LEP Update

November 3, 2008

2008-2009 STATEWIDE CONFERENCES

Occupational Safety and Health: The Future of Safe and Healthy Jobs

Friday and Saturday, January 30, 31, 2009

$275 early registration (December 17); $325 regular.

Guest speaker: Eula Bingham, first Director of OSHA; bargaining health and safety; building an effective health and safety committee on the job; case study of role of safety committee (includes tour of Abbott Power plant at UIUC);  mapping the workplace for hazards; understanding OSHA and our rights under the law; cases (accidents, ergonomics, air quality); labor and the environmental movement.   A UIUC residential conference.

Union Communications: The Face and Voice of Labor

$220 Registration

Thursday through Saturday, March 26, 27, 28, 2009

Soundbites, newsletters, posters, photographs, drama, YouTube and politics for internal and external communication, the media as unionized workforce.  Participants will have access to computers for some sessions. A UIUC residential conference.

The Battle of Virden: Memory and History

March 3 and 4 in Virden, Illinois

School and community open forum on meanings of local labor history and showing of the Battle of Virden film. http://www.lib.niu.edu/2006/iht1320610.html

FALL 2008 CERTIFICATE CLASSES CHICAGO

Steward Training (Basic)

November 11- Dec 16.  Tuesdays. 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. or 6: 00 – 8:30 p.m.

Technical aspects of grievance handling, the steward’s role as internal organizer and educator, what a steward needs to know; the legal rights of a union steward; the grievance procedure; processing a grievance; past practice grievances.

Steward Training (Advanced)

November 12- December -17. Wednesdays. 10:00 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Preparing a case to hand over to an arbitration advocate; evaluation of the many other methods for resolving problems and building the union’s power.

SPRING 2009 CERTIFICATE CLASS IN CHAMPAIGN

The Building and Re-Building the Labor movement class will continue with 10 sessions in Spring 2009.

ILLINOIS LABOR HISTORY SOCIETY ANNUAL DINNER

“A New Deal for Workers: Past, Present and Future”

Friday, Dec 5, 2008. 5:30 pm reception, 6:30 dinner.

 Hyatt Regency McCormick Place 2233 South MLK Drive, Chicago

Honoring attorney and former Alderman Leon DesPres and labor history professor Betty Balanoff of Roosevelt University. Guest Speaker: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. Reservations call 312-663-4107 or email ILHRS@prodigy.net

UNION SCHOOLS IN CHAMPAIGN FALL-WINTER 2008-9

IBEW District 6 Arbitration

Illinois Postal Workers Education School

Illinois State Firefighters Arbitration School

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Local Chairman’s Workshop

UALE 2009 CONFERENCE “Imagining Alternatives: The Challenge to Labor”

http://uale.prometheuslabor.com/

United Association for Labor Education, Annual Conference April 16-17-18 at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, MD. UALE is a professional organization for union-based, community organization-based and university-based labor educators. Deadline for proposals for workshops, teaching demonstrations, educational tools, curriculum displays, roundtables, performances, and academic papers is November 14. For more information contact hworthen@illinois.edu. For studies of labor and politics (for a special issue of Labor Studies Journal) contact Bob Bruno at bbruno@uic.edu.

POLK WOMEN’S LABOR LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2009

May 14-17 at Pheasant Run: Organizing and Bargaining under EFCA, the Employee Free Choice Act. Funded by the Regina V. Polk Scholarship Fund. Scholarship applications will become available in December.

SECOND LOCAL UNION PRESIDENTS SCHOOL

September 24, 25, & 26, 2009 at UIUC

CONTACTS
CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607

CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

LEP Update

July 18, 2008

The University of Illinois Labor Education Program will bring instructors and programs to any location in Illinois if you invite us. Email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu.

LABOR DAY, MONDAY SEPT 1, 2 pm

Celebrate Labor Day at historic Hotel Florence in Pullman, 112th & Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Alive with the souls of Eugene Debs, Jennie Curtis, A. Phillip Randolph and FDR. For further information, contact Tom at tomshepherd2001@yahoo.com (773)928-3040; or Larry at larrys@afscmeillinois.org - (312)641-6060×4318. Visit:  http://members.aol.com/PullmanIL/

LABOR LEADER IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM AT UIUC

Rich Trumka, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, has accepted an invitation from LEP and the Institute to be our first “Labor Leader in Residence.”  Trumka will come to the UIUC campus the week of October 13-17.  He will give public talks, visit the classes of MA HR/IR students, speak at the Friday seminar and attend LEP functions such as the Tuesday night Building and Re-Building the Labor Movement certificate class that starts October 14.  Trumka will also visit CLEP in Chicago.

FALL ON-LINE LABOR STUDIES CLASSES

LEP is now offering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 3-credit Global Labor Studies online classes.  Courses run August 25 to December 10 (and compressed classes run October 20 to December 10.)  The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  After taking six courses you will receive a Certificate in Global Labor Studies.  Unionists may especially be interested in LIR 250 Grievance Representation, which covers the nuts-and-bolts of being a steward, labor law, and internal organizing. For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve a question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@illinois.edu.

