User:Uclahistoryworkingclass/sandbox

The UCLA Labor Center is a public service and outreach program established in 1964. It strives to bring together members of the community and policy makers in order to better tackle various issues facing the workers of the world. It focuses on immigrant workers, low-income individuals, and people who are faced with adversity in the workplace. The Center provides many services to the community including: educational opportunities, help with citizenship, mediating common worker issues in the U.S., Mexico, and Pacific Rim, unemployment, bettering working conditions in established industries, enforcing existing legislation, and educating students to become future leaders of labor.

Background and Origin
In 1945, Governor Earl Warren established two industrial relations programs within the University of California system; one program at UC Berkeley and the other in Los Angeles. Organized labor in the U.S. reached its height after the Second World War and this led to many universities creating specific departments concerning labor. The Governor wanted to recognize organized labor as an important part of California society and tasked the universities with outreach programs to make contact with such trade unions. The UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations, working in collaboration with the state, created the Center for Labor Research and Education in 1964. The Institute tackled such issues as work hours, unemployment, white-collar unions, and outsourcing of labor. Contributing to the contentious issue of employment and labor as well as bolstering its academics, the UCLA Institute sought to better relations with the workers of California and provide them a platform in which to build upon. Intellectuals from the University applied their academic research in bettering the lives of workers and provided leadership to students whom hoped to one day organize & lead such movements. The Labor Center created programs geared in reflecting real world trends. Early on, the Center focused on labor in the post-WWII auto and aerospace industry, which was a huge part of the Los Angeles economy. As the public sector grew, so did the research and educational programs of the center. Expanding into health care led to the creation of the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program. However, organized labor lost the momentum it once had and this led to financial troubles and a drop in academic interest. The Institute was heavily handicapped in its efforts to better organize labor and had to reduce the number of resources offered to the community. In 1995, new leadership befell the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and the labor movement reorganized in California. This led to an upsurge in intellectual interest in the Institute. As a direct result of this increase in popularity, California State legislature established the UC Institute for Labor and Employment (ILE), a program offered by both UCLA and UC Berkeley. In December of 2003, a state of fiscal emergency was declared in California, and then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ceased funding of the ILE. Public support for the ILE led the University to agree covering most staff salaries through June of 2004. A new system wide Labor and Research Education Fund maintained statewide funding for research on all UC Campuses. The Fund led to a restructuring of the Institutes practices including returning the center to its main goals of helping the working community as well as opening a new branch in Downtown Los Angeles. Despite periods of stunted funding, under current director Kent Wong, the Center had its largest growth in both employees and funding. In the spring of 2007, the UCLA and Berkeley Institutes both changed their names to the Institutes of Research on Labor and Employment. The UC Regents, in 2007, approved the Miguel Contreras Labor program, which now serves as an umbrella over all UC Labor research, & education programs. In 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger again targeted the Labor Program in hopes of reducing funding. After over 400 staff and students at the University of California petitioned, the Office of the President agreed to assist in the financial security of the program..