United Association for Labor Education

2005 CONFERENCE
1. Should break even at least. Similar numbers to last year except a few more 1 day and student participants.
2. More people of color attended the conference this year (similar to when it was held in Los Angeles) A quarter of the participants were people of color.

REGISTRATION
1. On-line- we are aware of the problems registering on-line this year. We plan to improve the link from UALE to NLC on-line service and offer more options.
2. Create a printable registration form and list a fax number where registrations may be faxed.
3. At the UALE web-page we will list a phone registration number where individuals can call with registration questions and concerns.
4. We will provide University affiliations on registrations and name tags for those who come to the conference from academia.

SITE CHOICES FOR FUTURE
1. 2006 / WEST:the first choice is Seattle and other choices would be San Diego or Las Vegas
2. 2007/ SOUTH: the first choice was Houston and other choices were New Orleans or Atlanta
3. We agreed we need to book sites at least 2 years in advance
4. Any site needs to be fairly cheap to fly into

IDEAS FOR 2006
1. Theme: What is the future of the US Labor Movement- Where do we go from here?
2. Should Labor Ed Go Global?
3. The Changing and rebuilding of the labor movement
4. Topic ideas: Immigration, organizing, new labor agenda, changing the rhetoric
5. We may want to extend the conference to include a tour or poster sessions on the Wednesday before the conference begins.
6. It was suggested that if we are in Seattle we could do a tour of a labor site such as airplane construction.
7. All cell phones and beepers off policy clearly displayed
8. Have UALE brochures available at the registration table to sign up new members.

CAUCUSES
1. caucus chairs need to select a time for their group to meet.
2. Chairs will schedule meeting times with the Vice President prior to the conference, or else they will be scheduled for Friday evening.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
1. We will do hard copy mailings to members. One to “save the date” and another with registration information, a last call kind of thing
2. UALE will be clearly indicated on all mailings, including LSJ envelopes
3. A list was passed around and 12 members volunteered to be on the planning committee for 2006.
4. All proposals will be required to give a 2 sentence description to be included on the agenda.

CONFERENCE FEE RATES (suggested, but could be increased if we wish to increase revenue – this should be decided by the board)

early member rate - $225
door/late rate - $250
early non-member rate - $250
door/late non-member - $275
early 1 day rate - $100
door/late 1 day - $125
early student, retiree, unemployed or special circumstances rate - $30
door/late student, retiree, unemployed or special circumstances - $35
speaker only rate - $25 per session (this sill not be publicized and must be prearranged with conference organizers.

Non refunds will be given after 1 week prior to conference
Vendors who sell items will be charged $30 per table
Vendors with only give-aways will not be charged table fee
All vendors will be charges $5 per box handling fee for boxes shipped ahead

The motion passed.

Union V.P. Serrette reported that Labor Education seemed to lack direction; AFL-CIO is planning to cut at least 25% from its budget and this will have a negative effect on “People of Color”.

Treasurer Ewing presented the 2005 budget (see attachment 2).

A motion was made to approve, an amendment was offered that $5000.00 be expended for scholarships for conference.

Discussion led to a motion to table the amendment and another to table the motion until all other requests for funds were heard. Both motions to table were duly seconded and passed.

Secretary Wisniewski reported that the secretary and the treasurer needed to create a system of updates so the directory can be published.

A motion was made and seconded to accept all the officer reports except the treasurer’s report. The motion passed.

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

Dianne Thomas Holiday reported that the committee needed an additional meeting in the fall. A motion was made and seconded to accept the report. The motion was approved.

Bob Bussel commented that the committee needed more quality time to discuss problems for programs in Labor Education.

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS COMMITTEE
(see attachment 3)

The changes to Article VII (which had been read last year) were approved.

