We are approaching the 60th anniversary of the UCLA Labor Center, and we are celebrating - both how far we’ve come and where we’re going next! In honor of our anniversary, in this episode we’re sharing insights and memories from our colleagues about their work and evolving connections to the UCLA Labor Center, which they were all introduced to as s…

It’s back-to-school season, and we’re sharing a recording of "Labor Studies 101" from our archives at the IRLE, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. In this episode, our IRLE director, Toby Higbie, interviews Kent Wong, our previous long time director of the UCLA Labor Center. Toby and Kent talk about the history of the Los Angeles l…

In a fast-paced society that often privileges work, wealth, and individual success, where there isn’t always time or space to process, how can we do social justice oriented work while taking care of ourselves?In Radical Therapy, we speak with Claudia Morales, an LA-based therapist whose work exists at the intersection of social justice and mental h…

Rev. James Lawson Jr. passed away on June 9, 2024. Rev. Lawson was one of the civil rights movement’s most prominent leaders and a lifelong advocate of nonviolence, soul force. He co-taught a UCLA labor studies class on nonviolence for over 20 years with our previous labor center director Kent Wong, and our building, the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worke…

It’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and we’re sharing an episode about gentrification in Little Toyko from State of the Human, a podcast of the Stanford Storytelling Project.Little Tokyo is a small neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles. Since 1905, it has been home to generations of Japanese Americans. Today, g…

In partnership with the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE), Re:Work presents “Changing Lives, Changing L.A.,” a play created from transcripts from the UNITE HERE Local 11 Oral History Project and originally performed before a live audience at Loyola Marymount University and UCLA.Portrayed by professional actors, four members…

Civil rights icon, Reverend James Lawson Jr., shares his recollections of the 1960s and working closely with Martin Luther King Jr.Reverend Lawson presents the nonviolent movement in America as the "nuclear engine" of the mid-20th century civil rights movement, and as a strategic series of organizing campaigns for racial and economic justice.This i…

We’re closing out the year with an episode from our friends at the Pulso Podcast:Latinos work hard. But is our "work hard" attitude too closely connected to our sense of self-worth? The Pulso Podcast brings you the untold stories & unheard voices that make up our history, our culture, nuestra gente. For Latinos, by LatinosThis episode was produced …

This fall, California’s fast food workers won a historic victory when Governor Newsom signed AB 1228, which ensures the creation of a fast-food industry council with the ability to determine wages and industry standards, and which, importantly, includes worker voices. The bill also means that by next spring, the minimum wage for California’s fast-f…

We've partnered with Feet in 2 Worlds: A Better Life? and are excited to share an episode from their show!A Better Life? Producer Oscar Durand tells the story of Cesar, a delivery worker from Mexico who found a cause and a community while organizing his fellow delivery workers in New York. We also speak with Hildalyn Colón Hernández from Los Delive…

We've partnered with Immigrantly and are excited to share an episode from their show!Immigrantly is a weekly podcast hosted by rights activist and social entrepreneur Saadia Khan that bears witness to the extraordinariness of the immigrant experienceToday we have a fellow podcaster in our midst. Ramtin Arablouei is the co-host and co-producer of NP…

When we think about college, there’s a certain whimsical image, a time of self discovery and carefree fun before you step out into the “real” world. But now, with the rising costs of education and living expenses, most students work, and work a lot.In this episode of Re:Work, Adolfo González shares his decades long journey to provide for his family…

We often refer to birth as miraculous, and it can also seem mysterious. Many times there is a veiling around birth and labor, and the types of work mothers and birthworkers do to bring new life into this world. In this episode, Allegra Hill shares birth stories from her family and how her personal journey led her into the world of birthwork.It is p…

Despite a long tradition of midwifery in the Black community, which predates the founding of the United States, less than 2% of midwives today are Black. In this episode we share the story of Kim Durdin, who found her calling in reclaiming midwifery and birthwork.It is part one of two episodes where we bring you the stories of Black midwives in Los…

In 2020, India suddenly went into a national lockdown without advance planning or adequate government support, which led to a humanitarian crisis in addition to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Millions of jobs disappeared and hunger was a serious issue. Tens of millions of migrant workers struggled to get home — often on foot — and many died …

Civil rights icon, Reverend James Lawson Jr., shares his recollections of the 1960s and working closely with Martin Luther King Jr.Reverend Lawson presents the nonviolent movement in America as the "nuclear engine" of the mid-20th century civil rights movement, and as a strategic series of organizing campaigns for racial and economic justice.This i…

