Ms. Katie Quan is associate chair of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and co-director of the International Center for Joint Labor Research at Sun Yat-sen University in China. Her main interest is labor organizing strategies among immigrants, women, and workers in the global economy. She was formerly chair of the Labor Center and now heads its education programs. Recent publications include a chapter on labor organizing in Walmart in China, a memoir of a Chinatown strike in Amerasia Journal, and a study of labor relations in the global apparel industry in New Directions in the Study of Work and Employment.
Prior to joining the Labor Center staff, Katie was an international vice-president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, and was chief officer of the union’s Pacific Northwest District Council. She was elected to that position after having served as a union organizer, researcher, educator, and rank and file seamstress. She serves on the boards of directors of the Worker Rights Consortium, the International Labor Rights Forum, the Labor Project for Working Families, and the Institute for Quality Public Services.