labor Studies Department will convene a series of public dialogues and research workshops on the theme, “Labor Studies Now.” Conversations will bring together faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, community leaders, and members of the public at-large to discuss urgent issues facing workers when it comes to social and economic inequality, environmental disaster, housing and food insecurity, and political turmoil.
The first conversation in the series features Kristoffer (Kit) Smemo, who explores whether organized labor can shape U.S. politics or is destined to play a junior role in a two-party system. In his new book, Making Republicans Liberal, Smemo shows how unions and the civil rights movement during the mid-twentieth century forced Republican leaders like Earl Warren, George Romney, and Nelson Rockefeller to swing left to win the votes of organized workers.
Date: Thursday, October 30
Time: 12 – 2:00 PM
Location: History Conference Room, 6275 Bunche Hall
RSVP HERE!

Labor Studies Now Series - Film Talk with Director Jennifer Cárcamo and Professor Leisy Abrego
2025-11-05 17:00 - 19:00 | Dodd Hall 121
Join us for a discussion of Eternos Indocumentados: Central American Refugees in the United States (2018), followed by a Q&A with Director Jennifer Cárcamo and Professor Leisy Abrego (UCLA Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies).
In July 2014, mainstream US media became flooded with images of what they termed “unaccompanied Central American children.” Most of these children—many coming with their parents—were fleeing from the violent consequences of U.S. intervention in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Once in the United States, they were detained in what migrants have come to label “hieleras” (ice boxes) in makeshift detention centers around the country. Rather than providing asylum to these refugees, the Obama Administration used this “humanitarian crisis” to expand the previously defunct practice of family detention. By the spring of 2015, more than 3,000 refugee women, children, and members of the LGBTQI community were illegally detained. Based on interviews with recently arrived Central Americans as well as interviews with organizers leading the struggle on the ground in Central America, this film captures the stories of Central American refugees and explores the root causes of forced migration.
This event is organized in conjunction with Prof. Jennifer Chun’s IDS 110 course: Culture, Power, and Development.
Speaker bios:
Jennifer A. Cárcamo is an independent filmmaker and scholar. She is currently a University of California President’s and Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine in the Chicano/Latino Studies Department, where she is completing her book manuscript Historias Prohibidas del Istmo: Central American Communists during the Rise of Twentieth Century Fascism, 1920-1940. She holds a PhD in History from UCLA and an MA in Documentary Film and History from Syracuse University.
Leisy J. Abrego is Professor in Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Trained in sociology, she is a law & society scholar who studies the intimate consequences of U.S. foreign and immigration policies for Central American migrants and Latinx families in the United States.
Date: November 5 , 2025
Time: 5 – 6:45 pm
Event Address: Dodd Hall 121

RSVP HERE!

Labor Studies Now Series - Historias Prohibidas del Istmo: Central American Communists during the Rise of Twentieth Century Fascism
2025-11-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Bunche Hall 10383
Building from Dr. Jennifer Cárcamo’s current book project, this talk explores the historical and ideological origins of Central America’s communist parties, specifically in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, from 1920-1940. Cárcamo chose this period precisely because it preludes the revolutionary war period of the late twentieth century in Central America (1960-1996), an era that has received exceptional attention from scholars.
While Cárcamo’s book makes three central arguments regarding the development of both fascism and communism in Central America, for the purposes of this talk, she focuses on an excerpt from chapter 4, Bananas and (Wo)men: Communist Schoolteachers, Black Migrant Laborers, the Threat of Fascism in Costa Rica, which discusses the development of the first Communist Party of Costa Rica. Ultimately, in this chapter, Cárcamo argues that women, particularly schoolteachers, were influential figures in the formative and developing years of the first Communist Party of Costa Rica.
Speaker bio:
Jennifer A. Cárcamo is an independent filmmaker and scholar. She is currently a University of California President’s and Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine in the Chicano/Latino Studies Department, where she is completing her book manuscript Historias Prohibidas del Istmo: Central American Communists during the Rise of Twentieth Century Fascism, 1920-1940. She holds a PhD in History from UCLA and an MA in Documentary Film and History from Syracuse University.
Date: November 6 , 2025
Time: 2 – 3:30 pm
Event Address: Bunche Hall 10383
RSVP HERE!