Verlene Wilder reported that the 2006 Women’s Summer Schools were set:

Northeast – will be Cornell
South – Arkansas
West – Oregon

Midwest – U. of MichiganAnd that plans 2007 Women’s Summer Schools were also well under way:

West – Hawaii
Midwest – Chicago
South – Florida
Eastern – somewhere on the Amtrak corridor

And that there are particular challenges concerning scholarships.

Helena Worthen asked: How the caucuses could weigh in with the AFL-CIO on behalf of Labor Education and requested funding for the Women’s Schools of $10,000.00 above the reported budget.

At 4:30 PM EST (the meeting end time on the agenda) a motion to extend was made, seconded and approved.

The Organizing Committee requested $7500.00 to fund grants.

After much discussion a motion was made to pass the original budget and give the Executive Board the discretion to spend up to $30,000.00 in assets to cover the many funding requests.

Dennis Serrette representing the People of Color Caucus presented a letter (see attachment 4) and asked that membership approve sending it. The letter objected to the cover and caption used on the IAM Journal. Acceptance was moved and seconded.

Charlie Micallef rose to speak against the motion and unequivocally declared his support of his union the IAM.

Further discussion centered around the effectiveness and fallout from such an action and other possible ways to approach the problem.

The motion was accepted.

Dennis Serrette also presented a Unity Statement (see attachment 5) that had been approved by the AFL-CIO Constituency Groups and asked that it be adopted by the members.” Acceptance was moved and seconded.

Dennis explained that there was a move afoot to remove the constituency groups from the Board of the AFL-CIO and that the statement was an effort to counter this action.

The motion was approved.

Tess Ewing reported that the GLBT Caucus voted unanimously to support the Unity Statement of the Constituency Groups which was presented by the Workers of Color caucus. We also voted to express our concern about the scheduling of the caucus meetings at the same time. We were not asking for any action to be taken since both items had already been addressed.

The CLC and State Fed Task Force reported on changes in members.

There was no report from the Political Economy Task Force.

The Organizing Task Force spoke of the need for a commitment to organinzing.There was no report from the COSH taskforce.

LSJ – Bruce Nissen explained that Paul Jarley would no longer be involved with the LSJ so Bruce would be alone as editor. In addition Paul never used the money allotted for and editorial assistant which will definitely be needed now.

Michael Zweig and Dennis Serrette submitted the resolution:

RESOLVED, that UALE and Educators to Stop the War (ESW) co-operate to develop and popularize anti-war educational materials and methods for use in union and other labor and working class venues, and be it further

RESOLVED, that UALE create a committee of interested people to implement this work.

The resolution adopted.

Further, Michale Zweig and Dennis Serrette will initiate this committee.

Paul Clark of Penn State Univerity presented a statement, “UALE Support for Campus Teach-ins on Workers’ Rights” (see attachment 6) in conjunction with Sheldon Friedman, AFL-CIO Voice at Work.

The statement was adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.

Draft Minutes of Organizing Task Force

April 1 2005

Attending: Michael Zweig, Adrienne Eaton, Joe Berry, John O’Connor, Marvin Moschel, Bruce Nissen, David Waugh, Jeff Grabelsky, Jen Sherer, Courtney Derwinske, Corliss Olson, Gene Carroll, Liz Long, David Nack, Charlie Micallef, Erin Johansson, Sheldon Friedman, Julie Martinez Ortega, Lynn Feekin

Chair and Recorder: Lynn Feekin

Meeting began at 6:15 p.m.

1. Jeff Grabelsky gave an overview of the Voice at Work program, assessing the past year’s activities, particularly in terms of its connection to labor educators, and then providing a preview of anticipated activities for the coming year.

Our discussion identified these common problems/challenges re the program:
a – the tension between the V@W campaign and building a movement;
b – the distraction of the election
c – the lack of affiliate buy-in

There was a general recognition that changing the climate for organizing requires a local campaign to hook into.

Jeff outlined plans for the coming year, emphasizing that there will be another push to get AFL-CIO affiliates to embrace the program and encourage presentations to their members. Hopefully the urgency of ‘The Crisis’ will spark more organizing.

