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UCLA Labor Center
2014 is the year that marks University of California, Los Angeles Labor Center “50 years of Worker Justice.” Its mission is to establish a public university that “belongs to the people and should advance quality education and employment for all … bring together workers, students, faculty, and policymakers to address the most critical issues facing working people today.”

Founding and Growth:
Established in 1945, besides one in UC Berkeley, UCLA Labor Center was set up at the University of California carrying the mission to improve industrial relations programs in the United States of America by promoting research, education and policy change to workers, students, and the community. In 1964, the establishment of the Center for Labor Research and Education within the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations called for the collaboration between labor and university in job displacement, the needs of white-collar unions, reducing hours of work, and the problems of the unemployed. In 1978, the Labor Center added health and safety to its program list that focused on the auto industry and aerospace industry, which lead to the formation of the Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program. The Labor Center was in its growing peak in staff and funding under the leadership of its current director Kent Wong, which resulted in the creation of the Institute for Labor and Employment (IRLE) in 2000. This event brought a domino effect to the communities first with the formation of Downtown Labor Center, following by a series of actions benefiting not only the labor force and their movements but also providing opportunities for immigrants and students in the economy. It also offers programs that build the connection between UCLA and Southern California working-class communities with internships through the Community Scholars Program (introduced in 1991) and the Labor Summer Research Internship (established in 2001). In 2008, the Labor Center introduced the California Construction Academy that attracted attention from union and community leaders, workforce development centers, as well as local and state government representatives. Its goal was to find out which ways to increase the jobs in the marketplace and “strengthen policy initiatives that improve economic opportunities for inner-city communities.” Besides, the UCLA Labor Center has encouraged the participation of women, color population and LGBTQ workers. In 2010, the Los Angeles Black Worker Center was established to support the African American community with the job crisis.

Major projects:
The Dream Resource Center “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” – Audre Lorde. Established in 2011, the Dream Resource Center has been run with the goal to help young immigrants in educational paths, assist them in health issues and support them in their career pursue. Its two programs, the Youth Leadership Development and the Immigrant Health, are offered to assure young immigrants have the same opportunities in American society like any other people. Its Dream Summer is “the first national internship program for immigrant youth leader” has awarded $1.7 million for students and interns.

The Global Solidarity Project As its name says it all, the Global Solidarity Project is aimed to create a global connection between unions and workers all over the world, from which improves labor standards and working conditions in every workplace. UCLA Labor Center believes “only through joining together around our common interests can we challenge corporate domination.” By hosting conferences between Mexico and the US, this project helps discuss about academics and labor activists, researching on “the impact of international free trade agreements on low-wage workers,” and allowing labor leaders in the US, China, and Vietnam to exchange knowledge and strategies.

The Los Angeles Black Worker Center With the hope to giving African American adults the same opportunity like everyone in this economic crisis time period in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Black Worker Center was launched as “the only place in the nation where organized labor, workers, scholars, students and community are focused on reversing the Black jobs crisis trough action and unionization.

The Re:Work Institute for Worker Justice Holding the belief that “the future of the US economy depends on safe, dignified, quality jobs for its most vulnerable workers,” this project works on partnerships between worker centers and unions. So far, their work includes Applied Research, Worker Center Capacity Building, Curriculum Development and Popular Education, and Partnerships with Labor Agencies.

The UCLA Labor and Workplace Studies Minor Labor Studies at UCLA combine coursework with the diversity of placements in the field in order to transform ideas into action, with the hope to get students understood the strong connection between their education and society. This project offers Labor Studies Minor Courses, the Labor Summer Research Internship Program, the Student Leadership Academy, and Service-Learning opportunities.

Downtown Labor Center (DLC):
Governor Gray Davis, Rev. Jesses Jackson, Miguel Contreras, three international union presidents, and numerous elected officials led the opening ceremony of the UCLA Downtown Labor Center on Labor Day 2002. This office fulfilled the “long-term” dream of the UCLA Labor Center current Director Kent Wong as he shared “It would be hard to find a better site for the Downtown Labor Center, located near the majority of LA’s union halls and worker centers and in the heart of a diverse immigrant community.” The DLC is the connection between the university and the LA labor community as well as the supporter for cooperation between unions and worker centers.

