“I realize that I am a soldier of production whose duties are as important in this war as those of the man behind the gun.” So began the pledge that many home front men took at the outset of World War II when they went to work in the factories, fields, and mines while their […]

In this talk, LeFlouria will provide an in-depth examination of the lived and laboring experiences of imprisoned African-American women in the post-Civil War South, and describe how black female convict labor was used to help construct “New South” modernity. Using Georgia—the “industrial capital” of the region—as a case study, LeFlouria will analyze how African-American women’s […]

Urbanization has been a cornerstone of China's modernization project and an important driver of economic growth. As a result, over 50 percent of China’s billion people are now living in urban areas, concentrated in the 160 cities with a population over one million. Based on extensive ethnographic field research, this paper examines the lives and […]

Join us as we present the UCLA Institute for Research and Employment's 2015 conference on Labor, Entertainment, & Sports: An Intersectional and Interdisciplinary Inquiry. The conference will take place at Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, CA on Friday and Saturday, April 17-18, 2015. The objective of the conference is to help build […]

Commencement speech presented by Victor Narro, Project Director at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center

Panelists will discuss the successful organizing campaign of a small group of Latino gardeners in conjunction with a few Chicana/o activists against the City of Los Angeles’s draconian leaf blower ban, charging jardineros or gardeners with a misdemeanor, a $1,000 fine, and up to 6 months in jail. To read in advance on this historic […]

Hard hit by economic restructuring have been young people of color, who face high under/unemployment rates resulting in conditions of increasing and persistent inequality, likely to affect generations to come. After assessing an array of policies that affect employment conditions among youth, Córdova will present neighborhood scale strategies that (re)build communities while increasing opportunities for […]

Most labor and migration studies classify migrants with limited formal education or credentials as “unskilled.” Despite the value of migrants' work experiences and the substantial technical and interpersonal skills developed throughout their lives, the labor-market contributions of these migrants are often overlooked and their mobility pathways poorly understood. Skills of the “Unskilled” reports the findings […]

The colloquium will be devoted to the crises and conflicts that have wracked the labor movement in South Africa in recent years and the implications of these struggles for the future of South African politics. In 2012, police from the African National Congress (ANC) government gunned down 44 striking platinum workers in what has come […]