We deferred discussing how labor educators could tie into this work until after the ARAW discussion.

2. Julie Martinez Ortega gave an overview of the American Rights at Work program. She cited several examples of work with labor educators, which are mostly research projects that document the severe restrictions and dismantling of the right to organize. She described their clearinghouse on worker rights, a national database that has case studies of workers whose rights were violated during organizing campaigns.

Julie outlined the coming year’s work, which includes a national Human Rights Tour, with stops in several metro areas, and an academic conference that ties organizing issues to research on income inequality, race, poverty and other issues.

3. We spent the remainder of our time discussing how labor centers could support V@W and ARAW in their home cities and states. We brainstormed several ideas.

1. Get local stories of violations of worker rights from campaigns – write up and submit to ARAW clearinghouse
2. Use the local/state data and stories to create an outrage among unionists and the external community:
a. Give V@W presentations, especially when tailored to local area
b. Op-eds in local or state newspapers
c. Appear on local talk shows (radio or tv)
3. Work w/ CLCs or state federations
a. to organize behind the effort to get congressional co-sponsors for EFCA (when it’s re-introduced).
b. To talk with local/state politicians about support measures they could take
c. To talk with religious and community potential allies

4. Set up campus events; involve students

We also identified some obstacles to us doing this work. One was money -- the ongoing budgetary distress many labor centers find themselves in. Knowing that we can’t fully underwrite these activities from a number of labor centers, we discussed the possibility of setting up a small fund to spark activities that couldn’t necessarily happen without some monetary support. A request has been made to ARAW and UALE for a contribution to this fund. We want to make a similar request to V@W, with the hope of pulling $20,000 together.

Draft Minutes of Women's Caucus of UALE

March 31 2005, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Philadelphia

Present: Helena Worthen, Verlene Jones (Co-chairs), Courtney Derwinski, Corliss Olson, Rae Sovereign, Dawn Addy, Monica Bielski, Jean Troutman-Poole, KC Wagner, Elise Bryant, Lea Grundy, Tess Ewing, Susan Winning, Jennifer Sherer, Judy Ancel, Barbara Byrd, Lynn Feekin, Maurice “Skip” Turner, Michelle Kaminski, Raahi Reddy, Deborah Rosenstein, Cynthia Hack, Maureen Holder

In handouts: Requests from 2005 schools to Susan Washington, AFL CIO for funding. Requests were for $2,000 per school; $1,000 per school was granted. Reports from Western and Northeastern/Midwest 2004 schools.

AGENDA:
1. Introductions

2. 2004 reports – Western and Northeaster/Midwest schools.

3. Funding: Traditionally, the AFL CIO and UALE have co-sponsored the schools by providing supplementary scholarship and discretionary funding.

Funding Source	2004	2005
From AFL-CIO	$2,000 per school, four schools expected, only two Held: thus, $8,000 divided between two schools, $4,000 per school	$1,000 per school for four schools, total $4,000
From UALE	$1,500 per school, times four = $6,000. This was divided between two schools Resulting in $3,000 per school	$1,500 (if same as 2004) per school for four schools, total $6,000
Total money for women’s summer schools from both UALE and AFL-CIO	$14,000 for two schools or $7,000 each	$10,000 for four schools (if no increase from 2004) or $2,500 each

Tess Ewing reports that the UALE exec has voted $10,000 for the 2005 summer schools, an increase from $6,000. Discussion, vote to ask for $16,000 from UALE. This plus the $4,000 from the AFL CIO would mean $20,000 total, or $5,000 per school. Motion passed to request this in the business meeting Saturday April 2.

4. Plans for 2005 schools. All four schools running this year. All four schools have brochures available now. NOTE: Please send brochures to Tess Ewing electronically.

Midwest: Skip Turner. July 28-31, eight workshops, UALE instructional team, 5 union women from ranks, 40-48 registered at present, using teaching spots to train rank and file as teachers.

