How are advances in AI playing out in Iowa’s workplaces? What have changes in Iowa Worker’s Compensation law meant for injured workers? How would proposed OSHA rules impact workers’ safety in extreme heat? These are just a few of the recent topics that College of Law faculty, students, and alumni guest speakers have explored with workers from across Iowa in conferences hosted by the University of Iowa Labor Center.
This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the UI Labor Center. For generations, the center has strengthened Iowa workplaces and communities by serving thousands of workers each year with classes on workplace laws, safety, and leadership topics. The Labor Center is celebrating this exciting milestone with a gala event on Saturday, May 9, at 6 p.m. You can register for the event and help support the future of this vital program.
75 years of Labor Center and College of Law Collaboration
The College of Law has been a key partner of the Labor Center since its inception. In 1949, Iowa Governor William S. Beardsley called for a program to advance the field of labor-management relations. At UI President Hancher’s request, Iowa Law Professor Clarence Updegraff worked with an interdisciplinary faculty team and state labor leaders to form it.
By 1951, the new center opened. One of its first programs was a weeklong residential school for emerging labor leaders called the Labor Short Course, which included classes taught by College of Law faculty and alumni. This became a beloved tradition; the 74th annual Short Course on the UI campus this spring will host worker leaders in building trades, industrial, food processing, and education careers and includes sessions led by students in the Technology Law Clinic supervised by Professor Megan Graham, Law Research Assistant Femi Mojekwu, Professor César Rosado Marzán, and Iowa Law Alumnus Jay Smith (04JD), Smith & McElwain.
Today, the Labor Center is housed in the College of Law. Throughout its history, as part of the College of Business, then the Division of Continuing Education, Law Clinic faculty have taught in the Center’s labor law and arbitration institutes, and law students have gained practical legal research and education skills as research assistants at the Labor Center.
In-demand education that supports the workplace leaders of Iowa’s future
The world of work is constantly changing, with profound implications for Iowa’s working people and communities. Through it all, the Labor Center is a trusted resource for providing accurate, up-to-date information to help Iowans navigate change and shape the future.
When the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a wave of new federal programs and state unemployment rules, the Labor Center collaborated with Iowa Legal Aid, the Legal Clinic, and private attorneys to develop up-to-the minute public education handouts and videos to equip workers with information about these changes.
When the Inflation Reduction Act rolled out billions of dollars in economic opportunities, the Labor Center worked with the Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, construction trades and environmental policy leaders, local officials, and national experts to provide accessible information about the new law and its labor provisions.
Today, as Iowa workers face new challenges and opportunities, the Labor Center and the College of Law are excited to build on this proud legacy and help develop the next generation of Iowa labor leaders and lawyers.
