More than sixty labor leaders and union members from across the Los Angeles region attended "A Night of Celebration and Information," the first UCLA Labor Center Black History Month event. Hosted by the UCLA African American Leadership School, the panel focused on economic challenges facing African American workers in Los Angeles and nationwide and highlighted the Los Angeles security organizing campaign.

The evening featured UC Berkeley Labor Specialist Steven Pitts, who recently published "Organize to Improve the Quality of Jobs in the Black Community: A Report on Jobs and Activism in the African American Community." His research highlights the crisis of bad jobs in the black community, jobs that pay poorly with few benefits, no future, and that offer no protection from employer harassment.

SEIU Local 1877 Organizing Director Jeffrey Richardson and Lead Organizer Jayson Pope presented a detailed analysis of the L.A. security officers' campaign, the largest organizing effort of African American workers since the Pullman sleeping car porters in the 1930s. In Los Angeles, private security officers earn little more than minimum wage, are unable to afford health care benefits for themselves and their families, and do not receive adequate training. "This is a David and Goliath fight-and justice must prevail for these workers," said Pope.

The event was comoderated by Erica Williams, vice president of CWA 9586, and Eric Brown, treasurer of IBEW Local 11.