Labor & Employment Law

Sign Up For Southern School for Union Women

By James Parks

Sign up now for the Southern School for Union Women at the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md., August 19?22. The school is open to union and community activist women who support the advancement of women in the union movement.

The Southern School is sponsored by the National Labor College, United Association for Labor Education (UALE) and the Tennessee AFL-CIO. Union and nonunion women workers come together over four days to learn, teach, and inspire each other to make a difference in their unions and communities. 

Limited scholarships are available. To request a registration brochure or for more information, contact Elise Bryant at ebryant@nlc.edu or Barbara Miller at bmiller@nlc.edu or call the National Labor College at 301-431-5449.

 Bryant, a professor at the Labor College, says:

The South is a “right-to-work” area, so organizing there is an even greater challenge than in some other parts of the country. The Southern School for Union Women brings together union women and women organizers to learn from experienced union activists in a spirit of sisterhood and solidarity.

So-called ?right-to-work? laws actually are ?right-to-work-for less? laws. By weakening unions and collective bargaining, they destroy the best job security protection that exists: the union contract. 

The Southern School workshops are taught by dedicated labor educators from unions, universities, colleges, and worker centers. Participants can choose from five workshops: ?Basic Union Skills: Learn, Teach, Organize;? ?Women in Labor History;? Effective Meetings: Parliamentary Procedure is Just the Beginning;? ?Money Matters: Basic Economics at Work and at Home;? and ?Women and Leadership: Run For Office, Not for Coffee.?

 In the words of a past participant quoted on the school?s brochure:

I felt my confidence level soar. I never knew you could learn so much in such a short time and have fun doing it!  I can? t wait to go back and share what I learned with the folks at my local?the guys too!

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 02, 2010 (boomark / email).