Category: Videos
Moving images created by news organizations, unions, activists, and researchers
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Raise L.A. Coalition Victory
Read more: Raise L.A. Coalition VictoryA higher minimum wage for workers in big hotels Supporters of the Raise L.A. coalition celebrate a vote of the Los Angeles city council in September 2014. Under the new law, large non-union hotels in Los Angeles would raise their minimum wage to $15.37 by 2015. The campaign was part of a multi-year strategy led […]
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Celebrating the Donation of the Justice for Janitors Archive from USWW to UCLA
Read more: Celebrating the Donation of the Justice for Janitors Archive from USWW to UCLAThe IRLE’s collaboration with SEIU United Service Workers West (USWW) began in 2010, which marked the 20 year anniversary of their campaign in Century City. After nearly two years of planning meetings, archival collecting, oral history interviews, focus groups, and events, the archive assembled was officially donated to the UCLA Library in April 2012, enabling […]
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Century Blvd. Mass Civil Disobedience
Read more: Century Blvd. Mass Civil DisobedienceIn 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 […]
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“Day Without an Immigrant” March in Los Angeles
Read more: “Day Without an Immigrant” March in Los AngelesOn 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. […]
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Miguel Contreras: Warrior for Working Families
Read more: Miguel Contreras: Warrior for Working FamiliesAs 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 […]
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Victory at Last: Hotel workers reflect on contract victory
Read more: Victory at Last: Hotel workers reflect on contract victoryFor 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 […]
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David Beats Goliath: How Inglewood defeated WalMart
Read more: David Beats Goliath: How Inglewood defeated WalMartIn 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 […]
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Grocery Workers Justice Pilgrimage
Read more: Grocery Workers Justice PilgrimageIn the fall of 2003, grocery workers at Albertson’s stores in Southern California went on strike. Arguing that they faced increased competition from Wal-Mart, who was expanding their operations in California, the supermarket chains had taken a hard line in their negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), proposing to slash employer contributions […]
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Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride
Read more: Immigrant Workers Freedom RideIn September 2003, immigrant workers from across the country joined a mass mobilization called the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. For twelve days, delegations from 10 cities travelled on buses across the country, making nearly 100 stops along the way, including in Washington D.C. where the Freedom Riders met with Congressional leaders to advocate for immigration […]
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Let Justice Roll Down
Read more: Let Justice Roll DownThe Working Poor: Challenge to the Religious Community What is the responsibility of people of faith when confronted with the poverty of working people in a wealthy country? That question is posed by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) in this 2000 video featuring the testimony of working people, faith leaders, academics, and […]