Northeast: K.C. Wagner. Thirtieth anniversary. August 7-12. One week, Sunday-Friday format, expecting 100-120 participants. Invited Jessica Gugliemo from the Farmworkers.

Southern: Monica Bielski. Friday July 29- Tuesday, in Hot Springs. Four days. Cost is $320 plus hotel.

Diane Thomas-Holladay Workshops include labor law, grievance, worker safety and health, political activism, public sector unions in the south, internal organizing. Some concern about enrollment related to general union survival in the south

Western: Barbara Byrd and Lynn Feekin, Portland, July 6-10. Lisa Featherstone, Susan Phillips, Quebec/Walmart shorty, Lots of co-sponsoring with British Columbia, Elaine Bernard. Six or seven 3-hour workshops, expecting 130-150 participants.

Discussion: Timing of brochures. Although it’s excellent that brochures are ready at this time, need brochures available by Jan-Feb in order for international unions to start budgeting process and voting on whom to send.

5. Plans for 2006 schools. Western: Honolulu (reported by Barbara Byrd). Southern: Florida (Dawn Addy) MidWest: Chicago (Helena Worthen) Northeast: “Amtrak Corridor” (KC Wagner) New York City

6. Plans for 2007 schools: Midwest possibly at Wisconsin.

7. Women’s schools/challenge to labor education? Given that the AFL CIO education department is gone, the work of the ed department passed over to the George Meany Center without additional funding, and the debates within the AFL CIO and cutbacks (layoffs of 100 staff; likely layoff of 100 more) the task of organizing and guiding labor education appears to fall to labor ed programs and UALE, in this case, the women’s schools. The women’s schools are apparently one of the main projects of UALE program. How can we put forward a pitch for support for the women’s schools (and similar or equivalent labor education projects) to the labor movement, now that the center (Ed Department of AFL CIO, Susan Washington) is dissolving? Can we put forward a presence at the AFL CIO convention in Chicago the week of July 25? Have a table? Sequence of tasks:

a) Find out what unions/international unions already have scholarships and compile this information. Tess Ewing will ask Tony Picarazzi of the Sheetmetal workers, Mary Hardiman of the IBT and Kathleen Condon of Laborers. Barbara Byrd will ask Elissa McBride at AFSCME and Charlie Micallef of IAMAW. Jean Troutman-Poole knows about SEIU. This information needs to be compiled so that we don’t ask if they’ve already got scholarships and support for the schools. Need report back.

b) Next, with this information, decide what unions should be approached to provide additional or alternative support for women’s schools.

c) Develop materials that we should approach them with. Draw from past Women’s Summer schools reports. Develop and produce this material in time to pass it out at the AFL CIO convention in August. Argument: need for multi-union, organized/unorganized general labor education, not being done on this scale elsewhere. We expect that there will be a UALE or at least a Labor Education table (Chicago/University of Illinois Labor Ed) at the convention. Deadline? No deadline set at this meeting.

Committee that has volunteered to do this is: Jean Troutman-Poole (SEIU, California), Leah Grundy (Berkeley), Michelle Kaminski (U Michigan), Dawn Addy (Florida International), Courtney Derwinski (Wisconsin). Helena and Verlene will coordinate production of these materials

8. Request for names for nominations committee for next year’s UALE Exec election. Term limits mean that all positions are open.

9. Issue posed by other caucuses: How can the caucuses weigh in on the AFL-CIO debates?

10. Women’s caucus chairs? Verlene and Helena agree to do it again.

Meeting adjourned at about 9 pm.

Minutes by Helena Worthen, corrections by Tess Ewing, Diane Thomas-Holladay.

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MINUTES, CURRENT YEAR

Draft Minutes of the UALE Business Meeting

April 2 2005 Philadelphia, PA

April 1 2005

April 2 2005
Philadelphia, PA