Over the past month, the Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance celebrated strong progress through our November Slowvember campaign and an organized presence at the Ignatian Family Teach-in in Washington DC. In Slowvember’s first year, individuals and institutions committed to slowing down consumption and prioritizing care for workers and the planet, resulting in 27 individual pledges and…
Klara Parang is a student at UCLA, where she serves on an environmental justice student committee in partnership with the Buy Your Values UCLA campaign. Labor 411 Editor, Sahid Fawaz, talked with Klara about her work on campus to promote ethical purchasing. SF: Can you give us some background on your role with USAC and…
We learned with great sadness this week that Kent Wong, former director of the UCLA Labor Center and member of the Labor 411 Foundation Board of Directors, passed away. Wong was an activist, leader, and brother in the labor movement. After he joined the UCLA Labor Center in 1991, he grew the program from three…
A message from our friends at the Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance (CEPA): Across the country, Catholic schools and universities are joining a growing movement to align their purchasing with their values—choosing products that support fair wages, safe workplaces, and sustainable practices. Through the Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance (CEPA) and our partner Ethix Merch, students and…
Madison Mavis is the Director of Sustainability and Partnerships for NuSource, where she forms partnerships with fashion brands and nonprofits to divert excess inventory or donations from waste streams. She is an active member of the Act on Fashion coalition, advocating for the swift passage of the New York Fashion Act. Labor 411 Editor, Sahid…
On June 6, 2025, ICE conducted its infamous raids in Los Angeles, targeting workers in the garment sector, laborers in Home Depot parking lots, and many others throughout the city. The Trump administration sent in the National Guard and Marines in an obscene show of force to disproportionately deal with any protesters. Labor 411 editor,…
Saba Waheed is the director of the UCLA Labor Center. Prior to this role, she spent 11 years as the Labor Center’s research director. With nearly 20 years of experience developing community-led research projects for labor advocacy organizations, Waheed’s work is grounded in the “research justice” framework, which she co-developed to address structural inequities in…
By Sahid Fawaz Chris Kerr is the Executive Director of the Ignatian Solidarity Network, which is a US-based national social justice education and advocacy organization grounded in Catholic Social Teaching and the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The organization, along with Ethix-Merch, co-founded the Catholic Ethical Purchasing Alliance to provide support to institutions seeking to…
By Sahid Fawaz On Wednesday, May 21st, the Buy Your Values UCLA (BYV) coalition– a newly formed initiative under Environmental Justice Now, a facilities committee under the Undergraduate Students Association Council at UCLA– hosted its first in-person event. The event aimed to educate students from various garment-oriented organizations about the importance of joining the coalition. BYV seeks…
Labor 411 editor, Sahid Fawaz, spoke with Jacqueline Lewis, who is an Advocacy Counsel at the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR). At ICAR, she advocates for advancing legal and regulatory mechanisms combating corporate human rights and environmental abuses in the United States and across global supply chains and works toward building an economy that works for everyone….