Organized Labor Education and Training Programs. Overview. ERIC Digest No. 43.

Overview & Synopsis

Besides assisting their members in collective bargaining efforts, U.S. labor unions perform a variety of functions including contract administration and arbitration, political action, legislative activity, union administration, research, education, and community involvement. Therefore, unions have an interest in providing the following types of training activities: apprenticeship training programs to prepare skilled workers for the workplace, labor education and labor studies to enable union officers and members to perform their administrative and professional functions, vocational education to help workers develop new skills or upgrade existing ones, and self-improvement education to enhance members' abilities in such areas as citizenship and cultural awareness. As of 1984, 70 percent of the labor education offered in the United States was provided by universities and 25 percent was provided by labor unions. To enable more workers to participate in labor education programs, the following strategies are suggested: increased dissemination of information concerning educational opportunities and available financial aid, provision of career and personal counseling to workers contemplating participation in labor education programs, development of more flexible work schedules, provision of incentives for participation in labor education, special focus on the needs of women and minorities, and increased availability of tuition prepayment plans. (MN)