LIR 100 Introduction to Labor Studies  (offered as both semester-long and compressed)

LIR 110 Labor and Social Movements  (offered as both semester-long and compressed)

LIR 200 Globalization and Workers

LIR 250 Grievance Representation

LIR 320 Gender, Race, Class, and Work

LOCAL UNION PRESIDENTS CONFERENCE IN CHAMPAIGN

September 25-26-27

For local union presidents, principal officers, etc. Current political and economic environment; final preparations for the ’08 election; triumphs and challenges, the legal environment for labor; the experiences of other locals. Endorsed by the Illinois State Federation of Labor. $350 plus hotel (Hawthorne Suites, 217-398-3400.) For program details call Monica Bielski at 217-244-4094.

CHAMPAIGN CERTIFICATE CLASS

Building and Re-Building the Labor Movement

Tuesday nights, 6-8:30, October 14-December 16

$50; instructors Joe Berry, Helena Worthen, Monica Bielski and Ed Hertenstein

At UIUC in the Wagner Education Center, 504 East Armory

Non-credit class open to the Champaign and regional labor movement, workers without unions, community activists and UIUC students of all sorts. AFL-CIO Sec. Treas. Rich Trumka will join the first class. During our 10 sessions we will cover the critical issues facing the labor movement. Novices and activists are all welcome: this is a labor movement fundamentals class. The UIUC Coalition of Labor/Campus Unions United has endorsed this class as has the Champaign Central Labor Council.

2008-2009 DOWNSTATE CONFERENCES

Occupational Safety and Health: The Future of Good Jobs Conference

Friday and Saturday, January 30, 31, 2009

Labor and the environmental movement; bargaining health and safety; building an effective health and safety committee on the job; documenting health and safety issues; understanding OSHA and our rights under the law.  A UIUC residential conference.

Union Communications: The Face and Voice of Labor Conference

Thursday through Saturday, March 26, 27, 28, 2009

Sound bites, newsletters, blogs, posters, photographs, YouTube and politics for internal and external communication.

FALL 2008 PROGRAMS CHICAGO

Basic and Advanced Certificates in Labor Studies

(Each 6-week class $150, additional cost for books)

These classes are organized in a sequence that is cumulative. To get the full benefit of

any class, people are advised to take the whole sequence.

Introduction to the American Labor Movement (Basic)

September 23-October 30. Tuesdays. 10:00 am – 12:30 pm or 6:00 – 8:30 pm

This class situates our labor movement today, both its crises and successes, in our current economic and political context.

Steward Training (Basic)

November 11- Dec 16. Tuesdays. 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. or 6: 00 – 8:30 p.m.

Technical aspects of grievance handling, the steward’s role as internal organizer and educator, what a steward needs to know; the legal rights of a union steward; the grievance procedure; processing a grievance; past practice grievances.

Current Issues in the Labor Movement (Advanced)

September 24 – October 29. Wednesdays. 10 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Major debates and issues within the labor movement; external challenges; the need to develop strategies for the 21st century; labor internationalism and globalization, union democracy, internal and external organizing, minority unionism, and legal and political challenges among others.

Steward Training (Advanced)

November 12- December -17. Wednesdays. 10:00 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Preparing a case to hand over to an arbitration advocate; evaluation of the many other methods for resolving problems and building the union’s power.

LINKS

At Lincoln Cushing’s website you can actually LISTEN to the Heidelberg Speedmaster in operation at Inkworks Press (as well as see gorgeous labor art):  www.docspopuli.org

More art stuff from the CIO period from Toby Higbie. Use in your classes or for flyers:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/higbie/collections/72157602788988163/

Check out this free online educational community that provides tips, samples, templates, and other useful tools for dealing with problems affecting working people. www.TheWorkSite.org.

CONTACTS
CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607

CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

LEP teachers can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

LEP Update

June 30, 2008

The University of Illinois Labor Education Program will bring instructors and programs to any location in Illinois where people invite us to provide labor education. Email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu.

MIDWEST SCHOOL FOR WOMEN WORKERS
July 10-13.  St. Louis, MO
Roz Sherman-Voellinger and Judy Ancel from U Missouri are hosting. Special guests: six union women from Iraq. Scholarships are still available through the Regina V. Polk Fund for Women’s Labor Leadership and the United Association for Labor Education. Download the application form from the school website:  www.womenworkers.org

NEW 2008 PROGRAMS DOWNSTATE
Respond to this email for details about these conferences and classes.
Local Union Presidents Conference

September 25-26-27
At UIUC in Champaign
Six weeks before the election this UIUC residential conference will create a forum for local union presidents (or their designees) from all different unions to review challenges, communicate goals and strategy, anticipate changes, and plan action. The curriculum will be developed through consultation with local union presidents. Cost, housing etc is not tied down yet.

