Adult education programs have played a critical role in social justice movements. Organizations like the Highlander Research and Education Center have linked union and civil rights activists through popular education programs for 72 years. Leaders develop and movements grow as a result of the interaction between struggle, relfection and education.
Working as a labor educator has been the best job in the labor movement. People who take classes are striving to better themselves and their unions. Unfortuneately, education programs have to compete with ever scarcer resources in the labor movement. The AFL-CIO eliminated its education department a few years ago. Some of the major national unions have also scaled back their education programs. Public funding for labor education has also come under attack as state budgets struggle with fiscal crisis.
Nevertheless, labor education remains a vital part of union revitalization efforts. Whether it invovles basic steward trainging or strategic planning with top officers, labor education will continue to be the cornerstone of a vibrant trade union movement.
Critical, and at times controversial, analyses of union and employer strategies must inform the labor education process. Researching and understanding how corporate structures are changing and what kind of pressure campaigns and bargaining strategies can be effective in the new economic landscape is needed to help unions survive and rebuild power.
Masters Thesis In May 2003, I earned my MS degree from the Collective Bargaining department of the ILR school. The thesis was a case study of a labor dispute between Crown Central Petroleum and the Oil workers union. I used the case to examine the relationship between collective bargaining strategies and union revitalization efforts. |
Labor Studies I teach as an adjunct instructor for Cornell ILR Extension. This semester I am teaching a course on Globalization and US workers. Last year, the adjuncts in Upstate NY formed the Cornell University Adjunct Faculty Federation, (CUAFF) an affiliate of NYSUT and th3e AFT. |
Production shifts Another area of research in the Office of Labor Education Research has been studying production shifts from the US to China. We have produced two reports for the US - China Economic and Security Review Commission. |
Organizing Research I work as a research assistant for Kate Bronfenbrenner, the Director of the Office of Labor Education Research at the ILR school. Dr. Bronfenbrenner has pioneered research on union organizing strategies. I have had the privilege of working with her on recent projects including the Blueprint for Change.. |
My CV Here is a pdf version of my current curriculum vitae.. |
Cornell ILR I am currently a PhD student at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.. |
