Our Mission
The Washington State Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) was established in 1987 to provide direct education and research services in higher education to unions in Washington State. The mission of the Labor Center is to deliver high-quality education and training programs for the dynamic and diverse working people of Washington State by using best practices of adult education. The curriculum builds the skills, confidence, and knowledge needed for working people to become leaders in efforts to improve their work lives and communities and to promote a just economy through collective action. Based at South Seattle College, the Labor Center is a statewide organization and a unique program within higher education.
The Center also organizes large public events such as conferences, serves as a resource for faculty, students, and staff, produces the Washington State Workers’ Rights Manual, teaches classes and workshops, provides contract training to unions and other workers’ organizations, and has a book, film, and training materials library available for public use.
Our Staff
James Oliveros
James (they/them) is a Labor Educator at the Labor Center. Prior to joining the team, James served as Education Chair of Anakbayan Seattle, a youth organization focused on liberation and National Democracy for the Philippines and its people. James has also worked as a community organizer with groups like Washington CAN, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, and various local mutual aid efforts in Seattle. In their education efforts at the Labor Center, James is committed to building workplace solidarity with community members and defending every worker’s right to dignity, fair wages, and a fulfilling livelihood.
Bo McClung
Bo (he/him) brings to the WA-LERC a lifetime’s experience of being a worker in both anti-union right-to-work states, and union protected jobs in facilities maintenance at the University of Washington and as an educator for Seattle Public Schools. Bo has a full range of firsthand knowledge to draw upon from working in highly exploitative and dangerous minimum wage jobs, working in the nonprofit environmental policy sector, and working in understaffed essential state services while putting himself through school to earn his BA in anthropology with an unfinished MS in infrastructure planning. He has been a dedicated union shop steward for AFSCME Council 28 and a delegate to the King County and Washington State labor councils where he has utilized his training and insight to gather valuable worker econometrics for more equitable COLAs for workers. Bo brings his wealth of know-how to the WA-LERC as a program specialist where he will assist the department in executing the logistics and financial deliverables of projects, worker trainings, materials, policy work, managing the Will Parry Labor Library and other aspects related to the WA-LERC’s mission and goals.
Mara Rafferty
LERC Director Mara Rafferty (she/her) is an equity-focused educator and community organizer who most recently served as Lead External Organizer for United Autoworkers Local 4121. As an organizer, she led and contributed to mass campaigns that saw thousands of workers win new collective bargaining rights and first contracts. A strong believer in the leadership of rank and file workers and the power of open and transparent bargaining, Mara has witnessed the ways that democratic decision making in unions can lead to mass participation and unprecedented wins for workers and communities. Before joining the UAW, Mara worked for several nonprofit and community organizations where she helped develop policy research and participatory civic education programs. As an experienced researcher with degrees in International Relations (BA) and Economics (MA), Mara brings a strong grounding in qualitative and quantitative research skills, which she uses to help workers develop strong bodies of research to support their campaigns. Outside of work, Mara can be found painting, playing music, baking, and spending time with her family.
Cassidy Butler
Cassidy (she/her) a recent UMass Amherst graduate, Cassidy earned her M.S. In Labor Studies and looks forward to bringing lessons learned through her coursework back to workers in Washington State. Cassidy worked as a Teaching Assistant for the university, where she taught undergraduate courses on the history of work and labor in America. She also worked as a Researcher with the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenter’s where she supported the organizing team in building strategic campaigns. Cassidy has an extensive background in labor organizing and education with many unions, including UFCW, IUPAT, IBEW and UAW. In these roles, Cassidy took on the role of educating, mentoring, and training young workers on how to organize their workplace, their rights on the job, and how to win strong contracts. While at UMass, Cassidy researched the impact of providing union education to young workers in temporary employment like those she organized. In addition, Cassidy developed trainings and guides for union staff on organizing practices and techniques for organizing non-traditional and new industries. Cassidy is passionate about identifying, uplifting, and connecting worker leaders with opportunities to realize their potential to build collective power and meaningfully change conditions at their jobs and in their communities. She looks forward to continuing this important work with the LERC as a Labor Educator!
LERC Advisory Committee
The Labor Center’s Advisory Committee is appointed for three-year terms. The current committee was appointed in September 2022.
Alex Miller
Assistant Professor, UW Tacoma
Bio coming soon!
Andrew Hedden
Andrew Hedden is Associate Director of the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies and Affiliate Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Washington. He is a historian of urban and labor history focused on the Pacific Northwest. His work has been published most recently in the Journal of Urban History and a chapter in the book Seattle’s Working Waterfront, 1884- Present. He also leads regular walking and bus tours of Seattle history for students, activists, and educators, and serves as a trustee of the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association. He earned a PhD in History from the University of Washington in 2023.
Cherika Carter
Cherika Carter (she/her) was elected Secretary Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO in 2022. She is a certified Pharmacy Technician by trade and has been a union member for over half of her life. As a graduate of THE Ohio State University, she is a forever Buckeye, but the evergreen state is home. When she isn’t thinking about growing political power or fighting for Washington’s working families, she’s on a quest to find the perfect Sunday brunch spot with friends.