Building and Re-Building the Labor Movement Class
Tuesday nights, 6-8:30, October 14-December 16
$50; instructors Joe Berry, Helena Worthen, Monica Bielski and Ed Hertenstein
At UIUC in the Wagner Education Center, 504 East Armory
This is a non-credit class open to the Champaign and regional labor movement, workers without unions, community activists and UIUC students of all sorts. During its 10 sessions (on Tuesday the 4th the class will start AFTER the polls close) we will cover the critical issues facing the labor movement. Novices and activists are all welcome: this is a labor movement fundamentals class. The UIUC Coalition of Labor/Campus Unions United has endorsed this class.

Occupational Safety and Health: The Future of Good Jobs Conference
Friday and Saturday, January 30, 31, 2009
Labor and the environmental movement; bargaining health and safety; building an effective health and safety committee on the job; documenting health and safety issues; understanding OSHA and our rights under the law.  A UIUC residential conference.

Union Communications: The Face and Voice of Labor Conference
Thursday through Saturday, March 26, 27, 28, 2009
Sound bites, newsletters, blogs, posters, photographs, YouTube and politics for internal and external communication.

FALL 2008 PROGRAMS CHICAGO

Basic and Advanced Certificates in Labor Studies
(Each 6-week class $150, additional cost for books)
These classes are organized in a sequence that is cumulative. To get the full benefit of
any class, people are advised to take the whole sequence.

Introduction to the American Labor Movement (Basic)
September 23-October 30. Tuesdays. 10:00 am – 12:30 pm or 6:00 – 8:30 pm
This class situates our labor movement today, both its crises and successes, in our current economic and political context.

Steward Training (Basic)
November 11- Dec 16.  Tuesdays. 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. or 6: 00 – 8:30 p.m.
Technical aspects of grievance handling, the steward’s role as internal organizer and educator, what a steward needs to know; the legal rights of a union steward; the grievance procedure; processing a grievance; past practice grievances.

Current Issues in the Labor Movement (Advanced)
September 24 – October 29. Wednesdays. 10 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Major debates and issues within the labor movement; external challenges; the need to develop strategies for the 21st century; labor internationalism and globalization, union democracy, internal and external organizing, minority unionism, and legal and political challenges among others.

Steward Training (Advanced)
November 12- December -17. Wednesdays. 10:00 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Preparing a case to hand over to an arbitration advocate; evaluation of the many other methods for resolving problems and building the union’s power.

ON-LINE LABOR STUDIES CLASSES
You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online labor studies classes. If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve a question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.

LABOR ART
Labor Historian Toby Higbie forwarded a link to good stuff from the CIO period that he has been scanning. The hearts of labor educators will warm at the 1992 Gropper cartoon on the Radical Magazines page, second row, far right:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/higbie/collections/72157602788988163/

CONTACTS
CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607
CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above.  We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

LEP Update

June 9, 2008

New email address for all labor education faculty, staff and business: @illinois.edu. Messages sent to @uiuc.edu addresses will be automatically forwarded to @illinois.edu “for a while.”

The University of Illinois Labor Education Program will bring instructors to any location in Illinois where people invite us to come and provide labor education.

MIDWEST SCHOOL FOR WOMEN WORKERS

July 10-13  St. Louis, MO

Roz Sherman-Voellinger and Judy Ancel from U Missouri are hosting. Special guests: six union women from Iraq. Scholarships are still available through the Regina V. Polk Fund for Women’s Labor Leadership and the United Association for Labor Education. Download the application form from the school website:  www.womenworkers.org

FALL 2008 PROGRAMS DOWNSTATE

Local Union President Conference

October 9-26-27

At UIUC in Champaign

Three weeks before the election this conference will create a forum for local union presidents (or their designees) from all different unions to review challenges, communicate goals and strategy, anticipate changes, and plan action. The curriculum will be developed through consultation with local union presidents. Cost, housing etc is not tied down yet. Respond to this email for details.

Building and Re-Building the Labor Movement

Tuesday nights, 6-8:30, October 14-December 16

$50; instructors Joe Berry, Helena Worthen, Monica Bielski and Ed Hertenstein

At UIUC in the Wagner Education Center, 504 East Armory

This is a non-credit class open to the Champaign and regional labor movement, workers without unions, community activists and UIUC students of all sorts. During its 10 sessions (on Tuesday the 4^th the class will start AFTER the polls close) we will cover the critical issues facing the labor movement. Novices and activists are all welcome: this is a labor movement fundamentals class. The UIUC Coalition of Labor/Campus Unions United has endorsed this class.

FALL 2008 PROGRAMS CHICAGO

Basic and Advanced Certificates in Labor Studies

(Each 6-week class $150, additional cost for books)

These classes are organized in a sequence that is cumulative. To get the full benefit of any class, people are advised to take the whole sequence.

Introduction to the American Labor Movement (Basic)

September 23-October 30. Tuesdays. 10:00 am – 12:30 pm or 6:00 – 8:30 pm

This class situates our labor movement today, both its crises and successes, in our current economic and political context. It covers the organizations and structure of the American labor movement; where unions came from in the United States; the meaning of union membership.

