The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies hosted its second annual Spring Celebration on Thursday, June 4, in the Walker-Ames Room at Kane Hall. This celebration honored the Spring cohort of Building A Movement (BAM) interns and the undergraduate students completing the Labor Studies Minor. 

The 2026 BAM internship cohort consisted of eighteen interns, each placed with a local labor and social justice organization to gain hands-on experience in the labor movement. The Bridges Center partnered with sixteen organizations this year, including Queer the Land, Protec17, Communities for Our Colleges, and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), and more. These host organizations range from organized labor to grassroots community groups, all of which employ an intersectional approach to their work. 

“Through this internship, I gained hands-on experience in community organizing,” said Aylin Diaz, a BAM intern with Working Washington. “I also expanded my knowledge of labor rights and outreach.” Tamala Pearley, who interned with IAM District 751, introduced her peers at the celebration, and they each spoke about their experiences and highlights. “We had weekly meetings where we learned about the history of labor organizing and building community,” said Pearley. 

Many students expressed how much they enjoyed participating in marches and gatherings. Viviana Jiménez, who interned with United Farm Workers (UFW), noted that her favorite part of the internship was connecting with other unions on May Day. “We had a chance to meet with labor lawyer and author Abby Lawlor as our guest speaker. We also went on a labor history walking tour of the Seattle International District led by community leaders Cindy Domingo, David Della, and Andrew Hedden. Lastly, Amy Leong from APALA, in partnership with the Seattle Office of Labor Standards, visited our class to train us on the rights that we as workers have in Seattle,” said Pearley.

Jonathan (Jonny) Gonzalez, an alum of the Bridges Center, was the keynote speaker for the evening. During his time at UW, he double majored in Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, with a minor in Labor Studies. He received the LERA and Samuel B. Bassett Scholarship, and also participated in the Winter/Spring 2022 cohort of the BAM internship, where he helped organize academic student employees with UAW 4121. Later on, he was able to organize and build meaningful relationships with different unions as an intern with the Washington State Labor Council’s (WSLC) Union Summer internship program. 

“I was informed by my lived experiences, and I was looking for a space to create change and be a part of the conversation where we can imagine a different world. My college experience with the Bridges Center began my sophomore year; I took their classes, learned about the minor and the BAM internship, where I was accepted and then paired with UAW 4121,” Gonzalez said. “I believe that the Bridges Center equips us with the tools of intersectionality right at the moment where we are preparing to navigate post-college.” 

Currently, Gonzalez is an organizer with Teamsters 117, where he continues using skills he learned during his undergrad. “When I reflect on all that we did, I recognize that all these skills are transferable. I remember having organizing conversations, where we were getting out the information and identifying issues.”

The celebration also spotlighted the Bridges Center’s Research team and the many reports and projects they worked on. Research Director Rachel Erstad recognized Iris Miller-Sherman and Vanessa Alvarez, who were both selected as research interns for the collaboration with MLK People’s Organizing Center (POC) this academic year. Erstad also announced that the newest research report, “Rights On The Line,” a study on migrant fishers in collaboration with the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, will be released later this summer. 

This Spring, twenty-one students graduated with a minor in Labor Studies. Among those graduating is Kimaya Mahajan, an undergraduate majoring in Education, Communities, and Organizations, and minoring in Comparative Religion and Labor Studies, who has been a student engagement specialist with the Bridges Center for the past three years. “Kimaya has been organizing for social justice longer than people that are two or three times her age,” shared Andrew Hedden, Associate Director of the Bridges Center. “A peer mentor, educator, and organizer, she has worked with youth in the Seattle area on climate justice, mutual aid, and freedom for Palestine.” At the UW, Mahajan was involved with campus and community organizing efforts at the intersections of labor, social justice, and anti-imperialism. 

Additionally, Soohyung Hur, a graduate assistant who has been with the Center for the past five years. “As an instructor, Soohyung developed the curriculum for BAM, creating a space for interns to reflect on their experiences working in labor organizations, and to hear from guest speakers about local labor history, radical theory like abolition and mutual aid, and more,” Hedden said. “This past year, Soohyung took on a greater role in recruiting new organizations to the internship, helping to build our biggest cohort to date.” She is now defending her dissertation and completing her Ph.D. program in Geography this Spring. Hur and Mahajan were both presented with flowers by Associate Director Andrew Hedden in recognition of their work.

The evening concluded with Bridges Center Chair and Professor of History, Moon-Ho Jung, congratulating the interns and graduates. “Congratulations! Please take pride in all the hard work you put in to get that UW degree,” Jung said, “and as you leave UW, I hope labor studies taught you that we have to treat all workers, all working people, with dignity and respect.”