On Friday, June 24th, at 1 p.m. Eastern, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the UCLA Labor Center will co-host a forum at the national AFL-CIO headquarters on racial justice and the role of workers and their unions to combat anti-Asian hate. The forum coincides with the 30th anniversary of APALA, the first and only national labor organization of AAPI workers and their allies.

2020 marked a rise in violence against AAPI communities, including AAPI workers, with the organization Stop AAPI Hate reporting more than 3,800 anti-Asian incidents within the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The forum will highlight testimonies from AAPI workers and community members, and connect their personal experiences with anti-Asian violence to broader issues of systemic racism and economic inequality. Attendees will also strategize how the labor movement can advance an intersectional racial justice agenda amid the 2022 elections and ongoing fights for immigrant, worker, and civil rights.

All in-person attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination and remain masked while inside the building