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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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Hotel Workers Civil Disobedience

Read more: Hotel Workers Civil DisobedienceIn 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 […]
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Boycott Forever 21

Read more: Boycott Forever 21In 2001, the coalition of organizations that had come together to support the Thai Workers in El Monte pooled their funds to establish the Garment Worker Center (GWC), as a legal clinic to support workers in filing wage claims under the new procedures established by AB633. They hired three young Asian American women to run […]
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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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May Day Los Angeles

Read more: May Day Los AngelesThe Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network (MIWON) formed in the year 2000 to support immigrant and undocumented immigrant labor rights across Los Angeles. The coalition brought together the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (Institute for Popular Education of Southern California, IDEPSCA), Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), […]