Early this month, 11 graduate students in a Labor and Organizing course at the University of Minnesota-Duluth convened as if they were the national AFL-CIO Executive Council, then meeting in Las Vegas.
Their purpose was to debate new directions for organized labor and present concrete priorities and ideas for revitalizing the labor movement. The class included rank-and-file union members, union staff, and young workers who are labor's potential allies, but who may have known little about unions. Their voices are often missing from many of the current national debates.
The unions affiliated with the nation's labor federation, the AFL-CIO, are currently engaged in a major debate about the future direction of the labor movement. A number of proposals have been circulating, but few, if any, have come from students.
The class is being taught by Erik Peterson of the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service and is part of the master's degree program in advocacy and political leadership.
The students' proposals focus on several areas, including organizing, coalition-building and communications.
"In these times, people know more about civil unions then labor unions," notes 21-year-old Erin Anderson. "I believe that if the labor movement can get its message to every American, not just the union members, the other two problems (decline in union membership and lack of political power) will solve themselves."
"We need to work with labor friendly groups that are in our communities and they should be able to be an active participant of the Central Labor Councils," wrote Brianna Halverson, an organizer at the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. She proposes an associate member program for labor councils to build coalitions for organizing, political action and other purposes.
Click on this link to view the students' proposals for changing the labor movement: www.d.umn.edu/~epeters5
For more information
Check out the Workday Minnesota special section, Labor's Future
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Early this month, 11 graduate students in a Labor and Organizing course at the University of Minnesota-Duluth convened as if they were the national AFL-CIO Executive Council, then meeting in Las Vegas.
Their purpose was to debate new directions for organized labor and present concrete priorities and ideas for revitalizing the labor movement. The class included rank-and-file union members, union staff, and young workers who are labor’s potential allies, but who may have known little about unions. Their voices are often missing from many of the current national debates.
The unions affiliated with the nation’s labor federation, the AFL-CIO, are currently engaged in a major debate about the future direction of the labor movement. A number of proposals have been circulating, but few, if any, have come from students.
The class is being taught by Erik Peterson of the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service and is part of the master’s degree program in advocacy and political leadership.
The students’ proposals focus on several areas, including organizing, coalition-building and communications.
“In these times, people know more about civil unions then labor unions,” notes 21-year-old Erin Anderson. “I believe that if the labor movement can get its message to every American, not just the union members, the other two problems (decline in union membership and lack of political power) will solve themselves.”
“We need to work with labor friendly groups that are in our communities and they should be able to be an active participant of the Central Labor Councils,” wrote Brianna Halverson, an organizer at the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly. She proposes an associate member program for labor councils to build coalitions for organizing, political action and other purposes.
Click on this link to view the students’ proposals for changing the labor movement: www.d.umn.edu/~epeters5
For more information
Check out the Workday Minnesota special section, Labor’s Future