Labor Studies Is Headed to the L.A. Ports
2025-11-07 07:45 - 16:00
Join us to meet key players from the Port complex, including union members from the docks and environmental hazard clean-up crews, a former POLA Harbor Commissioner, and a terminal operator.
The trip features a tour of an automated port terminal, a boat tour of the port narrated by an ILWU Local 13 member and retired dockworker, and a visit to the ILWU Local 56 union hall!
Seats on the field trip bus are limited and will be allocated on a first-come come first-served basis.
Details:

Depart UCLA at 8 am sharp
Return by 4 pm
Bring your own lunch — or eat at the San Pedro Fish Market during our lunch break!
The tour does include an hour-long boat ride in the port, so be prepared to ride a boat!
The port terminal is a secure space; all attendees must have a government-issued ID (DL, passport, or matricula-type cards are all fine) and pre-register with Labor Studies

Date: November 7, 2025
Time: 7:45 AM – 4 PM
Pick Up Location: Wyton South Stop, near roundabout
RSVP HERE!

Career Foundations Series: Resume & Cover Letter 101
2025-11-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
Join the UCLA Labor Studies Department and the UCLA Career Center for a virtual workshop designed to help you craft effective resumes and cover letters.
Learn how to highlight your skills, experiences, and accomplishments to stand out to employers. Whether you’re applying for an internship, job, or fellowship, this session will provide practical tips and feedback to strengthen your application materials!
Date: November 13th, 2025
Time: 12 – 1 pm
Location: Zoom (link provided upon registration)
TO RSVP, CLICK HERE!

Drop-In Hour with Our Labor Studies SAO
2026-01-21 11:00 - 12:00 | Bunche Hall 9246
Join us for an informal meet-and-greet with our Student Affairs Officer. Whether you’re new to Labor Studies or a returning major or minor, this is a great opportunity to connect, ask questions, and enjoy coffee, bagels and fruit while learning more about program opportunities.
Date: January 21st, 2026
Time: 11 am – 12 pm
Location: Bunche Hall 9246

Labor Studies Now - The U.S. Labor Movement in the 2020's: Achievements and Challenges
2026-01-29 12:00 - 13:30 | Haines Hall 130
Ruth Milkman is one of the world’s foremost sociologists of labor and labor movements, having written extensively on various topics related to work and organized labor in the United States, past and present. Her most recent books are Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat (Polity, 2020) and On Gender, Labor and Inequality (Illinois, 2016).
She was the 2016 President of the American Sociological Association and director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment from 2001 to 2008, when she was on the faculty in the Department of Sociology. She is currently Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center and at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, where she chairs the Labor Studies Department.
Date: January 29 , 2026
Time: 12 – 1:30 pm
Location: Haines Hall 130
RVSP HERE!

Immigrant Rights & Community Care Teach-In
2026-02-18 11:00 - 12:30 | Zoom
Join Labor Studies for an Immigration Know Your Rights Teach-In focused on supporting immigrant students and communities during a rapidly changing political time.
This teach-in will provide a Know Your Rights overview, share recent developments in local and state policy, and offer updates on immigrant justice efforts in California, including the ICE Out of California coalition. Participants will have space to ask questions and explore how students, faculty, and staff can show up in meaningful ways.
Date: February 18
Time: 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Location: Zoom
RSVP HERE!

Cancelled - Ace Your Interview Workshop
2026-02-25 12:00 - 13:00 | UCLA Career Center Studio
Ace Your Interview is an interactive workshop co-hosted by the UCLA Labor Studies Department and the UCLA Career Center designed to help Labor Studies students feel confident and prepared for their next interview. Participants will learn how to effectively communicate their skills and experiences, answer common interview questions, and make a strong impression on employers.
Whether you’re interviewing for internships, jobs, or graduate programs, this workshop will offer practical tips and strategies to help you stand out.
💵 All attendees will be entered into a raffle for a $25 gift card. Please note that the gift card will be distributed a few weeks after the event.
Date: February 25th
Time: 12 – 1 PM
Location: UCLA Career Center Studio
RSVP HERE!

