Whereas, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified long-standing class and racial disparities, with corporations making massive profits while working people and communities of color face economic hardship and disproportionate rates of infection and loss of life; 

Whereas, California needs to advance equitable economic recovery, that centers the needs of working people and not the corporate elite; 

Whereas, the UC Berkeley and UCLA Labor Centers have existed for 58 years as the only institutions that serve the needs of unions and workers within the University of California, while massive public resources have been invested in the six business schools within the University of California over the generations;

Whereas, additional funding is needed to advance labor and employment policy, workforce development and a worker-centered economy, and the development of future generations of labor researchers, educators and staff for labor and community organizations who reflect the diverse people of California, and to establish and launch new labor research and education programs in underserved regions of California;

Whereas, the UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Merced Labor Centers have been under-resourced, although they have established a proven track record of serving the Bay Area, Los Angeles and the Central Valley, and there are pressing needs for labor research, labor policy, and worker education in the Inland Empire, the Sacramento region, the Santa Cruz/Monterrey region, the Central Coast region, Orange County, and San Diego and Imperial Counties, among others;

Whereas, a $10 million augmentation of funding would provide $3 million in support of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, $3 million in support of the UCLA Labor Center, $1 million in support of the UC Merced Labor Center, and would establish a $3 million fund to support new and innovative programs and initiatives on the other six UC campuses; 

Therefore, be it resolved that the California Federation of Teachers supports the augmentation of $10 million in on-going state funds to support the expansion of UC-based Labor Research and Education to help address the state’s most pressing current and future challenges and to help train new generations of leaders, researchers, educators and policymakers.

M/S/C  by the Executive Council on 1/29/22