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On February 15, 2005 the first Student-Labor Action Teach-In took place on the UCLA campus at Ackerman Grand Ballroom. Almost four hundred students from UCLA, community colleges, and area high schools attended the event sponsored by the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), the Undergraduate Student Government General Representatives, and the UCLA Labor Center.
The Teach-In provided students with an opportunity to learn about social justice issues for low-wage workers on campus and in Los Angeles and to address budget cuts and tuition increases in higher education.
Plenary speakers included Maria Elena Durazo from UNITE-HERE, LaKesha Harrison from AFSCME, Jose La Luz from the AFL-CIO, and Rev. James Lawson, long-time civil rights activist and a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers, spoke during dinner. Many of the speakers emphasized the importance of student activism, how students have historically played significant roles in the struggle for civil rights as well as workers' rights, and the power that students have to act for social justice.
Workshops on issues like globalization, the state budget, and immigrant worker organizing were facilitated by organizers from the Garment Worker Center, Korean Immigrant Workers Advocate (KIWA), the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA,) AFT, AFSCME, CUE, UPTE, Sweatshop Watch, and the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) program.
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