
Harlan Johnson Memorial Scholarship
Past Awardees
Robin Johnson has set up a labor education scholarship fund in memory of his father, Harlan. The scholarship covers full tuition for the Labor Leadership Academy through the Labor Education Program at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. One scholarship will be awarded each year, beginning in 2022.
2023 Scholarship Winner Wendy Renteria

Being born into a union home, it was natural for me to continue the family tradition. My Father was a part of the UAW for over 40 years. My Mother was a union member of the Graphics Communications Union for over 20 years.
My Father worked for Caterpillar Inc., in Aurora Illinois and back when I was teenager, they went on strike. I had first hand experience of what it was to participate in a picket, rally, you name it. It was hard times but it was sure worth the time it took for them to get what they wanted. I never realized how strong a Union could be. Seeing people come together for a common cause and fighting for it was exciting! I was impressed and taught the values of Solidarity.
Working for a non union private sector was unbearable. I started to educate myself on labor laws, gained knowledge on the human resources side of things. Later in life, I kicked myself for not working for a union earlier. I think back on it, and I am disgusted with how companies get away with mistreating employees. It wasn’t until I started working for my local county government that I joined the union! I immediately signed my union card and attended meetings. I wanted to know everything about the union and how it worked with my employer.
This has been an eye-opening experience. I am enjoying every minute of it. I am currently serving as the Treasurer for my Union. I attended the AFSCME Council 31 Summer Institute this past summer at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Attended the biennial convention this month and attending these workshops has sparked a fire inside me to go on and become an advocate, activist and recently, I became a part of the bargaining committee for our current contract negotiations.
I have learned so much, in the little bit of time in my union involvement that I have decided that I want to pursue more education that is provided through University of Illinois’ school of Labor and Employment relations. My goals are to become a strong leader in my union with achieving my educational goals of pursuing a degree in the areas of the labor education.
I feel that my life experiences for working for non union corporations, has made me appreciate what it is like to work for a Union based organization. My goal is to spread the word of how valuable Unions are. To increase union jobs, and help unionize more organizations that are in need of our help. To make jobs fair for those who deserve it! I am a fighter! I will fight for my union brothers and sisters and to prevent unfair labor practices! This will help me become a stronger leader for my team!
And…. I am thankfully honored to have become the recipient of the Harlan Johnson Memorial
Scholarship! Your generosity will help me to achieve the goals I feel I was born to live for.
2022 Scholarship Winner Nick Lopez

My focus on Political Science started with CNN documentaries and an AP US History
course back in highschool , seeing how major events unfolding in the US weren’t just singular
but part of a much larger era and these significant events were the end result of little actions.
Politics became a major interest of mine after attending protests and mass action events and not seeing people my age speak at these events and more importantly our energy. My interest in labor studies and labor relations came after seeing the events of Striketober. After years of
disillusionment in politics and constant disappointment with so-called leaders who claimed to
speak for the hopeless, I witnessed the most significant change in US history that was initiated
by the people who had no voice. One moment that really sold my deviation from politics to full attention to labor was during the Kellogs Strike when a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union, Local 50g, was by himself in the pouring rain, holding the picket line. All I have ever wanted to do, the determination and the drive I felt from sitting in my room during the tumultuous and the reckoning that America faced in 2020-2021, all of that wasted energy finally found the field that would match the energy. I had called the AFL-CIO in Illinois, I emailed the national AFL-CIO which went nowhere until I got a call two months later from the UA Local 149. At that time, I had already got a job at FedEx and did not think a receptionist job at a union would pay well,. I told them I had made commitments to FedEx (back when I still believed that employers respected decorum and that I couldn’t just walk away from a job I had made a commitment to.) and told them that I had not lost my resolve for the fight unions were waging. After two and half months of working at FedEx, constantly under surveillance, being told to move from truck to truck, working past the hours I was scheduled, I was tired of it. I had left when my schedule said once without being caught. The second time I was confronted and talked down to , told that working past my scheduled hours and not being done until the work was done was “part of being a grownup”. I gave them my badge and walked out. I felt free and I mean really liberated. I didn’t take down FedEx nor did I stop the mass exploitation at that factory, but I stood up to them and withdrew my labor. Was I nervous and timid and sometimes looked away? Yes, but I decided I wanted more control of my labor and my time and that was liberation for me. I emailed the UA and asked if the position was available. It was and the rest was history.
My resolve has not shrunk or been discouraged, if anything it has grown. I take more LER classes at UIUC and I’m reading more labor books. I’ve read Shogans “The Battle of Blair Mountain” and I’m currently reading “From The Folks Who Brought You The Weekend”. My interest in labor has shifted from wanting to participate in any labor activity to wondering if the path Labor is taking is still a viable one. Corporations and employers know that we live in a constant state of conflict and they know they have the upper hand. They have massive influence over the government and the police force that control it. I know that loss and defeat are not new words when it comes to labor activism; I know the floor and it knows me, it’s probably the most intimate relationship I have. Yet, this does not frustrate me. What upsets
me more than anything is our inaction and our unwillingness to evolve our strategy or our unwillingness to recognize that labor is in a constant state of conflict and taking a stand isn’t something we should be afraid to do. I ask labor professors and lecturers this question because it has bothered me ever since I started to get into labor studies: Does labor truly gain anything from the status quo? It’s a question I ask because I already know the answer, but I want to see how labor professors who are ten time smarter than I will ever hope to be, react to it; and they all say the same thing which is no. The point in me asking this is that I am tired of just sitting in classes where I am learning nothing of value, I am tired of sitting in online asynchronous LER classes when what I’m learning should be a two hour lecture that talks about the background of labor history and the culture that surrounds it. I am tired of just sitting here and knowing that my farthest horizon is only the next 24 hours. It absolutely kills me to know this. It kills the rank and file I see who are tired of price gouging in their has prices and theri food prices. The rank and file who can’t understand why they have to pay so much in insurance, The workers and students who I know hate the fact that they know the answers to the problems in the respective field, but will never be able to implement it because the profit motive is making the decisions, not the people.
I want to pick a fight. Losing doesn’t bother me as much anymore, it is our unwillingness to try
and evolve which kills me inside. I want to fight and lose horribly to tell our oppressors that I intend to be free if not for eternity, then solely for a second; but it’ll be the longest second that’ll last me a lifetime