ReWork Research
Remapping Realities: Navigating School and Work Commitments, Financial Pressures and Well-Being
Project
Young Worker Initiative
About Us
The UCLA Labor Center’s Young Worker Initiative strengthens the labor movement’s school-to-movement pathway by providing classroom curricula and know-your-rights trainings to middle and high school students in California, as well as educational workshops to community members.
Through research, internships, and programming that support policy initiatives, the UCLA Labor Center has made young workers a priority. Led by young workers and for young workers, the initiative recognizes young people as a critical workforce in the economy and elevates them as leaders in their workplaces.
According to the center’s publication California’s Future is Clocked In on young workers:
- There are 2.11 million young workers, comprising 45% of all young people ages 16-24 and 12% of California’s working population.
- Approximately 72% of young workers are people of color, with over 50% identifying as Latinx.
- 64% of young workers earn low wages.
- Nearly half of young workers are also attending school.
By Young Workers, For Young Workers
Working directly with young people is a core principle of the initiative. For the past two years, UCLA undergraduate students enrolled in “Working Families and Educational Inequalities in Urban Schools” (Labor Studies and Education 136M) developed and conducted a series of labor education and workplace rights workshops for high school students. UCLA Labor Summer intern, Uriel Perez, worked with the UCLA Labor Center to develop an interactive know-your-rights jeopardy game. Through their work and brainstorming, the initiative can understand key problems affecting young workers today.
Student-Led Curriculum
Our work is defined by an interactive, dynamic curriculum that is based on history and encourages students to think critically. The existing curriculum is a collection of role plays and simulations that ask students to imagine themselves as participants in historical events and engage in high stakes decision making. This project guides students through re-enactments and processes so that they better understand their place in the long history of labor, their own power as individuals and communities, and the value of thoughtful dialogue. Through classroom simulations and know-your-rights workshops, the Young Worker Initiative centers the experiences of young workers inside and outside of the classroom.
Featured Stories
Young Worker Education Project brings worker justice issues to LAUSD high schools
Union leaders, UCLA undergraduate students, and labor activists coached high school students through a collective bargaining simulation.
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California Labor Commissioner’s Office hosts Youth Labor Rights Workshops at Moreno Valley High School
UCLA Labor Center staff and UCLA Labor Studies alumni traveled to Moreno Valley to support the LCO in bringing young worker education to high school students.
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Labor Studies Undergraduate Students Become Leaders in the Classroom
Through immersive simulations and interactive workshops, middle school and high school students in Los Angeles gain a deeper understanding of labor history, worker rights, and the power of unions.
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UCLA Labor Center hosts ‘Young Workers and Leaders Convening’
The UCLA Labor Center and the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center collaborated to host the Young Workers and Leaders Convening on Nov. 29, 2022, a gathering of youth-focused organizations, young workers, and other leading youth advocacy organizations at the James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center in MacArthur Park.
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Young Worker Initiative
Publications
Staff
We extend our special thanks to:
Young Worker Education Project
LSRP Workers and Learners whose contribution to our research and center has been immeasurably impactful. Thank you for your stories and your labor.
Young workers everywhere
If you would like to learn more about the Young Worker Initiative, contact Jazmin Rivera at jrivera@irle.ucla.edu
