What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Los Angeles is at a turning point. We are living in a defining moment. What happens next is up to us. Over the past few years, problems and challenges have shaken this city -- and tremendous opportunities for change have presented themselves. How do we rise to this moment and emerge a better place to live? What will it take to create a more just and a more equitable community? Working together, how are we going to create a stronger, forward-thinking Los Angeles? Mike Bonin, writer, teacher, progressive activist and former City Councilmember, looks at the issues and problems facing Los Angeles, examines ideas, and talks with the people who will lead us to a brighter future.
Produced in partnership with LA Forward.
What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Labor Day Special: L.A.'s Labor History
It was just a year ago that Los Angeles was the focus nationally and internationally of the Hot Labor Summer of 2023. With workers in various industries taking to the streets and demanding better pay and working conditions, and with overwhelming public support, the message was clear: Los Angeles is a labor town.
But it wasn't always that way. Los Angeles was once known as one of the most anti-union cities in the country. On this Labor Day weekend, Kent Wong of the UCLA Labor Center walks us through the ups and downs of the history of organized labor in Los Angeles -- and reveals how victories and losses here shaped the labor movement nationally.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
UCLA Labor Center
Memory Work Los Angeles
Cal Federation of Labor - Labor History
LA Stories: Labor Movements in Los Angeles
Miguel Contreras: Legacy of a Labor Leader
Mike Garcia and the Justice for Janitors Movement
From Coors to California: David Sickler and the New Working Class
Voices from the Front Lines: Organizing Immigrant Workers in Los Angeles
From Mission to Microchip: A History of California Labor by Fred Glass (book)