UCLA Class Puts Theory to Test in the Real World : Project: UCLA Asian American studies class helps Latino workers at New Otani hotel organize. They will present their findings today.

UCLA lecturer Glenn Omatsu’s Asian American studies class is a laboratory for testing social theories with real-life struggles in Los Angeles.

Since the start of the winter quarter in January, the 22 students taking his Asian American social movements course have adopted as a class project a two-year effort by a union to organize predominantly Latino employees at the Japanese-owned New Otani hotel in Little Tokyo.

In the process they have learned about the hotel industry and conditions of immigrant workers in the nation’s second-biggest and most diverse city; the often-exasperating task of reaching public officials, community leaders and the news media, and linking lessons of history to today’s reality.

Today the students--one Latino, two whites and 19 Asians--will present what they have learned to the public at a community forum at the Centennary United Methodist Church in Little Tokyo.

For Omatsu, the participation of his students in the controversial community issue is especially meaningful because this is the 25th anniversary of the founding of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, one of only three schools in the country offering a degree in Asian American studies.

It was Omatsu’s generation of Asians whose protests brought Asian American studies to UCLA, UC Berkeley and San Francisco State with a vision of linking classroom learning to broader issues in the community.

Omatsu said that in this anniversary year he believes it is important to ponder where Asian American studies came from, where it is now and where it is headed. More than 40% of UCLA students are Asian Americans.

“The goal of my class is not to turn everybody into activists,” Omatsu said. Rather, the purpose is to create an awareness so that whatever careers the students pursue, they will be mindful of why good race relations is a key in multicultural America, he said.

With the influx of millions of Asians after immigration laws were reformed to equalize immigration from Asia with that from Europe, Asian American studies programs have grown and have attracted wider interest. The growth that has made Asians the second-largest minority in the state also had the effect of diluting the original vision of its creators, which is why, he said, revisiting its original purpose of community involvement is important.

At stake in the New Otani case is building good Latino-Asian ties, said Omatsu, a sansei, or third generation Japanese American.

About 80 of 300 workers have been active in union organizing rallies and other activities, according to Jennifer Skurnik, an official of Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. She said the hotel recently fired four longtime Latino employees, all of whom were active in organizing, under the guise of other reasons.

Kenji Yoshimoto, the only hotel executive authorized to comment on the dispute, was out of the country and unavailable. But in a Feb. 17 letter to Omatsu, Yoshimoto denounced the union for “trying to coerce” the hotel to “recognize the union as a collective bargaining representative of its employees.”

“The union desires to force the employees of the New Otani hotel to pay money to the union in form of dues, all against the wishes of the employees,” he wrote.

Omatsu believes that Asian Americans must play an important role as bridge-builders to make the hotel’s owners more accountable because the New Otani was part of a community redevelopment project in the 1970s.

During a recent class, students discussed their experiences as they made last-minute preparations for today’s forum.

Reagan Lee, an immigrant from Taiwan who wants to become a high school teacher, told his classmates that at first he felt intimidated when he tried to solicit support from the Chinese Historical Society and was informed that it does not get involved in labor disputes.

But Lee said he was able to get Irvin Lai, the society’s president, to notify his members about the event.

Omatsu nodded in affirmation: “The main thing is educational. There are ways to connect (without getting people to commit their support).”

Then Omatsu, a 47-year-old Los Angeles native whose ancestors came to California at the turn of the century, said the labor dispute at the hotel ought to be of interest to the historical society because of the bitter experience 19th-Century Chinese immigrants in California had with unions.

Another student, Harriet Wang, said contacting community leaders for the assignment taught her how students should be an integral part of the community.

Jim Gatewood, who is of Mexican and Anglo ancestry and is majoring in Asian American studies, reminded his classmates to cast a bigger net and reach people from outside the Asian communities as well.

“To accomplish the goal of inter-ethnic solidarity, it shouldn’t be an Asian thing,” he said.

His classmates nodded in agreement.

Ana Alvarado, a mother of three who said she was fired for her union activities after 16 years at the hotel, said she cannot thank the UCLA students enough.

“I am so happy that they are supporting us,” she said. “It means so much to us.”

The forum is scheduled from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the church at 300 S. Central Ave. A noon reception with refreshment precedes the program.