Community College for Migrant Workers in Southern China

Garrett Brown conducts a "training of the trainers" session on health and safety issues. Factory (left) and dormitory (right) Factory dormitory for migrant workers. The new community college is housed on one of the floors in the factory building.

The Labor Center is collaborating on a unique project with the Institute of Contemporary Observation in China to establish a community college for migrant workers with a main campus in Shenzhen and a branch in Dongguan. The main campus held its opening on March 18, 2004. The community college offers free continuing education to migrant workers. In addition to providing technical skills to workers, the courses address abuse of labor rights and are among the first attempts of any non-governmental entities to provide migrant workers in southern China with skills and knowledge of their economic, legal, and social rights in Special Economic Zones. This project has received significant funding from the US State Department.

Katie Quan (UC Berkeley Labor Center Chair) and Dara O’Rourke (UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management) will conduct a “training of the trainers” workshop on codes of conduct and labor negotiations at the college in August, 2004.

In October 2004, Garrett Brown (Coordinator of the Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network) and Betty Szudy (Coordinator of Public Programs at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health’s Labor Occupational Health Program) will travel to China to conduct a “training of the trainers” workshop on health and safety issues at the community college.