Steward Training (Basic)

November 11- Dec 16.  Tuesdays. 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. or 6: 00 – 8:30 p.m.

Technical aspects of grievance handling, the steward’s role as internal organizer and educator, what a steward needs to know; the legal rights of a union steward; the grievance procedure; processing a grievance; past practice grievances.

Current Issues in the Labor Movement (Advanced)

September 24 – October 29. Wednesdays. 10 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Major debates and issues within the labor movement; external challenges; the need to develop strategies for the 21st century;  labor internationalism and globalization, union democracy, internal and external organizing, minority unionism, and legal and political challenges among others.

Steward Training (Advanced)

November 12- December -17. Wednesdays. 10:00 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. or 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Preparing a case to hand over to an arbitration advocate; evaluation of the many other methods for resolving problems and building the union’s power. This class is for experienced stewards, chief stewards, grievance chairs, and others with contract enforcement and workplace leadership responsibilities.

ON-LINE LABOR STUDIES CLASSES

You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online classes. If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve a question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.

CONTACTS
CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607

CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

Labor Education Program Update

May 13, 2008

http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu also visit www.illinoislabored.org

This LEP Update includes activities for both Champaign-Urbana and Chicago sites.

CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607

CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

July 10-13, Midwest School for Women Workers. The location this year is St. Louis, Roz Sherman-Voellinger and Judy Ancel from U Missouri are hosting. Scholarships available through the Regina V. Polk Fund for Women’s Labor Leadership and the United Association for Labor Education. Email hworthen@uiuc.edu or go to the LEP website and download an application directly.

MOST IMPORTANT LABOR WEBSITE for Illinois:

http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/

Also see, although from reading these, you’d never understand why George Pullman had to be buried under concrete and iron bars:

http://members.aol.com/PullmanIL/

http://www.irm.org/history/pullmanlibrary.html

http://www.neiu.edu/~reseller/sehsintro.htm

ON-LINE LABOR STUDIES CLASSES

You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online classes. If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve a question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.

Summer Courses (8 weeks: June 9 – July 31)

LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies (3 credits) 

LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)

LEP IS HIRING PART-TIME INSTRUCTORS TO TEACH ONLINE COURSES

We project over 1,000 enrollments in 2008.  We hired 6 part-time instructors in spring 08 and anticipate hiring more in fall 08 and thereafter.  Our primary need is for instructors to teach compressed courses in the fall semester and spring semester.

Our immediate needs are for:

LIR 100  “Introduction to Labor Studies” (fall 08 and each semester thereafter)

LIR 110  “Labor and Social Movements” (fall 08 and each semester thereafter)

LIR 120  “Contemporary Labor Problems” (starting spring 09)

There may also be a need for instructors to teach semester-length courses, such as:

LIR 200   “Globalization and Workers” (we need one instructor for fall 08)

LIR 210   “U.S. Working Class and Labor History”    (starting spring 09)

LIR 320   “Gender, Race, Class, and Work” (starting fall 08)

Good article about the “Security and Prosperity Partnership” in Dollars and Sense, by labor educator Katherine Sciacchitano:

www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0108sciacchitano.html

The Labor Ed program at UIUC is located at 504 East Armory, in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Labor Ed program in Chicago is at Suite 110 The Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren Street (near Halsted and W. Van Buren). Both locations accessible by public transportation. If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

Labor Education Program Update
April 20, 2008
http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu

This LEP Update includes activities for both Champaign-Urbana and Chicago sites.
CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607
CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

April 22, and 29 (Tuesdays, Chicago) 6:00 – 8:30 pm: A Seminar on the National Labor Relations Board: Election Issues, ULP cases, and Novel Areas in Labor Law. NLRB Field Attorney Lisa Friedheim-Weis will examine critical areas of NLRA that affect your experience of workplace union representation. Two sessions remaining. Register by calling Bob Bruno at 312-996-2491.

April 21 (Monday, Chicago, in Spanish) 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Review of OSHA. $20

May 2 (Friday, Chicago) 4 pm. “The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker.”  NY Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, David Moberg, In These Times; Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice; Nancy MacLean, Northwestern; Prexy Nesbitt, activist and educator. UIC Student Center East Room 302, 750 S Halsted. Hosted by Chicago Center for Working Class Studies.

May 3, Saturday: (East Alton). Solidarity Workshop, hosted by the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor, full-day dramatization of the challenges to solidarity plus dose of Labor History, in honor of MayDay. Machinists Lodge 660 Hall, 161 Shamrock Street, East Alton, IL. Cost: $40 includes coffee and donuts, etc. Call Norma Gaines, 618-931-1068.

May 10 (Saturday), 12 noon: Unemployment Benefits Filing Party. The IEA won an NEA grant to help adjuncts file for unemployment benefits between semesters. Filing as a group may increase your chances of winning your rightful benefits. You do not have to be a member of any particular union to join in. Register at filing@chicagococal.org but no one will be turned away even if you show up at the last minute. Refreshments.

