Workers Rising: The Power of Joy & Solidarity
Victor Narro - Project Director, UCLA Labor Center
Workers Rising: The Power of Joy & Solidarity
Victor Narro - Project Director, UCLA Labor Center
Victor Narro - Project Director, UCLA Labor Center
Project Director at the UCLA Labor Center, Victor Narro, reflects on the evolution of the labor movement, the deep connection between immigrant rights and worker justice, and why joy, compassion, and radical solidarity are essential to sustaining movements for the long haul.
How do workers build power—and joy—in the struggle for justice?
Tune into the third episode of Season 5 of Conversations from the Frontlines, where Liberty Hill President & CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith sits down with nationally recognized immigrant rights and workers movement expert Victor Narro. Together, they dive into a powerful conversation about solidarity, worker justice, and the joy that sustains movement work.
Drawing on nearly 40 years of organizing, advocacy, and education, Victor reflects on the deep connection between immigrants' rights and labor rights. He takes us through the evolution of worker organizing in LA, and why relationships, compassion, and collective action are essential to building a more just future.
Meet our Guest
Victor Narro
Victor Narro is a nationally known expert on the workplace rights of immigrant workers. He has been involved with immigrant rights and labor issues for many years, and is currently Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center. At the Labor Center, Narro’s focus is to provide leadership training and workshops for Los Angeles’s immigrant workers, and internship opportunities for UCLA students. Narro is also Core Faculty for the UCLA Department of Labor Studies, where he teaches classes that focus on immigrant workers and the labor movement. Narro was formerly 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) where he was involved with organizing and policy advocacy involving day laborers, domestic workers, garment workers, gardeners, and other low-wage workers. His work in multi-ethnic organizing led to the creation of the Multi-ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network (MIWON) in collaboration with KIWA, Garment Worker Center and Pilipino Worker Center. Through Narro’s leadership, the day laborer project has grown into the National Day Laborer Organizing Network that today includes 40 community-based worker centers around the country. Before his tenure at CHIRLA, Narro worked in the Los Angeles Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Over the past few years, Narro has worked with the Los Angeles Labor Movement on major immigrant worker organizing campaigns with janitors, hotel workers, laundry workers, sanitation workers, port truckers, and the CLEAN Carwash Campaign. From 2005-2010, Narro was appointed by L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa to the Police Permit Review Panel of the Los Angeles Police Commission, and he served on the Board of Commissioners of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles in 2011. In 2017, L.A. Mayor Garcetti appointed Narro to a five-year term on the Cannabis Regulations Commission.