The Social Justice Center hosted the Working Class History Workshop. During the event, FCC history professor Paul Gilmore spoke about the working class struggle to obtain quality working wages on Thursday Jan. 29.
The presentation was centered on California’s labor history, focusing on San Francisco dock workers and Los Angeles’ field workers in the early 1900s.
Gilmore spoke about how the rights people have today had to be won because the influence of the people enforcing the law were intense and were not just going to hand over the benefits of exploited labor.
“I wanted to give people an idea of how the rights that they think they just have are ones that they have won, while lots of other very powerful people are always around trying to take them away.,” Gilmore said.
He went on to say that the struggle was long and that this workshop only scratched the surface of the workers right history.
The audience was active and engaging, often opting to applaud Gilmore during his presentation.
Landmarks of California’s laborers rights were featured on a PowerPoint slideshow, spotlighting the illustrious history of workers rights and battles from the early 1900s to the 2000s.
Gilmore’s goal focused on hosting family friendly workshops to gather and collect like-minded individuals so they could learn how to build a sense of community.
Gilmore brought the message home by including Fresno’s free speech fight and the Industrial Workers of World (IWW). He said that labor rights have come a long way since the 1900s and showed this thoroughly with his extensive knowledge of history and a movie-like presentation.
Dana Maciel,a Fresno State student in attendance said that the event itself was “inspiring” and that there needed more leaders and more organizations to get involved to inspire others as well.
Charlie Beche said that the event was enlightening and that it was wonderful to be able to unite with capitalists and give workers the rights they worked for, even if they had to contend for them.
Additionally, the Educational Workshop Series hosted by the Social Justice Center will also be hosting a landscape series, policy series, and organizing series.
These series specialize in teaching land justice, civil righteousness, and how to unionize, organize and host campaigns to represent. According to Gilmore’s workshop presentation.