About the leader:
Kent Douglas Wong is the current director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California, Los Angeles and also a professor of Labor Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA. He is seen as “a radical” figure of an “all-encompassing radicalism” as all of his jobs, politics, and educational background, are “all part of his struggle for ‘the people’”.

Kent Wong was born and raised in a family that holds strong political involvement and career. His father Delbert Wong was the first Chinese-American California Deputy Legislative Counsel in the United States and also served in the U.S. Air Fore B-17 as a bomber navigator during World War II. Kent Wong followed his father Judge Delbert Wong to start his politics in early age. Graduated from the Los Angeles based Peoples College of Law, founded in 1974, Kent Wong worked as the first staff attorney of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center for Southern California, then became a staff attorney at the Service Employees International Union Local 660. From 1992 to 1997, Wong was the first president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, which was the first national labor organization for Asian Americans and a unit of the AFL-CIO. In 1991, he was hired to direct the UCLA Labor Center, which did not bring any help to his political radicalism but “merely gave him a very respectable pedestal from which to trumpet is views”.

In his careers, Wong, many times, has talked “out of both sides of his mouth,” which has become a controversial topic not only at UCLA but also on the national media. Asked for his opinion towards the grocery stores’ lockout and subsequent worker strike, he claimed “the supermarket corporations forced this strike” during an interview with the Daily Bruin. In 2005, Wong made the UCLA Ackerman Grand Ballroom become a union hall with 200 people, mostly students and adult union activists, raising the slogan “Si se puede! Si se puede!” in a Student/ Labor Action Teach-In event. His activism has been noticed to extend to “the issue of affirmative action” while he “boils the controversy down to rich vs. poor, white vs. minority, us vs. them.” One of his best-known controversial speeches was probably his comment “beneficiary of affirmative action…for the wealthy white elite” on President George W. Bush’s application to Yale. Wong’s hatred for corporations, much of which comes from his “fundamental” ignorance about economics,” is also obvious and predictable as he said “corporations are preying on the desperate poverty of working people in other parts of the world, undermining worker rights, polluting the environment, and violating human rights based on the fact that they can get away with it.”

Kent Wong is also a “prominent voice” in the anti-Wal-Mart chorus as the UCLA Labor Center held the conference “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” on June 2005. Although the purpose of the conference was claimed to be proper and academic, a review later confirmed “the national suspicion” that this conference was one sided because the UCLA Labor Center is directed by no one else but Kent Wong.

Another disappointing voice of Wong is his comment about the grant of PNTR with China. “For the U.S. to challenge China’s entry into the WTO because of political and human rights abuse amounts to hypocrisy” and “China should not be singled out for some of the very same human rights abuses that occur in the U.S., such as widespread use of prison labor.” However, China’s problems were about completely different issues than those of America when repression in China was about the one-baby laws and Tiananman Square whereas American repression was about the laws to protest freely and protestors being jailed. Therefore, his claims were considered as inappropriate and “ridiculous” as one said “If Wong can’t grasp this essential difference, then there’s no hope for him at all.”

While Wong holds a great grudge against Republicans, he takes “particular issue” with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when making an objective comment about Schwarzenegger. The reason for his hatred remains unclear, but the consequence is well known when Schwarzenegger cut $3.8 million from the UCLA Labor Center’s budget in 2005.

When asked for response about the shut down of UCLA illegal immigrant college program in 2012 by Fox News, Kent Wong repeatedly hung up on them. Mark Yudof, President of University of California wrote that “the program was negotiated without the consultation or approval of UCLA’s academic and administrative leadership. Therefore, the agreement has been declare void.” Yudof added “UCLA’s actions do not preclude a future agreement between the Labor Center and National Labor College.”

Despite all of his different views and his controversial comments, it cannot be denied that Kent Wong has done a successful job in leading the UCLA Labor Center in the past years.

Wong’s Publications: Interview with Miguel Contreras (by Ruth Milkman and Kent Wong)

Organizing on Separate Shores: Vietnamese and Vietnamese American Union Organizers (written by Kent Wong and An Le)

Sweatshop slaves: Asian Americans in the garment industry (edited by Kent Wong and Julie Monroe)

Undocumented and unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix and the immigrant youth movement (edited by Kent Wong, Janna Shadduck-Hernandez, Fabiola Inzunza, Julie Monroe, Victor Narro, and Abel Valenzuela Jr.)

