After the Labor Resource Center went on a hiatus for a little while, the University of Massachusetts Boston appointed a new director for the Labor Resource Center, Steve Striffler, under the College of Liberal Arts. Striffler has a background in Labor History, Latin American studies, immigration, human rights, and anthropology.

The center educates and researches big issues that people in the workforce face such as inequality, low wages, and discrimination. The Labor Resource Center can be divided into two topics: education and research. 

“The Labor Center education helps students to critically understand the world of workers and works and to build writing research, analytical, and organizational skills,” said Striffler. “Now the research includes applied participatory work as well as the past, present and future of work.”

Students work with staff and faculty on topics such as low wage employment and women in construction.

The Labor Center has provided hands-on training and technical assistance to workers, union members, and community organizations since 1995. At UMass Boston, there are two undergraduate programs: the academic major (BA) and minor in Labor Studies or the Labor Studies Certificate.  These interdisciplinary programs examine the diversity of work and working-class experience, the changing nature of the workplace, and the past, present, and future of labor organizations, movements, and conflicts. 

The Labor Resource Center is new and improved. For those students who take a big interest in labor equality, this is a major that fits. The center is having a reopening of the UMass Boston Labor Studies Program Nov. 5.