In their new book, Unfinished Business, Eileen Appelbaumand Ruth Milkman document the history and impact of California's paid family leave program, the first of its kind in the United States, which began in 2004. We will also hear from Los Angeles community members who are working locally and statewide to expand awareness and our rights […]

The UCLA Institute for Research and Employment presents it's 2014 conference on Race, Labor, & the Law. In coordination with the Critical Race Studies Program at the UCLA School of Law, the conference will take place at UCLA on Friday and Saturday, February 28 and March 1, 2014. Join leading legal scholars, social scientists, humanists […]

While most people intuitively know that low unemployment is important to job seekers, they may not realize that high levels of employment actually would make an enormous difference in the lives of large segments of the workforce who already have jobs. Particularly in an era of historically high wage and income inequality, many in the […]

Following the recent economic recession, elected officials in many states used budget shortfalls as justification for anti-union legislation. Bills that would weaken or remove collective bargaining rights targeted public sector workers’ unions in particular. Additionally, K-12 teachers—the largest category of organized public sector employees—faced losing tenure protections. This talk will focus on electoral tactics, such […]

For many years Mexico has been looking for a strategy to create economic growth and industrial development. The results have been less than positive, however, and at times the public policy in regards to industrial development seems directionless. The Maquiladora Model is an example of a model of industrialization that did not create development and, […]

Since the 1980s, the world's governments have decreased state welfare and thus increased the number of unprotected “informal” or “precarious” workers. As a result, more and more workers do not receive secure wages or benefits from either employers or the state. What are these workers doing to improve their livelihoods? Informal Labor, Formal Politics, and […]

"Labour" is a term that is ceasing to have salience as the descriptor of a class, movement, scholarly or professional domain or field of public policy. Consequently, it becomes increasingly difficult to mobilize working people for political or industrial action or even to defend their legal rights and claim their legal entitlements. Perhaps, then, the […]