My interest in the Labor Studies program of this university stems from a lifetime of hard work and dedication, as I seek to fulfill my potential in my prospective career in labor studies. While my parents were poor, they were able to instill in me a strong work ethic and a passion to make the world around me a better place. Having grown up in an impoverished household with parents who did not have the resources for a proper education, I then also had to struggle with moving to a foreign country and learning how to speak English, after moving to Puerto Rico in 1997 without being able to speak a word. I wish to capitalize on the opportunities my family worked hard to provide for me by achieving a complete education in a field I am passionate about – Labor Studies. I believe that the combination of my inherent skills as a worker, combined with the expertise and experience the Labor Studies program would provide me, will allow me to make a demonstrable impact on the workers and employees I would be working with. .
Having graduated in 1996 from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico with a BA in Criminal Justice, I already have a substantial amount of experience and training with matters of legal jurisprudence. For the past 14 years, I have worked for the Human Resources Administration, serving the past ten as a Discipline Investigator. In my work, I focused heavily on employee misconduct, discovering a systematic abuse of privileges and resources by both management and worker alike in my investigations. Despite my contentious position within the company (as a liaison between management and employees), I have managed to cultivate a strong rapport with both sides, demonstrating my ability to look objectively at a situation and work to correct it with a limited amount of bias. I believe this is a fundamental strength that I wish to use to help others with the help of the education a Labor Studies program would provide me.
Given my background is in pro-management work, my recent desire to focus more directly on Labor Studies can seem somewhat contradictory. However, my dedication and commitment to defending the rights of both workers and management are what I believe make me an ideal candidate for furthering my education in Labor Studies. Because of this previous work, I have a distinct insight into how discipline investigations work from a management perspective; this offers me a more well-rounded viewpoint that I can use to great benefit in my future career advocating for laborers. While I find my current job fulfilling and informative, I wish to move on to an organization that will allow me to more concretely fight for workers’ rights and ensure they have the best legal representation available. In my experience, employees are often left at a disadvantage when arguing for their rights against a well-funded and organized corporate legal team; working in Labor Studies will allow me to be one more asset in their corner.
Of particular interest to me is the welfare and well-being of labor unions, which will come into play in my Labor Studies-related career. I am currently a member of Union DC37/Local 371, and have worked with some of the hardest-working people that I know in that union. Throughout their lives, they have had to scramble for the ability to make a living and provide for their families, even despite the conceptual advantage a labor union would have. Even with the collective bargaining that labor unions can receive, unions themselves still have to grasp for whatever sense of control and power they have in order to provide for their workers. To that end, I want to be able to provide that sense of security by fighting for them in these negotiations and better understanding the labor negotiation process, given what I would be able to learn in this degree program. By benefiting from a Labor Studies program, I will be able to do quite a bit of work both within my labor union and elsewhere by better representing their interests.
With the help of a Labor Studies degree, I wish to make myself available to a wide range of clients dealing with labor issues, from unions to changes brought on by the global economy and the encroaching nature of technology on the workplace. All of these issues are pressing and have grave consequences for the average worker, who is typically unable to defend themselves against this onslaught of changes. As a member of a union, I am uniquely positioned to help laborers and workers and advocate for their interests in a number of scenarios. Because of this I would like to benefit from the expertise a Labor Studies degree would grant me, providing me with the means to represent workers in the way they deserve. Receiving a complete education in this field will permit me to combine my personal values of hard work and a willingness to learn with my desire to defend workers’ rights and protections in an increasingly globalized world.
