Six hundred people attended a sold-out event honoring the fortieth anniversary of the UCLA Labor Center on May 22, 2004, at the Wilshire Grande Hotel. The dinner was not only an uplifting, inspirational event but also raised $116,000 to support the Labor Center's work.
The anniversary celebration honored four special individuals who have contributed so much to the Labor Center and to the labor movement: Tom Rankin, president of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, and one of the founding governing council members of the Institute for Labor and Employment; David Sickler, Southern California director of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and chair of the UCLA advisory committee for more than ten years; Rev. James Lawson Jr., a historic leader of the civil rights movement and leading nonviolence theorist who has taught courses on nonviolence through the Labor Center; and Dolores Huerta, cofounder of the United Farm Workers of America and currently UC Regent.
Speakers at the event included State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, Assemblymember Paul Koretz, Assemblymember-elect Karen Bass, City Councilmembers Antonio Villaraigosa and Martin Ludlow, and Miguel Contreras, executive secretary-treasurer of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, AF-CIO. Artwork was commissioned for the event, featuring some of the major social justice campaigns the honorees have led, including the Memphis Sanitation Strike, the United Farm Workers movement, the Coors boycott, and the fight for health care in California. A framed poster was presented to each of the honorees, and all of the dinner participants were given copies at the conclusion of the event.
The evening also featured a video highlighting the Labor Center's history and achievements, a slide show presenting the history of the honorees, and the beautiful music of Aquilina Soriano from the Pilipino Workers Center. A fortieth anniversary commemorative journal was distributed at the banquet. |
