Dolores Huerta Labor Institute

  Remembering John Delloro

The first time I saw John he was wearing a dress and leading the crowd in a chant “Jessie Jesie you’re a mess. . . (I forget the rest of the chant) at a protest against clothing-maker Jessica McClintock for not paying her workers. He was energetic, charismatic, funny and politically very astute. The next time was when we both turned up outside—actually quite far outside—UCLA Chancellor Charles Young’s home in a gated community in the Santa Monica hills. It was a protest by SAGE (the Student Association of Graduate Employees) demanding that the university negotiate with their union. Again I was struck by John’s leadership—and drawn to that same wonderful mix of passion, intelligence and creativity.

DHLI mourns the loss of its Executive Director, John Delloro, who passed away on Saturday, June 5, 2010 from a heart attack.

John joined DHLI in 2006 as its first Executive Director.  He helped expand labor studies curriculum within the Los Angeles Community College District, which has over 130,000 students.  Under his leadership, DHLI grew into a program that did many things, including help create new labor studies classes, connect faculty to labor studies resources and got students involved in the labor movement through internships, trainings and exposure to labor and community leaders through speaker events.  John also taught labor studies at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and he also taught Asian American Studies at UCLA.

DHLI Works with MALDEF to Educate about Census at East LA College.

After Spring Break, the DHLI worked with MALDEF, VotoLatino, ELAC’s Students for Equal Rights and AFT1521 chapter president Armida Ornelas to inform students about the importance of the Census. On April 15, an event featuring artist Lalo Alcarez and a musical performance by Maleco Collective took place to further educate and help students fill out census forms.

 Voices and Images Series Events!

 On May 24 & 26, Linda Tubach of the CA Assembly Speaker’s Labor In the Schools Committee led a 2-day Collective Bargaining Project Program at LA Southwest College. On May 13, acclaimed writer & performer Traci Kato Kiriyama & other poets performed at LA Southwest College. On May 3, Cathy Deppe of 9to5.org conducted a worker rights workshop at LA Harbor College.

 2ND UPDATED EDITION OF PRIMER ON TEACHING LABOR STUDIES TO BE AVAILABLE BY SEPTEMBER 2010!!!

 With updated data on work and jobs and pieces from leading labor studies scholars such as Nelson Lichtenstein, Bill Fletcher, Dolores Huerta, and others!

On Friday, April 9, 2010 a reception was held in the Rotunda at Los Angeles City Hall to launch the opening of the Art and Imagery of Labor History Exhibition at the Bridge Gallery in downtown.

Guests learned about the history of how the exhibition came to be from speakers including Vivian Price from Cal State Dominguez Hills, Linda Tubach from UTLA and the Labor In the Schools Committee of the California Federation of Teachers and Kenadi Le from the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute.  Special guests who spoke included the tradeswomen artists who created the poster art such as Rikka Racelis and Jane Templin from IBEW Local 11 and  Joanne Waddell from AFT 1521, one of the sponsoring unions.

After the reception, guests visited the Bridge Gallery to look at the art and posters.

The exhibition features panels from the California Labor History Exhibit* and posters from the project Tradeswomen Across the Next Generation (TANG).**  It will run through May 7, 2010. 

 On Saturday, March 6, 2010, labor scholars from around the country and faculty from the Los Angeles Community College district converged at a retreat held at Los Angeles Valley College to collaborate on ideas for advancing labor studies in the community colleges.  The program included special lectures by high profiles guests and a breakout session facilitated by labor and community organizers.

Speakers included Bill Fletcher, Jr., Mike Davis, Dolores Huerta, Kent Wong and Nelson Lichtenstein.  Introductions were given by Joanne Waddell, AFT Chapter President from Los Angeles Valley College, AFT 1521 President, Carl Friedlander and Los Angeles Trade-Technical College Labor Center Director, John McDowell.