Community Scholars Program 22-23

Cross-Border Solidarity: Introduction to Labor Movements in Mexico and the US 

The Community Scholars course for 2022-2023 will focus on the struggle to advance workers’ rights and social justice in Mexico and the US. It is a binational course for students in Mexico and the US that aims at preparing North American labor rights experts with a thorough understanding of labor relations and worker organizing in the two countries. Introduction to Labor Movements in Mexico and the US will be offered in English and Spanish to students enrolled in the UCLA Labor Studies Program and the Labor Centers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Autonomous University of Queretaro (UAQ) and the Autonomous University of Mexico (UAM) drawing on existing relationships between the four institutions. 

Program Structure 

Each week, program participants will meet virtually to dialogue about work, labor, class and social change by engaging Mexican and US organizers over current challenges faced by the labor movement in North America. 

Using community-engaged participatory research methods, program participants will learn from community champions, leaders, and experts to identify key research and policy priorities, collect and interpret data, and articulate labor and migrant-informed solutions and frameworks to sustain community leadership and solidarity across borders.

This year’s program will address the following questions:

• • In what ways do workers on the US-Mexico border organize transnationally to promote their interests and defend their rights? 
  • How has work changed since the creation of the North American Free Trade zone in 1994? 
  • What is the impact of the new US-Mexico-Canada agreement on the US and Mexican labor movements? 

• How does migration inform working conditions and labor relations in Mexico and the US? 

By the end of the 2022-23 Community Scholars Program:

Program inquiries

Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, grsalgado@irle.ucla.edu

Course Information

M190C- Community Engaged Research in Practice: Community Scholars, learn more here.

The 2021 Community Scholars program is being coordinated in partnership between the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, the Labor Center, the Cesar E. Chavez Dept. of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, and the Center for Community Learning.