“The Tractor Princess” draws on excerpts from an oral history interview that is a part of a community archive and research initiative called Watsonville is in the Heart, which highlights the stories of Filipino families from the greater Pajaro Valley region in California. In this episode of Re:Work, Antoinette Yvonne DeOcampo-Lechtenberg paints a p…

On Dec. 11, 2021, the UCLA Labor Center’s historic MacArthur Park building was officially named the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, in honor of a civil and worker rights icon who has been teaching at UCLA for the last 2 decades.In this episode of Re:Work, 93-year-old Rev. Lawson shares stories from his youth, and how he came to discove…

There’s a tendency to associate fast-food with American nostalgia, which can shield issues in the franchise structure ranging from wage theft to violence and safety concerns. Most recently, fast-food workers have been at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 in their public facing jobs, in addition to confronting difficult work conditions that became…

We’ve partnered with Self Evident, and are excited to share an episode from their show! Self Evident is a podcast focused on the full range of Asian American perspectives, which are too often erased from the national discourse. This episode is a collaboration between Self Evident and AZI Media, and is part of a project called “Advancing Democracy” …

Civil rights icon, Reverend James Lawson Jr., shares his recollections of the 1960s and working closely with Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend Lawson presents the nonviolent movement in America as the "nuclear engine" of the mid-20th century civil rights movement, and as a strategic series of organizing campaigns for racial and economic justice. This…

On Dec. 11, 2021, the UCLA Labor Center’s historic MacArthur Park building was officially named the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, in honor of a civil and worker rights icon who has been teaching at UCLA for the last 2 decades.In this episode of Re:Work, 93-year-old Rev. Lawson shares stories from his youth, and how he came to discove…

We’ve partnered with Self Evident, and are excited to share an episode from their show! Self Evident is a podcast focused on the full range of Asian American perspectives, which are too often erased from the national discourse. In this episode, a daughter of Vietnamese refugees seeks out Southeast Asian Americans with criminal convictions who are a…

We often refer to birth as miraculous, and it can also seem mysterious. Many times there is a veiling around birth and labor, and the types of work mothers and birthworkers do to bring new life into this world. In this episode, Allegra Hill shares birth stories from her family and how her personal journey led her into the world of birthwork. It is …

Despite a long tradition of midwifery in the Black community, which predates the founding of the United States, less than 2% of midwives today are Black. In this episode we share the story of Kim Durdin, who found her calling in reclaiming midwifery and birthwork.It is part one of two episodes where we bring you the stories of Black midwives in Los…

When we think about college, there’s a certain whimsical image, a time of self discovery and carefree fun before you step out into the “real” world. But now, with the rising costs of education and living expenses, most students work, and work a lot. In this episode of Re:Work, Adolfo González shares his decades long journey to provide for his famil…

We often see children as innocents who need love, support, and stability. But not all young people are nurtured this way. Too often youth from marginalized communities of color are not seen as needing protection -- they are treated as the ones we need protection from.We see this in this episode with Phal Sok, who was once a kid in Long Beach forced…

In today’s political climate, there’s a prominent narrative of "bad" immigrants who don’t deserve to be here. This isn’t new -- it’s a part of a much longer history of criminalizing immigrants and refugees in the United States.This episode is the first of two that explore the experiences of Cambodian refugees who get caught up in the criminal justi…

What happens when you go to work and no one else in the room looks like you? Being the “only one” often means more scrutiny, less support, having to work harder, or to justify why you’re even there. In this episode, Zayana Ross-Torrence shares her experience as a Black woman studying STEM and then working in emergency services, an industry dominate…

Uber. Lyft. Their arrival has transformed daily life and raised important questions about job quality, employment law, and creating an economy that works for everybody. What’s it like to be a woman driving for these rideshare companies? In this episode, Alexandra Carbone shares her story.بقلم Re:Work by the UCLA Labor Center

Young people spend a good chunk of their waking hours in school, but their world extends far beyond the classroom. During the recent teachers' strikes, educators reminded us to think about students in a holistic way.In this episode of Re:Work, Los Angeles teacher Rudy Dueñas takes us through his own history at LA Unified School District — as a stud…

The International Labor Organization estimates 20.1 million people are trapped in forced labor globally, in industries including agriculture, construction, domestic work and manufacturing. Who does this happen to? And how does it happen? In this episode, we bring you the story of Lester Ramos and his journey from the Philippines.…

