Victor Narro

 

A nationally known expert on immigrant rights and low-wage workers, Victor Narro has been involved with immigrant rights and labor issues for almost 40 years. He is currently a Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center and Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies, where he teaches classes that focus on immigrant rights, low-wage workers, and the labor movement. Victor is also Core Faculty for the Public Interest Law Program at UCLA School for Law.

Victor was formerly the Co-Executive Director of Sweatshop Watch. Prior to that, he was the Workers’ Rights Project Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). Before his tenure at CHIRLA, Victor worked in the Los Angeles Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).

Victor was appointed by LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the Police Permit Review Panel of the Los Angeles Police Commission in 2005 and the Board of Commissioners of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles in 2011. In 2017, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Victor to the Cannabis Regulations Commission, where he served until April 2023. In June 2023, LA Mayor Karen Bass appointed Victor to a five-year term on the Board of Airport Commissioners.

Victor is the author of many law review and journal articles. He is co-author of Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America’s Cities (2008), and Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles (2010). He is co-editor of Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy (Cornell University Press, 2010) and No One Size Fits All: Worker Organization, Policy, and Movement in a New Economic Age (Cornell University Press, 2018). Victor has published a children’s book about labor solidarity, Jimmy’s Carwash Adventure (Hard Ball Press 2016). A follower of the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, Victor has emerged as a leading voice for spirituality in the work for justice as a Movement Chaplain for Faith Matters Network. His latest book publication is The Activist Spirit – Toward a Radical Solidarity (Hard Ball Press 2022).