Voice for justice: Asian Pacific American organizers and the new labor movement (edited by Kent Wong)

Voice from the front lines: organizing immigrant workers in Los Angeles (by Ruth Milkman and Kent Wong)

Resources:
Reports: ABA Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities

Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers

Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity

Diversity and Change: Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers

Employers Who Owe Unpaid Wages Rarely Pay Up by the National Employment Law Project

Exploring Targeted Hire: An Assessment of Best Practices in the Construction Industry by the UCLA Labor Center

Green Buildings, Good Jobs, Safe Jobs: Social Justice Pathways to a Sustainable Los Angeles

Health Impact Assessment of the Proposed Los Angeles Wage Theft Ordinance by Human Impact partners

Helping LA Grow Together: Why the Community Redevelopment Agency Should Adopt the Construction Careers Policy

Hollow Victories: The Crisis in Collecting Unpaid Wages for California’s Workers by Eunice Hyunhye Cho, Tia Koonse, Anthony Mischel

Integrated Organizing Approach as a Tool in the Fight for Workers Rights: The Case of Sara Lee Workers

Juntas de Conciliacion y Arbitraje en Mexico

Labor and Immigrant Rights

Left Behind: The Impact of Secession on Low-Income Residents and Workers in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood

Loncheras: A Look at the Stationary Food Truck of Los Angeles

Orange County on the Cusp of Change by the UCI Community & Labor Project and the UCLA Labor Center

Project Labor Agreements in Los Angeles: The Example of the Los Angeles Unified School District by UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

Summary Report: Asian Pacific Islander Workers Hearing

The Labor and Education Collaborative

The State of Labor 20 Years after NAFTA by David Bacon

The Theory and Practice of a Comprehensive Campaign in Los Angeles

Undocumented and Uninsured Part 1: No Papers, No Health Care by the Dream Resource Center of the UCLA Labor Center

Undocumented and Uninsured Part 2: Band-Aid Care by the Dream Resource Center of the UCLA Labor Center

Undocumented Students: Unfulfilled Dreams

Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles by Ruth Milkman, Ana Luz Gonzalez, Victor Narro

Re: Work Radio

On air every Friday from 6:30 to 7pm on KPFK 90.7 FM, Re:Work is “the only storytelling show in the country focused on work” which uses curriculum and education to help listeners learn about work.

Press Releases:
New Report Shows Wage Theft Impacts Workers’ Health (August 26, 2014)

New Report Says Orange Couty Demographics And Politics Are Shifting (July 1, 2014)

LA City Council Introduces Resolution to Address Wage Theft (on June 24, 20114)

Further Readings:
Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of employment and Labor Laws in America’s Cities (2009). Annette Bernhardt et al.

Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity (2012). David Bacon. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education.

Juntas de Conciliacion y Arbitraje en Mexico (2012). Fernando Herrera Lima, Editor. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education.

Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles: the Failure of Employment and Labor Law for Low-Wage Workers (2010). Bernhardt et al.

Women’s Work: Los Angeles Homecare Workers Revitalize the Labor Movement (2009). Lola Smallwood Cuevas, Kent Wong, and Linda Delp: UCLA Center for Research and Education.

Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy (2010). Ruth Milkman, Joshua Bloom, and Victor Narro. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Reference:
Professor Profiles: Kent Wong – Asian American Studies. UCLA Profs.com Exposing UCLA’s Radical Professors: A project of the Bruin Alumni Association.

UCLA Labor Center Website.

Cowan, Claudia. Exclusive: UCLA shuts down controversial illegal immigrant college program. Immigration. Fox News. September 13, 2012.

Contact:
UCLA Labor Center PO Box 951478, 10845 LeConte Ave, Ste 1103, Los Angeles CA 90025-1478 Phone: 310-794-5983, Fax: 310-794-6410

UCLA Downtown Labor Center 675 S Park View St, Los Angeles CA 90057-3306 Phone: 213-480-4155 x220, Fax: 213-480-4160