May 7, 6-7:30 pm at Chicago Cultural Center at 78 E Washington (at Michigan), First Floor West Meeting Room. For information email www.intersections.colum.edu or email Janina Ciezadlo at merelycirculating@sbcglobal.net. Panel on “Academic Labor in the Neo-liberal Economy.” Joe Berry, Cris Thale, Pete Insley, Janina Ciezadlo panelists on the process of unionization as a step toward equity. Sponsored by Columbia College.

MAY 15-18. REGINA V. POLK CONFERENCE. The application deadline was March 14 and we now have a long waiting list. Thanks to all who applied.

May 19 (Monday, Chicago, in Spanish) 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Review of FMLA. $20.

July 10-13,  Midwest School for Women Workers. The location this year is St. Louis, Roz Sherman-Voellinger is hosting. Some scholarships available through the Regina V. Polk Fund for Women’s Labor Leadership and the United Association for Labor Education. Email hworthen@uiuc.edu

ON-LINE CLASSES – UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS DEGREE
You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online classes. If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve a question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.
Summer Courses (8 weeks: June 9 – July 31)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits)
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)

Fall Courses (August 25 – December 10)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits)
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)
LIR 200     Globalization and Workers  (3 credits)
LIR 220     Gender, Race, Class, and Work (3 credits)
LIR 250     Grievance Representation  (3 credits)

The Labor Ed program at UIUC is located at 504 East Armory, in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Labor Ed program in Chicago is at Suite 110 The Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren Street (near Halsted and W. Van Buren). Both locations accessible by public transportation. If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

Labor Education Program Update
April 2, 2008
http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu

This LEP Update includes activities for both Champaign-Urbana and Chicago sites.

CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607
CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

April 4-6: The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will be holding a 3-day organizer training in Chicago.  The training will be held at IAM Lodge 1487, 50 W. Oakton St, Des Plaines, IL.  Contact Carol Edelson at 202-320-1410 or via email at cedelson@aflcio.org

April 8: (Chicago) Democracy Burlesque at the No Exit Café, 6970 North Glenwood in Chicago, presents “Poor Houses, or This Economy is Killing Me,” celebrating Jobs with Justice and The Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues. Tickets $10. Political satire, Joe Fedorko directing.

April 11: 6:00 – 7:30 pm. (Chicago) Rep. John Conyers, NNOC and Northwestern Law and Medical Schools on the healthcare crisis. Conyers is lead author of HR 676, the Single Payer bill. 375 E. Chicago Ave, Lincoln Hall. Free and open to the public but please RSVP to m-carter2010@nlaw.northwestern.edu

April 15, 22, and 29 (Tuesdays, Chicago) 6:00 – 8:30 pm: A Seminar on the National Labor Relations Board: Election Issues, ULP cases, and Novel Areas in Labor Law. NLRB Field Attorney Lisa Friedheim-Weis will examine critical areas of NLRA that affect your experience of workplace union representation. $75 for three sessions. Register by calling Bob Bruno at 312-996-2491.

April 17, (Champaign). 7 pm. Talk by Marc Bousquet whose book “How the University Works:  Higher Education in the Low-Wage Nation,” has just been published by NYU Press. Free and open to the public. Directly following the membership meeting of the Association of Academic Professionals at ILIR.

April 21 (Monday, Chicago, in Spanish) 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Review of OSHA. $20

May 3, Saturday: (East Alton). Solidarity Workshop, hosted by the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor, full-day dramatization of the challenges to solidarity plus dose of Labor History, in honor of MayDay. Machinists Lodge 660 Hall, 161 Shamrock Street, East Alton, IL. Cost: $40 includes coffee and donuts, etc. Call Norma Gaines, 618-931-1068.

May 10 (Saturday), 12 noon: An Unemployment Benefits Filing Party. The IEA won an NEA grant to help adjuncts file for unemployment benefits between semesters. Filing as a group may increase your chances of winning your rightful benefits. You do not have to be a member of any particular union to join in. Register at filing@chicagococal.org but no one will be turned away even if you show up at the last minute. Refreshments.

May 7, 6-7:30 pm at Chicago Cultural Center at 78 E Washington (at Michigan), First Floor West Meeting Room. For information email www.intersections.colum.edu or email Janina Ciezadlo at merelycirculating@sbcglobal.net. Panel on “Academic Labor in the Neo-liberal Economy.” Joe Berry, Cris Thale, Pete Insley, Janina Ciezadlo panelists on the process of unionization as a step toward equity. Sponsored by Columbia College.

MAY 15-18. REGINA V. POLK CONFERENCE. The application deadline was March 14 and we now have a long waiting list. Thanks to all who applied.

May 19 (Monday, Chicago, in Spanish) 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Review of FMLA. $20.

