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.