February 2008


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

LABOR

COLLEGE CLASSES (

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.

Labor Education Program Update

February 3, 2008

This LEP Update includes activities for both Urbana-Champaign 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

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: Chicago. Instructor, Emanuel Blackwell, Local 17 Heat and Frost Insulators and National Labor College graduate. The history of African American organizing in the Chicago stockyards, the Last Campaign of Dr. Martin Luther King, and current organizing trends in the building trades. This will be a problem-focused class that will draw on the experience of participants. Call 312-996-2624 to register. $75 for 3 Monday night sessions (Feb 25, March 3, March 10, 6:00 – 8:30).

LABOR FILM CLASS: Champaign. Joe Berry, Instructor, starts Tuesday February 12 for seven weeks. Watch great known and unknown films, compare, discuss, analyze both as film documents and in their historical and political/economic contexts. At the Wagner Education Center at ILIR, 6-9 pm. This is the NLC class reconfigured to open it to people who wanted the class but didn’t need college credit. $60.

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? You know who you are!

UCAN classes (DECATUR) start January 21 and continues: 2.4: Helena Worthen, Basic Worker Rights. 2.11: Joe Berry: Political Economy, ours and theirs. 2.18: Amy Girardi, Winning back the American Dream. 2.25: Community Outreach: FCFH, Salvation Army, NECF, IDES, Catholic Charities. 3.3: Effective communication. 3.10: Graduation at IBEW Local 146. Contact: Sarah Sylvester, 217-422-8537.

UNION CARPENTERS APPRENTICESHIP (CHICAGO): February 7, 6 PM at St. Anselm at 110 East 61st Street, Chicago, church basement. The Building Bridges Project of the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues has room for 12 more students in our pre-apprenticeship program. Classes are 11 weeks long and are 8am to 4pm, Monday through Friday, and include math and hands-on training. Stipends, child care. Call 773-728-8400 Extension 19 for details.

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

NATIONAL LABOR COLLEGE CLASSES: LABOR STUDIES 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.

LABOR STUDIES 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.

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