ON-LINE CLASSES – UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS DEGREE
You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online classes. If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve a question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.
Summer Courses (8 weeks: June 9 – July 31)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits)
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)

Fall Courses (August 25 – December 10)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits)
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)
LIR 200     Globalization and Workers  (3 credits)
LIR 220     Gender, Race, Class, and Work (3 credits)
LIR 250     Grievance Representation  (3 credits)

The Labor Ed program at UIUC is located at 504 East Armory, in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Labor Ed program in Chicago is at Suite 110 The Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren Street (near Halsted and W. Van Buren). Both locations accessible by public transportation. If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

Labor Education Program Update
March 23, 2008
http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu

This LEP Update includes activities for both Champaign-Urbana and Chicago sites.
CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607
CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

March 24 (Champaign), 6 – p pm. Labor Film at 504 East Armory: “The Killing Floor”, about African-American organizing in the Chicago meatpacking industry in the 1920’s. Also, same evening: “Nothing But A Man”, extraordinary black and white film from early 60’s about a black railroad worker who marries and settles down in a southern town. Ivan Gordon, who just died, stars. Next week: April 1, cartoons: Chicken Run and Mouseland, the one where mice elect cats until they figure out the problem.

March 24, (Chicago). 6 pm. Workers Comp workshop taught by Dave Menchetti who drafted the 2005 Illinois Workers Comp law. Cost $20. Call Bob Bruno at LEP to register.

March 27, Thursday. (Chicago) 6:00 – 8:00 pm.  Labor history music and theater: “The March of the Mill Children”. A speech by Mother Jones, adapted and performed by Betsey Means of WomanLore, with music by Bucky Halker. At CLEP, Admission $10.

April 4-6: The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will be holding a 3-day organizer training in Chicago.  The training will be held at IAM Lodge 1487, 50 W. Oakton St, Des Plaines, IL.  Contact Carol Edelson at 202-320-1410 or via email at cedelson@aflcio.org

April 10-12, UALE Conference, Minneapolis, annual labor education conference. www.uale.org

April 11-12, Labor Notes conference, Dearborn, Michigan. www.labornotes.org

April 17, (Champaign). 7 pm. Talk by Marc Bousquet whose book “How the University Works:  Higher Education in the Low-Wage Nation,” has just been published by NYU Press. Free and open to the public. Directly follwoign the membership meeting of the Association of Academic Professionals at ILIR.

April 17, (Peoria). HAZWOPER Refresher. http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/labor/hasmat.html  phone: 217-333-0640

April 21-25, (Peoria) 40 Hour Hazmat Technician. http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/labor/hasmat.html  phone: 217-333-0640

May 3, Saturday: (East Alton). Solidarity Workshop, hosted by the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor, full-day dramatization of the challenges to solidarity plus dose of Labor History, in honor of MayDay. Machinists Lodge 660 Hall, 161 Shamrock Street, East Alton, IL. Cost: $40 includes coffee and donuts, etc. Call Norma Gaines, 618-931-1068.

May 7, 6-7:30 pm at Chicago Cultural Center at 78 E Washington (at Michigan), First Floor West Meeting Room. For information email www.intersections.colum.edu or email Janina Ciezadlo at merelycirculating@sbcglobal.net. Panel on “Academic Labor in the Neo-liberal Economy.” Joe Berry, Cris Thale, Pete Insley, Janina Ciezadlo panelists on the process of unionization as a step toward equity. Sponsored by Columbia College.

MAY 15-18. REGINA V. POLK CONFERENCE. The application deadline was March 14 and we now have a long waiting list. Thanks to all who applied.

ON-LINE CLASSES – UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS DEGREE
Yes, Rich Trumka has signed on to teach as an adjunct! Take a course with Rich Trumka!
In January our new online program was launched and we’ve already over 400 enrollments.  You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online classes. All U of Illinois Labor Studies classes will count toward the NLC degree.  If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  When the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations has established its BA degree, these courses will apply to your University of Illinois degree. For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.

Summer Courses (8 weeks: June 9 – July 31)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits)
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)

Fall Courses (August 25 – December 10)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits)
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)
LIR 200     Globalization and Workers  (3 credits)
LIR 220     Gender, Race, Class, and Work (3 credits)
LIR 250     Grievance Representation  (3 credits)

LABOR STUDIES CLUB (CHAMPAIGN). Contact Dierdre Darnall at d-darnall@hotmail.com for information about the Labor Studies Club at UIUC.

WORKERS COMP: The CACOSH guide to the 2005 Illinois Workers Compensation Law is now available in Spanish. To get a copy ($5), call Emanuel Blackwell at 708-359-3303.

The Labor Ed program at UIUC is located at 504 East Armory, in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Labor Ed program in Chicago is at Suite 110 The Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren Street (near Halsted and W. Van Buren). Both locations accessible by public transportation. If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

Labor Education Program Update

March 3, 2008

http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu

CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago 60607
CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820

AFL-CIO SEC-TREAS RICH TRUMKA TO TEACH ONLINE INTRO TO LABOR STUDIES COURSE. See below, under OnLine classes.

