The history of Labor resistance in the IE is ongoing. Education about it should be too.
The narrative around organized labor in our region has long been lacking. There is a false idea that important fights only happen outside of our region. A core part of the Inland Empire Labor Council’s mission has been to change the narrative around labor, and have the public know that we have a long history of Labor resistance and victory. This underscores our ongoing Labor of Love project — documenting the history of Labor resistance in the Inland Empire.
A key aspect of changing a narrative is education. We see an important way for this to occur in the K-12 classrooms of our region, especially in Labor History Month. In the state of California, May was declared Labor History Month after the signing of AB 2269. Coinciding with the Labor History Month, the week that April 28th falls on every year is also Workforce Readiness Week as declared by AB800, where schools are encouraged to help students prepare for entering the workforce, or if they’re already in it, to learn their rights as workers. Following this, educators across the state are encouraged to teach about labor history throughout the month.
Therefore, we see May as a month that would welcome the Inland Empire’s labor history into the classroom.
To encourage teachers to incorporate either the ethos of Labor of Love or the actual material which came from it, we’ve created a sample lesson plan outline for teachers to use in the classroom. Our vision is that teachers would contact the IELC via email at laboroflove@ielabor.org at least two weeks in advance to arrange a visit from one of the 400K+ union members who are part of our labor council. This speaker would visit the classroom and educate students on what it means to be a union member, and standing up for your rights in the workplace.
We hope that this is the first of many lesson plans which emerge from the Labor of Love project, with more coming which can utilize the many profiles or reels from the project. There’s many different lesson plans that could emerge, and we are eagerly looking forward to their creation.
Where is the curriculum?
You can access the Google Drive with our first lesson plan, handouts, in addition to our Inland Empire People’s History Conference presentation about the project, here: Using Local Labor History in your Pedagogy
Who do I contact at the IELC?
Please email us at laboroflove@ielabor.org for questions related to Labor of Love. For a bringing a union speaker to your class, please email us at least two weeks in advance of the desired date they’d be speaking. We’re more than happy to collaborate on future classroom projects, lessons, and connecting you with a union speaker!
Where can I find more materials related to Labor
of Love?
Please visit both our Labor of Love landing page with links to our documentary/profiles, and Labor of Love: Reels which contains our digitized film reels. The more we promote this project the more we can keep it going.
Where can I get more educational materials?
On our resources page, we have a specific section for educational materials. Visit our resources page at this link. If you have suggestions for more, please reach out to us at communications@ielabor.org, we’re eager to share out resources for all.