Solidarity byبقلم Re:Work by the UCLA Labor Center

In collaboration with Making Contact, Episode 14 of ReWork has been retooled into a new edition:"Los Angeles’ garment district is notorious for sweatshop conditions, abuse, and the outright theft of earned wages.Yet the name-brand clothes that some of us are wearing right now, may have been produced in factories like these. On this edition of Makin…

It’s one of the most dangerous jobs in America: taxi driving. In this special joint episode from ReWork and Making Contact, we’ll hear a radio adaptation of TeAda Productions’ play “Global Taxi Driver,” and we’ll take a ride to meet the cab drivers at one of the country’s busiest airports.بقلم Re:Work by the UCLA Labor Center

Re:Work Episode 14 Los Callejones Spanish byبقلم Re:Work by the UCLA Labor Center

Who are the people who make the clothes we wear every day? Tune in to take a journey through "los callejones," Los Angeles’s garment district. Learn more about who works within this labyrinth of clothing shops and factories. This episode of Re:Work was made possible with support from Cal Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment fo…

When you get into a taxi, you usually know where you are coming from, where you are going. But what about your taxi driver? This week we travel with Javaid Tariq on the road that brought him to drive cabs in New York City.بقلم Re:Work by the UCLA Labor Center

It’s very likely that in our everyday lives we pass by someone who’s homeless. We may be so used to seeing homelessness that it just becomes part of the normal city landscape, But what if we stop and say hello? Have a conversation that may break apart our ideas about what leads someone to live on the streets. In this week’s episode of ReWork Clarin…

Most of the stuff we use, from our clothes to our iPhones, were at some point made in another country and shipped to our shores. But who carries these goods from the shores to the stores?Longshoremen have a saying that they move the world, one container at a time. In this episode of Re:Work, Jessica Garcia interviews her cousin Alina Pineda, a woma…

What comes to your mind when you think of a musician? For many musicians, their work is no different from any other profession. They dedicate hours and hours of their lives to practicing out of love for their craft. But is the love of music enough to justify the immense commitment of being a musician? On this episode of Re:Work radio, Neil Samples …

We live in a global market, and most of the clothing and electronics that we use are made halfway around the world. They’re transported across the ocean to get to us, by people that seem so different from us and so far away. When we delve deeper into our struggles, we find that we have far more in common than we think. Today’s story is about solida…

Who was your favorite teacher in high school? We all have that unforgettable teacher that sets us on our life’s trajectory. But most of the time we know even our most favorite teachers just inside the classroom. So what happens when we learn what they are going through outside of the classroom?In this week’s episode of Re:Work, UCLA student Tyler M…

All of us are on this planet because we were born. Still, for most of us, giving birth is so mysterious. Many people don’t really learn about what it’s like to have a baby unless you’re about to give birth yourself. On this episode of Re:Work Radio, we follow Pati, a birth doula, to follow the journey of giving birth. From the UCLA Labor Center and…

A group of undocumented youth cross the border from the US into Mexico to cross back and turn themselves into border patrol. Why would you do something that would so blatantly risk you ever being able to come into this country again? We follow the story of one courageous young person, Luis Leon, and the journey that took him from a small town in No…

Sometimes work can take a toll on your creativity, your individuality, and what makes you human. So what is the cost of being efficient at work? Anthony Goytia describes how he navigates the hyperstructured workplace at the US’s largest employer, Walmart. From the UCLA Labor Center and KPFK, we bring you Re:Work Radio, formerly Henry Walton’s Labor…

For those of sitting in a restaurant eating, we may not be aware of what it takes to make our meal possible. What’s it really like for those working behind the kitchen door? This episode, Raw Deal, we talk with Heriberto Zamora, who worked in the kitchen of Urasawa, one of the most expensive restaurants in the country.From the UCLA Labor Center and…

What is the future of this country's dream for black and brown communities? This week's episode, Dream On, is a fascinating conversation between two fierce women – Lola Smallwood Cuevas from the Black Worker Center and Sofia Campos, a national leader of the immigrant youth movement- as they expand, re-define, and defend this country’s dream. From t…

Immigration visas dictate where someone can work, how they can work, how long they can work. But what happens when you throw friendship into the mix? This episode is a conversation between two friends, Carlos Amador and Jonathan Biribesca. Having arrived on different immigration visas, we follow their friendship from when they first arrived to the …