Conor Casey
Conor Casey is head of the Labor Archives of Washington at the University of Washington. A certified archivist, they hold a US history MA and an MLIS. Conor served several terms as co-chair of the Society of American Archivists’ Labor Archives Section (2012–21, 2025-26), vice president of the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association (2017–20), and president of the Northwest Historians Guild (2014–16). From 2019–23, Conor helped unionize libraries and press employees at UW, helping to win a first contract. Conor has served on the Council of the Society of American Archivists, releasing a first album with their band, and semi-successfully navigating the Seattle rental market.
Emmanuel Flores
Workforce Development Director, WCLS
Bio coming soon!
Karen Estevenin
Executive Director, PROTEC17
Bio coming soon!
Larry Cushnie
Larry Cushnie is a tenured faculty member in political science at South Seattle College. He earned his bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Barbara, his master’s at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in the Basque Country, and his doctorate at the University of Washington. His teaching includes more than a dozen courses across multiple disciplines at the University of Washington, Seattle University, Bellevue College, and South Seattle College. Larry’s research interests focus on radical American political resistance. His writing and teaching cover anarchism, social movements, labor activism, radical environmentalism, the carceral state, drug policy, and civil rights. When not engaged on campus, Larry is busy raising his weird twins, collecting records, puzzling, and enjoying live music.
Dr. Ligaya Domingo
Doctor Ligaya Domingo is currently the Senior Racial Justice Director for SEIU Healthcare 1199NW where she has worked for nearly 20 years. She leads the local’s Racial Justice transformation efforts including integration into all of the programs of the union and racial justice analysis building through education, development, training, and development for members and staff. She has developed expertise in this area over the last fifteen years. She has also extended this work into collaborations across SEIU, within MLK labor, The Washington State Labor Council, and through a fellowship with the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations. She also sits on various boards including the SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Multi-Employer Training Fund, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Seattle Chapter, MLK Labor, Washington State Labor Council, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies Advisory Committee, Washington State Labor Education Research Center, Healthcare Apprenticeship Consortium, and the SEIU Racial Justice Committee.
Marc Auerbach
Education Director, UFCW 3000
Bio coming soon!
Michael Laslett
Retired, former SEIU
Bio coming soon!
Sarah Bright
Organizing Director, SEIU 925
Bio coming soon!
Shaunie Wheeler
Shaunie Wheeler is the Deputy Executive Secretary-Treasurer of MLK Labor, representing over 100,000 workers across 150 unions in King County. A seasoned lobbyist and coalition-builder, she turns complex policy into real wins for working families. With more than 15 years in labor and public policy—including leadership roles with the Teamsters and IBEW—she champions equity, narrative power, and unapologetic worker advocacy. Shaunie also serves as Secretary-Treasurer of LCLAA, advancing Latinx and BIPOC worker leadership. Off the clock, she’s a vintage lover, Marvel fan, and mom of four, bringing the same grit and flair to every fight for economic justice.
Tina Morrison
Secretary-Treasurer, Spokane Regional Labor Council
Bio coming soon!
Jacqui Cain
AFT Washington
Bio coming soon!
Peter Campbell
IFPTE-SPEEA 2001
Bio coming soon!
Ali Diaz
IUEC Local 19
Bio coming soon!
Madison Zach-Wu
Strippers are Workers
Bio coming soon!
Our History
The Evergreen State College Labor Education and Research Center was established by the Washington State legislature in July of 1987 with a mandate to provide access for union members in Washington to education and research opportunities at the post-secondary level. The Center became part of the Academic Division of Evergreen and one of the Public Service Centers of the College. Dan Leahy was the Center’s first Director, and Helen Lee served as Associate Director. She succeeded Dan Leahy as Director in 1995.
Peter Kardas became the Center’s third Director in 2000. The Center employed full-time and part-time labor educators and also worked with many student employees during the Evergreen years. The Center has always had an Advisory Committee comprised of members of the labor community, from unions and other worker-centered organizations.
Evergreen faculty also worked closely with the Center over the years, teaching Labor Studies classes on campus, facilitating community-based Labor Education classes, and supporting student activities with the Center. Sarah Ryan was a particularly active faculty member in Center activities and continues to teach Labor Studies classes at Evergreen.
The Center has three main areas of work: residential or multi-day schools, shorter workshops and trainings, and public conferences. Perhaps the most enduring has been the Summer School for Union Women. The first school was offered in 1987 and continued almost annually until 2009. Some of the other early initiatives included the African American Leadership Conferences which ran for several years and the New School for Union Organizers. Some of the recent conferences the Center sponsored and/or collaborated on with other organizations have included the Women of Color conference in 2002, the Union-Community Coalitions Conference in 2004, and the Workers’ Assembly on Immigration in 2008. In addition, the Center has offered multiple steward trainings, collective bargaining trainings, Labor History classes, and Rank-and-File Leadership schools through the Spokane Regional Labor Council, to name only a few of our educational offerings.
On July 1st, 2010, the center moved from The Evergreen State College to the South Seattle Community College and became the Washington State Labor Education and Research Center. This move brought the Center into the heart of union density in the Puget Sound region and into one of the region’s foremost centers for workforce education. The Center remains a statewide program and serves unions and workers throughout Washington by conducting traveling classes in person, zoom classes, and hybrid classes.