The CFT Labor in the Schools Committee is pleased to help celebrate California Labor History Week each year, the first week in April (view television news clips from 2007 celebration; you need Quicktime Player to watch). We thank Assemblyman George Nakano for his perseverance in carrying the bill and seeing it through to the Governor's signature in 2002. We also would like to recognize the efforts of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell for helping to publicize the holiday throughout the state's public schools. We hope that in future years the celebration will have adequate resources at the state level to allow all school districts to come up with their own activities. After all, nearly every public school student will grow up to be a worker, and they'll be part of labor history too!

Ideas to help you celebrate Labor History Week 2008:

• Pin a copy of the California Labor History Map to your wall (click here for more info)
• Visit the California Labor History Map Website
• Check out the California labor history slideshow
• Show Golden Lands, Working Hands in your classroom or union hall
• Visit a California labor history exhibit in the Rotunda at the State Capitol, at the Berkeley Main Public Library, in the Sacramento State Library, the California Department of Education lobby, or at Valley College in the Los Angeles Community College District
• Download a letter from Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell advising social studies department chairs about Labor History Week
• Read Work, Money and Power: Unions in the 21st Century, a pamphlet on what unions are and do; order one, or a class set, from the Center for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley
• Go to the new website of the Speaker's Commission on Labor Education