Organized Labor's Linkage with Vocational Education. Occasional Paper No. 110.

Overview & Synopsis

Organized labor's relationship to vocational education has always been one of wholehearted support and encouragement. Since the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) has supported state efforts to develop vocational education. Labor has strongly supported apprenticeship programs that included cooperative relationships among the schools, employers, unions, and equipment manufacturers. Recognizing the dependence of vocational education upon its relationships with organized labor, the American Vocational Association created its Labor-Management Relations Committee in 1954. Since that time, various unions have worked to improve vocational education dealing with their particular trade, and the AFL-CIO has vigorously opposed proposed cutbacks in funding for vocational education. Historically, the AFL-CIO has urged that vocational education students receive a comprehensive education with emphasis on basic skills education rather than on a program that is too job specific. Despite labor's continued support of vocational education, the incorporation of instructional materials dealing with labor into vocational programs is the exception rather than the rule. Continued strengthening of the partnership between vocational education and organized labor is vital in light of the current need to retool and to retrain the work force in the United States, and government leadership is essential to achieve this goal. (MN)