For nearly fifty years, the Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) at the University of Oregon has been connecting workers and their unions together with students, faculty, and policymakers to address the most critical issues facing working-class Oregonians.

The UO Labor Center continues to be a critical source of applied research, hands-on training, and technical assistance for policy-makers, unions, and community advocates in Oregon and beyond.

The UO Labor Center remains the only program in Oregon’s higher education system that examines work and the economy with a focus on the needs, interests, and priorities of workers and working-class communities.

 

  • Public Pensions and Private Equity Risks
    Private equity firm Instar Asset Management has received hundreds of millions of dollars of investment capital from public pensions in the US and Canada. LERC Research Faculty Michael Angulo examines Instar’s track record, highlighting poor performance, a labor dispute, and a boycott at its Windmill Farms in Washington State—raising concerns about the implications for public pension investors….
  • IBEW 48's Norman Malbin
    OLLC 2026
    Oregon Labor Law Conference Friday, January 30, 2026 The Labor Center is pleased to announce our co-sponsorship to the 2026 Oregon Labor Law Conference. The Oregon Labor Law Conference, launched more than twenty years ago by former IBEW Local 48 counsel Norman Malbin, is an annual event designed by and for the labor movement. Each year, union leaders and staff from across the Northwest come together to sharpen their skills in areas such as grievance…
  • Kent Wong, former director of UCLA Labor Center
    Obituary: Kent Wong, of UCLA Labor Center
    Kent Wong, was the director of the UCLA Labor Center from 1991-2023. An esteemed community leader, Wong was renowned across Los Angeles and the nation for his labor and immigrant rights advocacy. As director of the UCLA Labor Center —and more recently, its project director of labor and community partnerships—Wong cemented the center as a groundbreaking hub for research and leadership development programs that serve workers and immigrants….