Labor Summer Internship

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General Information for 2024 Program

Spend your summer learning about social and economic justice and exploring the intersections of race, class, gender, and immigration in the labor movement!

Coordinated by the UC Berkeley Labor Center and sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council, Labor Summer is a full-time, PAID, intensive eight-week internship program designed to train the next generation of labor and community leaders.

You will learn from and work with labor and community organizations in California, applying your skills in real-world settings on issues vital to the state’s working people. You’ll also gain the skills and networks to explore and prepare for labor-related jobs after graduation.

We will be hosting an in-person Labor Summer experience in 2024.

Details

Program Dates:
June 17, 2024 – August 9, 2024

DEADLINE TO APPLY: February 9th

Why apply to the Labor Summer Internship Program?

This past year, news outlets dubbed the summer of 2023 “Hot Labor Summer” and we agree that this has been an extraordinary year for workers and the labor movement. Historic union actions and wins were seen in the entertainment industry, automotive manufacturing, health care, and teaching—just to name a few. For the first time, all nine UC campuses in the state of California sponsored a Labor Summer program, providing 134 interns statewide with hands-on experience organizing and conducting research in the labor movement.

Labor Summer provides you with the opportunity to be part of this incredible moment to learn about and lift up some of the most important issues affecting workers in California today.

You’ll also get the chance to develop and hone your skills alongside people working on the ground to address some of these critical challenges facing workers—low wages, wage theft, discrimination, health and safety violations, and a lack of voice and power in the workplace.

Hear from host sites and interns from 2023

How it works

Labor Summer is a PAID full-time internship for graduate and undergraduate students. By the end of Labor Summer, students will have gained valuable organizing skills that will support their success in future labor-related jobs. This is a great opportunity for graduating students who are ready to work full time in the labor movement after the program because some of our host sites and labor organizations will be looking to hire, and graduate interns will be added to our alumni list serve where job announcements are posted.

Details:

  • All interns will attend a week-long orientation together from Monday, June 17 to Friday, June 21. This does not include June 19th, in observance of Juneteenth. The orientation will include a series of workshops covering topics related to the U.S. labor movement (with a focus on California labor issues), provide specialized organizing skills training, and present opportunities for interns to build relationships with their fellow cohort members and host sites.
  • Interns will then spend seven weeks (40 hours/week) at a union, worker center, or community-based organization, where they will put their basebuilding skills to work supporting local campaigns and workers rights.
  • The program concludes with a graduation ceremony at which interns share their experiences and learnings from the program and reflect on what they have accomplished over the summer.
  • Students must produce a short presentation and evaluation of the program before graduation on August 9, 2024.

Requirements to participate in Labor Summer

  • Interest in working on social and economic justice issues with unions, worker centers, or community-based organizations
  • Ability to work with diverse communities
  • Applicants must be available for the entire length of the internship to be eligible: eight weeks from Monday, June 17 to Friday, August 9, 2024.
  • Applicants must be rising juniors, rising seniors, graduating seniors, or graduate students, and must be enrolled at a college or university in the United States. Please note, we prioritize graduating seniors and graduate students.
  • Since this is a full-time internship, interns are not permitted to take summer classes during the work week.
  • Some placements will require proficiency in a specific language, such as Spanish or Cantonese.
  • Unfortunately, we are no longer able to accept international students.

Compensation

All interns will be paid $22 an hour.

Should I apply?

Are you willing to knock on doors and talk to complete strangers about their working conditions in order to build worker power? Do you enjoy interacting with people and are you curious about what it would take to support them to taking action to improve their working conditions and day to day lives?  Have you done this work before, participated in some level of social justice work, organized or facilitated a meeting, event, or protest for a community you cared deeply about? Are you graduating and searching for a full-time job after graduation in the labor movement? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then Labor Summer is for you!

Read about our 2023 interns here.
Read about our 2022 interns here.
Read about our past 2021 interns here.

If you are a freshman or sophomore we encourage you to check out our Labor Studies page for more information on how you can get involved.

The UC Berkeley Labor Center will also host an alternative spring break program called “Solidarity Spring” this Spring 2024. This program is predominantly for freshman, sophomore, and transfer students interested in having a hands-on service learning experience to learn and engage with the Bay Area labor movement. If are you interested in receiving information to apply to Solidarity Spring when the application is released in early Spring 2024, or for more information or questions, please contact Bahaar Tadjbakhsh at tbahaar@berkeley.edu.

If you have any questions regarding the Labor Summer program after reading each page, including Frequently Asked Questions, please reach out to Devon Baker at devonbaker@berkeley.edu.

Labor Summer internships are now available at all 9 UC campuses. Find out more and apply!