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The UC Davis Law Review hosts an annual symposium, bringing top experts in diverse legal fields to the UC Davis School of Law. This year, the Vol. 57 Symposium titled Exploring Contemporary Labor Struggles: Responses to Labor Law from Old School to New School and the Frontier to the Border will take place on Friday, October 6, 2023.
The symposium will examine contemporary labor issues and how labor stakeholders have responded to these events in both traditional and innovative ways. The panels will explore the history of the labor movement and the role of the State, the unprecedented labor movements across U.S. universities, the disruption of the labor market through new technology, and the role of immigrant child workers and domestic workers in the American workforce.
The symposium will coincide with Labor Summer 2023, the UC Labor Center expansion’s kickoff event, which partners with labor and community organizations to provide students with an immersive and holistic experience. The symposium will be attended by California labor stakeholders including researchers, labor experts, and scholars throughout the country, and provide a space for substantive discussion and exchange between labor organizations, practitioners, and legal scholars.
AGENDA:
8 - 8:30 a.m. – Registration
8:30 - 8:45 a.m. – Welcome from Dean Kevin Johnson
8:45 - 9:15 a.m. – Keynote Speaker: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (SAG-AFTRA)
[5 minute break]
9:20 - 10:35 a.m. – Panel One: Old School – History of the Labor Movement and the Role of the State
This Panel uses the history of workers’ struggles over the past century, and recent Presidential intervention in ongoing labor disputes, to chart the evolution of labor law vis-à-vis executive and state power. Panelists will discuss the ways in which state and federal governments interact with the labor movement whether to enhance or diminish worker power.
- Catherine Fisk (UC Berkeley)
- Diana Reddy (UC Berkeley)
- Caitlin Vega (California Labor Federation)
- Hina Shah (California Labor & Workforce Development Agency)
- Moderator - Courtney Joslin (UC Davis)
[5 minute break]
10:45 a.m. - 12 p.m. – Panel Two: New School – University Labor: From Students to Knowledge Workers
In recent years, the centuries-old American university model has been marked by a labor transformation. Most recently, nearly 50,000 researchers and graduate students joined an unprecedented University of California strike, resulting in a landmark agreement that raised wages and working conditions.
This Panel will discuss the “new school” of labor successes at the university, often at the margins of traditional labor law. Panelists will explore how workers are reasserting their place as education stakeholders, in California and beyond.
- Noah Zatz (UCLA)
- Michael Oswalt (Wayne State University)
- Margo Feinberg (Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers)
- Tanzil Chowdhury (UAW 2865)
- Moderator – Shayak Sarkar (UC Davis)
12 - 1 p.m. – Lunch
1:05 - 2:20 p.m. – Panel Three: The Frontier – Recoding Work: Political Power and Disputed Labor
Passed in 2020, Proposition 22 (exempting rideshare companies) was designed to combat AB 5 (affirming employee classifications) and remains the subject of considerable scholarship and commentary. Despite ongoing judicial challenges, a current wave of copycat state legislation and ballot measures advanced by large Silicon Valley corporations threatens to render California’s carveout the national law of the land.
This Panel assesses how “gig” workers themselves are organizing to challenge this tide, and the mechanisms outside traditional labor law they employ. These mechanisms include community and worker education in addition to creative lawsuits under existing employment protections.
- Veena Dubal (UC Irvine)
- Josh Rosenthal (Public Rights Project)
- Jonathan Harris (Loyola Marymount University)
- Maegan Ortiz (Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California)
- Moderator - Leticia Saucedo (UC Davis)
[5 minute break]
2:30 - 3:45 p.m. – Panel Four: The Border – Immigrant Workers in the Shadows: Child Labor and Domestic Workers in the 21st Century
Child labor and the exploitation of maids and nannies remain America’s 21st century problems. News stories of unaccompanied immigrant minors dropping out of school to work long days in dangerous conditions have raised national debates. Domestic workers remain excluded from important federal employment and labor laws, but a federal Domestic Worker Bill of Rights was recently proposed.
This Panel will explore the cutting-edge intersection of immigration and labor rights through two oft-overlooked labor forces: immigrant women working in private homes and immigrant children. This Panel will draw upon the histories of child labor and domestic workers to understand the current role of the border in the American labor force, and how noncitizen workers traditionally outside legal protections are nonetheless asserting power.
- Cesar Rosado Marzán (Iowa University)
- Robyn Rodriguez (UC Davis, Labor Center)
- Andrea Senteno (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund)
- Peggie Smith (Washington University in St. Louis)
- Moderator – Kevin Johnson (UC Davis)
3:45 - 4 p.m. – Closing Remarks by the UC Davis Law Review
4 - 5 p.m. – Reception in King Hall Courtyard
Please contact Gabe Buffey, Josh Concepcion, and Minae Seog at vol57symposiumcommittee@gmail.com with any questions.
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