Labor@Wayne is dedicated to encouraging and conducting research on labor and workplace issues and policies, sharing the results of that research, educating the public and students on labor, and celebrating leadership and creativity in the labor movement.  The main venue of these efforts in research and public outreach is the Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues. Chartered in 1998 with policymakers funding from United Auto Workers (UAW), it was approved by the Wayne State Board of Directors in 1999. As the leading force in establishing the Fraser Center, the UAW supported Wayne State in fulfilling its goal of becoming “a leading institution in the analysis of labor-management relations and workplace issues” and strengthening unions’ capacities to represent workers. 

Within the Center’s first year of operation, the Fraser Center served over 4,000 students through workshops and courses while maintaining research, technical assistance for local unions, and service. Of those students, 155 were union activists from 41 local unions and 14 national unions. In addition, the Center worked with the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources to deliver local and national paid leave programs; provided technical support for labor-community coalitions in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Warren, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and other metro Detroit areas; and published policymakers second edition of the activist guide called Living Wage Campaigns in cooperation with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). That work led to two studies that used surveys and in-depth interviews to assess the impact of the Detroit living wage ordinance. Activists, policy makers, and researchers across the country drew upon the findings of these studies. Finally, the Center’s research led to the establishment of the International Research Network on Autowork in the Americas (IRNAA), which addressed the quality of life for workers in a rapidly changing industry.

The Fraser Center is housed in the Leonard Woodcock Wing of the Walter P. Reuther Library and Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.  In honoring these former UAW leaders, Wayne State demonstrates its close relationship with the labor movement in Detroit and beyond. 

Now, having endured the pandemic pause, Labor@Wayne is looking forward to a robust return to the national forefront in labor research and education.

Lectures and Awards

• The Irving Bluestone Lecture on Workplace Issues
• The Dave Miller Memorial Lecture
• The Fraser Labor Leaders on Labor Award

Grants

• 2024-2025 Fraser Fellowship: Work and Democracy
• 2024-2025 Fraser Graduate Student Labor Research Grant
• 2024-2025 Labor Education Development Grants

Fraser Center Awards for 2023 - 2024

We are proud to announce the recipients of the Fraser Center awards for research and educational development. Each of the research grant recipients will be sharing their findings in a public research presentation within the next 18 months and a summary of their work will be published on this website. The courses under the development grants will be added to the curriculum in the BA and MA degree programs.

We thank all of those who applied and shared with us their exciting work in Labor Studies and Workplace Issues!

Recent Fraser Research Grant Recipients

"The Unintentional Consequences of Supervisor Work-Family Support: A Multi-Study Exploration Using Mixed Methods,"  Xing Liu and Carrie Zhang, who are both Assistant Professors in the Department of Management and Information Systems, Mike Ilitch School of Business.

"Who Gets the Credit and Who Gets the Blame?  Making Sense of Employee Work-Nonwork Balance Satisfction Attributions," Matt Pisczek, Assistant Professor of Management, Mike Ilitch School of Business.

"The Internation Political Economy of Migration," research conference at the University of Duisberg-Essen, July 18-20, 2024.   Heidi Gottfried, Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Liberal Arts and Science.

Fraser Graduate Student Research Grants

"Competing Constructions of Labor Value: Representations of Patient-Workers in State Mental Hospital Reports before 1970," Kellan McNally, doctoral student, Social Work and Anthropology (SWAN) program.

"A Tale of Two Paternalisms: Comparing Welfare Capitalism Practices in Michigan's Upper Penninsula," Alexandrea Penn, doctoral student, Department of History.

Fraser Labor Educational Development Grants

"History of Labor in Latin America," Reyna Esquival-King, Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies and the Department of History, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

"Music Copyright: The Workplace and the Law," Eldonna L. May, Department of Music, College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts and the Honors College.

"Survey of the Music Business," James Fusik and Jeremy Peters, Department of Music, College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts.

"The Philosophy of Work," Soraya (Layla) Saatchi, Honors College.

"Dispute Resolution in Labor and Employment," Michael Nowakowski, WSU Law School and the Labor Studies program, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.