Power from the Past

Memory Work Research Initiative

Banner image of a march of religious leaders and families, under a banner at the center reading "Grocery Workers Justice Pilgrimage -- "Do not close your ears to the cry of the needy" and bearing the logo of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice). At the front of the march is CLUE's leader Rev. Alexia Salvatierra.
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) leads a Grocery Workers Justice Pilgrimage during the Southern California supermarket strike of 2003-2004. At the front of the march is Rev. Alexia Salvatierra. LAANE Collection, IRLE Archives.
A frame color photograph of a man dressed as Jacob Marley surrounded by workers and religious leaders (in collars).
Flanked by religious leaders from CLUE, including Rev. James Lawson Jr., Suffragen Bishop Chester Talton, and Father Joseph Frazier, Dave Clennon addresses the press in advance of a City Council hearing on the Living Wage Ordinance in December 1996. Linda A. Lotz Photo Collection, IRLE Archives.
street level view of a civil disobedience action downtown. photo taken over the shoulder of people sitting in a circle in the middle of an intersection with an inner ring of hotel beds
Hotel workers and allies in civil disobedience action downtown, in which union hotel workers dramatized their daily labor in the middle of a downtown Los Angeles intersection in 2004. Shortly after this picture was taken, police arrested a number of workers and supporters. UNITE HERE Local 11 Collection, IRLE Archives.
scene of a protest march on Cesar E. Chavez Ave. in Boyle Heights (the street sign visible in the background). Protestors carry signs including "Brown Yes - 187 No" and "L.A. Should Work for Everyone"
On May 28, 1994, Justice for Janitors organized a march against Prop 187 in Boyle Heights. SEIU-USWW (Justice for Janitors) Collection, IRLE Archives.
Grainy black and white photo of a group of young (ish) men and women. In the center, they hold a banner reading "L.A. Jobs with Peace", Many others in the photo are displaying signs with a large "V" on them (signs also say "Register to Vote here") or making a V sign with their fingers. They are posing outside the entrance of a building. In the bottom corner, the photo is captioned "Los Angeles organizers during the campaign."
Activists with the 1986 Los Angeles Jobs with Peace campaign hold signs for Proposition V outside the International Ladies Garment Workers union hall on MacArthur Park. Larry Frank Collection, Southern California Library.
A group of men raise their fists and make victory signs. Some hold paper checks.
ILGWU organizer Miguel Machuca and Somma waterbed factory workers celebrate back-pay awards ordered by the NLRB after the company fired union activists. ILGWU Photographs, Box 3, Folder 9, Kheel Center Collection, Catherwood Library, Cornell University.
Group photo of students in the 1947 UCLA steelworkers summer institute
Graduates of the first UCLA summer Institute for Steelworkers, August 1947.

Power from the Past invites visitors to explore the many ways working people and their allies have organized and fought to make Los Angeles a more livable city for everyone.

Our collection features photos, documents, videos, and memories gathered in collaboration with unions, worker centers, and organizers. You can browse by topic, format, and date. Or you can dig into our growing collection of case studies.

Power from the Past is a creation of the Memory Work Research Initiative at the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE). We engage community partners, scholars, and students in a thoughtful process of collecting, preserving, and sharing the rich history of organizing in our region because we believe history is a powerful resource for democratic engagement in a multi-racial society.

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Browse by date or topic:

1978 (3) 1984 (2) 1989 (3) 1990 (11) 1991 (4) 1992 (5) 1993 (3) 1994 (3) 1995 (4) 1996 (7) 1997 (6) 2000 (9) 2004 (3) 2006 (3) 2011 (2) 2012 (2) 2022 (5) AFL-CIO (4) CASA (3) CIWA (3) CLUE (12) Garment Workers (9) GWC (2) HERE Local 11 (12) ILGWU (8) immigrant rights (24) IRLE history (3) Justice for Janitors (42) LAANE (13) Living Wage Campaign (9) Los Angeles Civil Unrest of 1992 (5) SEIU-USWW (5) UAW (6) UNITE HERE (16) workers' education (2)

Browse articles:

  • Century Blvd. Mass Civil Disobedience

    In September 2006, UNITE HERE Local 11 organized what was likely the largest act of civil disobedience in Los Angeles History. Union members, religious leaders, elected officials, and community allies joined in a large march to protest low wages at corporate hotels along Century Blvd. outside of Los Angeles International Airport. The protest demonstrated the…

  • “Day Without an Immigrant” March in Los Angeles

    On May 1, 2006 hundreds of thousands marched in Los Angeles and other large U.S. cities in support of immigrant rights. Called by many “A Day without an Immigrant,” the May Day protests were the culmination of months of planning in response to a punitive immigration bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.…

  • Miguel Contreras: Warrior for Working Families

    As leader of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Miguel Contreras (1952-2005) reshaped LA’s unions into a powerful political, economic, and social force. When Contreras was 17, his family attended a rally in support of Senator Robert Kennedy’s campaign for president where they met Cesar Chávez, leader of the United Farm Workers (UFW). Miguel…

  • Victory at Last: Hotel workers reflect on contract victory

    For 14 months during 2004-2005, UNITE HERE Local 11 mounted an assertive campaign to win a contract with employers represented by the Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council. Building on the union’s rank-and-file strategy, hotel workers organized repeated delegations to articulate their demands to hotel management. The union also mobilized community allies and the labor movement…

  • David Beats Goliath: How Inglewood defeated WalMart

    In 2004, WalMart announced its intentions to build a massive new superstore in Inglewood. The proposed developed was to be a supersized store that would be the size of 17 football fields, threatening to displace local small businesses and other grocery and retail stores in the area, many of which maintained union contracts with the…

  • Hotel Workers Civil Disobedience

    In 2004, UNITE-HERE Local 11 launched a campaign to win a contract with employers represented by the Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council. Building on the union’s rank-and-file strategy, hotel workers organized repeated delegations to articulate their demands to hotel management and mobilized community allies and the labor movement in disruptive public demonstrations. The campaign in…