Labor studies minor integrates class, service
By Brent Kampe
Feb. 21, 2005 9:00 p.m.
Preparing themselves for influential careers in a slew of
labor-related fields, UCLA undergraduates are adding the labor and
workplace studies minor to their resumes.
The minor is not offered by a department at UCLA, but through
the Institute of Industrial Relations at UCLA in collaboration with
the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education ““ a liaison
between the university and the Southern California labor
community.
“It’s an interdisciplinary program, drawing on the
expertise of faculty members across a variety of
departments,” said Nancy Cohen, the coordinator for the minor
and a project director for the center.
As a result of the unique integration of disciplines, students
taking advantage of the minor get an experience not available in
UCLA’s other offerings.
Some students in the minor feel that they learn about important
labor issues which often aren’t represented in classrooms, a
claim corroborated by Jennifer Tran, a fourth-year sociology
student who has taken up the labor and workplace studies minor.
“It’s about creating social justice for a lot of
underdeveloped communities,” said Tran.
Tran discovered the minor last year when she was looking for an
internship and began taking classes in which “(the
professors) taught us about unions, labor wages and social
justice.”
Another benefit of the minor she enjoys is the variety of
subject matters being taught.
Cohen said that the minor is intended to give students a breadth
of knowledge spanning classes from the history, sociology, law,
Chicana/o studies, management, political science, psychology and
women’s studies departments.
A minimum of 28 units and seven classes are required for the
minor, which will be awarded to 45 to 50 students this year.
But amid the class time, the minor also has a strong component
of internships and service. Over the summer, the center offers a
10-unit internship with placement in labor unions such as Justice
for Janitors and the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, as well as
other community groups focused on workplace issues.
Undergraduates often work together with graduate and law
students with interests in pursuing labor and workplace issues such
as discrimination, wages and unionization.
After graduation, many students find employment with the
organizations where they completed their internship.
“(The minor) prepares students to go into labor law, urban
policy, working as organizers or researchers for labor unions,
human resources or academic careers,” said Cohen.
Accordingly, Tran feels the minor has helped her plan for the
future.
Tran eventually became a research assistant for one of the
professors for the General Education cluster “Work, Labor and
Social Justice in the U.S.,” helping him get data on day
laborers.
Now applying for graduate school in urban planning, Tran hopes
to work in economic development of impoverished communities.
She feels that the professors in the minor such as Victor Narro,
also a project director at the center, have encouraged the students
to become more engaged in labor issues and to go to rallies and
marches ““ experiences that have had a sharper impact for her
than classroom learning.
Furthermore, the professors bring labor campaigns on campus to
the students’ attention, making them more pertinent to their
daily lives.
Even though labor unions and institutions sympathetic to the
labor movement traditionally have had a liberal connotation, Tran
noted that in her classes, she feels a balance in perspectives. For
example, one of her classes examines labor from a business
perspective, associated with more conservative values.
“One of the good things about the minor is that while some
people may hear the name and think it’s way to the left,
it’s not. It gives you good exposure to both sides,”
said Tran.
Currently, the labor center faces losing all its funding from
the state, and if it does close down, the minor would also cease to
exist.
Nevertheless, the center faced similar cuts last year and was
able to come through with its funding intact and Kent Wong,
director of the center, said he feels they are likely to do the
same this year.
