Joann Lo could be making more money and working fewer hours at another job. However, the Yale University graduate has advocated for low-wage workers since 1997. "I do this because I want the world to be a better place for my kids," Lo told Union Days attendees at the ILR School April 7.

The mother of a toddler and pregnant with her second child, Lo is national coordinator of the Food Chain Workers Alliance. Based in Los Angeles, it is a coalition of unions and worker centers organizing to improve wages and working conditions.

She encouraged students to consider social justice careers. "You'll be doing work you believe in and that makes a difference in the world. I don't think you can ask for anything more," she said in a keynote address capping three days of Union Days events.

When Lo started looking for a job after college graduation, some didn't think she was a good fit for the social justice career she wanted. Labor organizers "told me I didn't have enough fire in my belly," she said.

By working to improve wages and working conditions for immigrants and others, Lo said she has watched people's lives change, along with her own. "I became more outspoken," she said.

Sometimes, she makes her point through civil disobedience. Lo told her Ives Hall audience about stopping traffic at a Los Angeles airport terminal to encourage political action and corporate responsibility on an issue.

Millions of food system workers across the world suffer from low wages, she said, and many are trapped in "modern-day slavery." She encouraged her audience to consider daily purchases in a new context. "Think about who picked your tomato. Are they treated fairly?" she asked.

"Ten That Toil Where One Reposes: Fighting the New American Inequality" was the theme of Union Days 2011. It included a live-streamed national teach-in, a panel on the fight to save public sector employee collective bargaining, a panel on economic inequality and the Social Justice Career Fair.

The career fair, at which 24 organizations participated, attracted about 120 students from across campus.

"The event drew many students from both within and outside ILR, and many were exposed to a whole new world of careers," said Marcia Harding, assistant director of the ILR School's Office of Career Services.

Mary Catt is assistant director of communications for the ILR School.