March 3 and March 10, Mondays: 6:00 – 8:30 pm: Labor and Organizing in the African American Community CHICAGO. Meatpacking, sanitation, construction trades: a problem-focused class that will build on the experience of participants. Call 312-996-2624 to register. Two sessions left.

March 4, Tuesday: CHICAGO. Intro to Collective Bargaining Certificate class, 6:00 – 8:30 pm,  Steven Ashby, Instructor. $150 per person for six weeks.

March 5, Wednesday: CHICAGO. Advanced Collective Bargaining, Certificate class, 6:00 – 8:30 pm, Bob Bruno, instructor. $150 for six weeks.

March 12: CHICAGO. Book reading and signing of On the Global Waterfront: The Fight to Free the Charleston 5, by Suzan Erem and Paul Durremberger.  At UNITE! HERE, 333 S. Ashland, 5 to 7 p.m. with refreshments etc.  www.ontheglobalwaterfront.org  Check out some of the links to videos of the strike on this.

LBST 2990 (National Labor College Class). CHICAGO.  Educational Planning. Required Jumpstarts will take place, March 12 (note: This is a Wednesday, not a Thursday) and April 17 from 6-9 pm at CLEP. All NLC students who have not completed their portfolios are welcome.

March 27, Thursday. CHICAGO. 6:00 – 8:00 pm.  Labor history music and theater: “The March of the Mill Children”. A speech by Mother Jones, adapted and performed by Betsey Means of WomanLore, with music by Bucky Halker. At CLEP, Admission $10.

April 4-6: The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will be holding a 3-day organizer training in Chicago.  The training will be held at IAM Lodge 1487, 50 W. Oakton St, Des Plaines, IL.  Contact Carol Edelson at 202-320-1410 or via email at cedelson@aflcio.org

April 10-12, UALE Conference, Minneapolis, annual labor education conference. www.uale.org

April 11-12, Labor Notes conference, Dearborn,Michigan. www.labornotes.org

May 3, Saturday: EAST ALTON. Solidarity Workshop, hosted by the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor, full-day dramatization of the challenges to solidarity plus dose of Labor History, in honor of MayDay. Machinists Lodge 660 Hall, 161 Shamrock Street. Cost: $40 includes coffee and donuts, etc. Call Norma Gaines, 618-931-1068.

May 7, 6-7:30  pm at Columbia College, CHICAGO, www.colum.edu. Panel on “Academic labor in the neo-liberal economy.” Joe Berry, Cris Thale, Pete Insley, Janina Ciezadlo panelists on the process of unionization as a step toward equity.

MAY 15-18. REGINA V. POLK CONFERENCE. ST. CHARLES. Application deadline March 15, download from lep.ilir.uiuc.edu. The collective bargaining focus this year will be on the public sector and what used to be the public sector – transportation, post office, healthcare, schools. What’s going on with the public sector? 

ON-LINE CLASSES – UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS DEGREE
Yes, Rich Trumka has signed on to teach as an adjunct! Take a course with Rich Trumka!
In January our new online program was launched and we’ve already over 400 enrollments.  You don’t have to be a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student to enroll in UIUC online classes. All U of Illinois Labor Studies classes will count toward the NLC degree.  If you are a University of Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The cost per 3-credit class is $882.  Unionists receive a scholarship that reduces the cost to $706 per course.  When the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations has established its BA degree, these courses will apply to your University of Illinois degree. For more information and course syllabi go to our website at:  http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu/.   If you’ve question please call Steven Ashby at (312) 996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu.
Summer Courses (8 weeks: June 9 – July 31)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits) 
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits)
Fall Courses (August 25 – December 10)
LIR 100     Introduction to Labor Studies  (3 credits) 
LIR 110     Labor and Social Movements (3 credits) 
LIR 200     Globalization and Workers  (3 credits)
LIR 220     Gender, Race, Class, and Work (3 credits)
LIR 250     Grievance Representation  (3 credits)

LABOR STUDIES CLUB (CHAMPAIGN). Contact Dierdre Darnall at d-darnall@hotmail.com for information about the Labor Studies Club at UIUC.

WORKERS COMP: The CACOSH guide to the 2005 Illinois Workers Compensation Law is now available in Spanish. To get a copy ($5), call Emanuel Blackwell at 708-359-3303.

Library goodie: Original document from 1919 nChicago race riots:
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/blog/digitizedbotw/2008/02/chicago_race_riots_c1919_1.html

This Socialist labor pamphlet, published shortly after a violent race riot
in Chicago during the summer of 1919, was digitized from the original in
the Lawrence J. Gutter Collection of Chicagoana in the Library of the
University of Illinois at Chicago. The article “Our Real Enemy” by Mary Marcy, urges black and white workers to organize together against their  mutual exploitation by capitalist interests, in this case the owners of Chicago’s meat packing businesses.
Mary Marcy (1877-1922), born in Belleville, Illinois, was a columnist and
editor of the International Socialist Review, published in Chicago from
1900 to 1918.

