The purpose of this article is to explore the current and future potential for engaging Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the labor movement by 2040. Because of the limitations of the data and the scope of the projections, we initially analyze Asian American participation in the labor market, so we can later discuss our vision and trajectory for engaging AAPI workers in the labor movement by 2040.

This essay explores higher education–labor partnerships in the contemporary era between Asian American Studies (AAS), the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), and AAS community partnerships. With the intensified attacks on workers, unions, and Asian American, Pacific Islander, and other communities of color, the importance of higher education and labor and community partnerships will be a valuable resource to expand critical research and participatory education. These partnerships embody the community studies’ roots of AAS. Using three case studies, this essay highlights these partnerships and concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges students can experience when working in labor union spaces and recommendations for building university-labor partnerships.