The University of Wisconsin Havens Wright Center for Social Justice, in collaboration with the High Road Strategy Center and the South Central Federation of Labor will present Labor Spring 2025, “Get the Scoop: What jobs are really like,” on March 14 at the Old Madison Room in Memorial Union from 1-3 p.m.
Labor Spring was first initiated by an organization called the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, a labor center based at Georgetown University, according to the managing director at the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice Adrienne Pagac.
Labor Spring is a series of events, programs, exhibits and panels designed to bring individuals in all workfields together to discuss working environments, Pagac said.
“I think Labor Spring is designed to lift up things that folks are doing, not only locally in their communities, but thinking more broadly about how to make work work for everybody,” Pagac said. “It’s to remind folks that we all have the power to make a change in the workplace and I think that’s something that benefits all of us, not only the workers that do the job, but also it benefits our clients, our patients, our customers and even our boss.”
Labor Spring at UW began as a panel featuring a variety of workers from the cities of Milwaukee and Madison. Featured workers discussed establishing a voice or union in the workplace, according to Pagac.
For the past two years, Labor Spring has run as an open house where students can speak with workers across occupations and industries, Pagac said. It is open to all students interested in speaking with certain experts or organizations about their experiences in their career fields, rather than only a career overview.
“Our lives take certain kinds of pathways, and we just don’t really know what’s out there until we try it, and unless we know that it’s available,” Pagac said. “Workers that we’re hoping students interact with is just students just like them, or workers just like themselves, potentially.”
The event is a way for students to expand their career options, and to potentially explore a job in different career industries, Pagac said.
The Kalmanovitz Institute and the Havens Wright for Social Justice strive for economic justice and an economic democracy, Pagac said.
“One of the ways that we can ensure that that happens is making sure that workers always have a voice on the job because workers, all the time, know what it takes to do the work and it’s important for them to be at the table,” Pagac said.