The Labor Ed program at UIUC is located at 504 East Armory, in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Labor Ed program in Chicago is at Suite 110 The Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren Street (near Halsted and W. Van Buren). Both locations accessible by public transportation. If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table to sell and talk about good labor books from the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.

Labor Education Program Update

February 17, 2008http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu

This LEP Update includes activities for both Champaign-Urbana and Chicago sites.

CHICAGO: Yesenia Vargas, 312-996-2624, 815 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago

60607

CHAMPAIGN: Joe Berry, 217-333-2388, 504 East Armory, Champaign 61820 Labor and Organizing in the African American Community (CHICAGO). Feb 25, Monday, 6:00 – 8:30 pm, also March 3 and March 10: Instructor, Emanuel Blackwell, Local 17 Heat and Frost Insulators and National

Labor

College graduate. African American organizing in the

Chicago stockyards, the Last Campaign of Dr. Martin Luther King, and current organizing in the building trades. A problem-focused class that will build on the experience of participants. Call 312-996-2624 to register. $75 for 3 sessions.

Labor history music and theater: “The March of the Mill Children”. A speech by Mother Jones, adapted and performed by Betsey Means of WomanLore, with music by Bucky Halker. At CLEP, Admission $10. March 29, Saturday. 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

REGINA V. POLK CONFERENCE MAY 15-18. Download an application at http://lep.ilir.uiuc.edu Please fax it to 312-413-2997. Fax number on brochure was incorrect. This conference draws about 35-45 union women from Illinois and the

Midwest. We have funding from the Polk Fund to provide about 35 full scholarships. The collective bargaining focus this year will be on the public sector and what used to be the public sector – transportation, post office, healthcare, schools. What’s going on with the public sector? LABOR STUDIES CLUB (CHAMPAIGN). Contact Dierdre Darnall at d-darnall@hotmail.com for information about the Labor Studies Club at UIUC.

NATIONAL

CHICAGO) LBST 2990: Educational Planning. Required Jumpstarts will take place February 21, March 12 (note: This is a Wednesday, not a Thursday) and April 17 from 6-9 pm at CLEP. All NLC students who have not completed their portfolios are welcome. Remember, you have 14 weeks from the date of your Ed Planning class to complete your portfolio; after that, you need to get an extension from

Helena and after that you will have to re-register with the NLC. LBHU 2160 - Images of Labor in Film. The course will survey a number of important films that have strong images of labor, both positive and negative. This class meets 9 am to 4 pm, four Saturdays in a row in March: 3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22 with Steven Ashby. Cost: $490.

ON-LINE CLASSES –UNIVERSITY OF

ILLINOIS DEGREE Even if you are not a

University of

Illinois Urbana-Champaign student, you can register for our new on-line degree program. All U of Illinois Labor Studies classes will count toward the NLC degree. If you are a

University of

Illinois employee, you can take these classes for free. The three Online Labor Studies classes are described below. The cost per 3-credit class is $882. When the Institute for Labor and Industrial Relations has established its BA degree, these courses will apply to your

University of

Illinois degree. For more information, call

Steven Ashby at 312-996-8733 or email him at skashby@uiuc.edu. LIR 100 Introduction to Labor Studies (3 credits) The course provides an overview of workers and unions in American society.

LIR 200 Globalization and Workers (3 credits)Is globalization good for working people in the United States and around the world? Globalization is the driving force in the world economy but it is also provoking tremendous debate and popular resistance. LIR 300 Workers, Unions and Politics (3 credits) The course explores political power, political participation, and political change from a broad historical and cross-cultural perspective, always focusing on a view of politics from the bottom up.

OI TRAINING: The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will be holding a 3-day organizer training in Chicago on April 4-6. The training will be held at IAM Lodge 1487, 50 W. Oakton St, Des Plaines, IL Contact Carol Edelson at 202-320-1410 or via email at cedelson@aflcio.org BASIC CERTIFICATE INTRO TO LABOR LAW is under way at CLEP as of now. Intro to Collective Bargaining starts March 4, Steven Ashby, Instructor. Advanced CB will start March 5, Bob Bruno, instructor.

March 12: Book reading and signing of On the Global Waterfront: The Fight to Free the Charleston 5, by Suzan Erem and Paul Durremberger. At UNITE! HERE, 333 S. Ashland, 5 to 7 p.m. with refreshments etc. www.ontheglobalwaterfront.org Check out some of the links to videos of the strike on this. WORKERS COMP: The CACOSH guide to the 2005 Illinois Workers Compensation Law is now available in Spanish. To get a copy ($5), call Emanuel Blackwell at 708-359-3303. The Labor Ed program at UIUC is located at 504 East Armory, in the Institute of

Labor and Industrial Relations. The Labor Ed program in

Chicago is at Suite 110 The Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren Street (near Halsted and W. Van Buren). Both locations accessible by public transportation. If you would like us to come to your organization or local union meeting, call the numbers listed above or email Illinoislabored@uiuc.edu. We can bring our Book Table and set it up to sell and talk about good labor books provided to us by the Illinois Labor History Society, books that you may not see out on the shelf in most bookstores.