Labor Studies Now - Frame Backfire: The Trouble with Civil Rights Appeals in the Contemporary United States
2026-03-05 12:00 - 13:30 | Rolfe Hall 2125
Frame Backfire: The Trouble with Civil Rights Appeals in the Contemporary United States
While many scholars and activists consider civil rights to be a powerful, effective way to frame diverse causes in the United States, little is known about the contemporary resonance of civil rights appeals. In this talk, I will argue that civil rights can be understood in three non-mutually exclusive ways: as a “master” frame that appeals to core American ideals, as a reference to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, and as racialized messaging. Drawing on survey experiments conducted at two different points in time, I will show that respondents express highly positive views of civil rights and broad agreement that civil rights are about equal rights. Yet, framing a person’s contemporary problems—including unequal treatment at work—as civil rights violations reduces support for government intervention. Civil rights framing is counterproductive across diverse issues, beneficiaries, and audiences. These findings complicate dominant assumptions about frame resonance, cannot be adequately explained through a racialized backlash account, and carry implications for collective memory scholars and activists. In closing, I will reflect on why the public responds negatively to civil rights appeals despite positive sentiment toward the abstract idea.
Speaker biography: Kim Voss is professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in the study of labor, social movements, inequality, and higher education. In addition to publishing in academic journals in sociology, political science, and demography, she has written or edited six books, including Rallying for Immigrant Rights (2011, with I. Bloemraad), Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement (2006, with R. Fantasia), Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth (1996, with five Berkeley colleagues), and The Making of American Exceptionalism: The Knights of Labor and Class Formation in the Nineteenth Century (1993). She is currently working on a book about immigration and social movements.
Date: March 5 , 2026
Time: 12 – 1:30 pm
Location: Rolfe Hall 2125
RSVP HERE!

UCLA Industry Power Research Bootcamp
2026-03-16 - 2026-03-20
Industry Power Research Bootcamp
Convened by the UCLA Strategic Research Lab
Join the labor and other social movement researchers from around the country to learn the best ways to approach industry-based research and apply your findings to build industry-wide power.
As the NLRB continues to come under attack, unions and other labor groups that organize are increasingly looking at industries, not companies. To succeed, we need to understand how industries work and what powers and limitations come with a sectoral approach to campaigning.
In this five-day training, you will learn the basics of how to research an industry and explain your findings to members and other staff. We will bring expert campaigners to discuss key aspects of sectoral research, including:

Bounding your industry and understanding the product
How to think about supply chains
Spatial concentration and its effects on bosses and workers
Intersections between your industry and government regulators and policymakers
Considerations behind sectoral standards campaigns

The camp is designed for any movement researchers, strategic campaigners, activists, or organizers wanting to better understand how to think about sector-wide strategies.
The 2026 Industry Research Power Bootcamp applications window has closed. Stay tuned for information about future camps offered by the UCLA Strategic Research Lab and our annual Strategic Labor Research Conference!

About The UCLA Strategic Research Lab:
The UCLA Strategic Research Lab is a capacity-building training hub and network for researchers from labor and community-based organizations. As a research unit of a public university, the SRL seeks to train strategic researchers for the common good. Besides the Coding Camp for Union Research, the Strategic Research Lab also holds its annual Strategic Labor Research Conference, one of the largest annual convenings of labor and movement researchers in the nation.
Sign up for email updates for other Strategic Research Lab events and trainings here.

Book Talk: Steven W. Thrasher on The Overseer Class, In Conversation with Robin D.G. Kelley
2026-04-23 16:00 - 17:30 | Royce Hall 314
Date: April 23, 2026
Time: 4 P.M.
Location: Royce Hall 314
Steven W. Thrasher, PhD, will talk about his new book The Overseer Class (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2025). Based upon his reporting on the Black Lives Matter movement since he was covering Ferguson in 2014, Thrasher writes of observing an “overseer class” of Black cops, gay prosecutors, and people from marginalized background who amass their power by cracking the skulls of their own.
