LLC participates in UALE’s first-ever Northeast Regional Gathering

On May 20 and 21, the United Association for Labor Education (UALE) held its first-ever Northeast Regional Gathering.  Nearly 50 people from four different state attended the event, representing labor unions, universities, and community organizations. The Labor Leading on Climate team’s Zach Cunningham, the regional representative to UALE’s Board, led efforts to organize the event, which took place at SUNY Empire State College in Midtown Manhattan.

On May 20, participants learned about the theory and practice of popular education.  They were split into two rooms - one covering the basics, and the other reserved for more-advanced practitioners - where they developed new skills and planned to put what they learned into action upon returning to their organizations.

May 21 included panels and workshops on several topics, like union leadership training and racial justice efforts in unions. The opening plenary covered new organizing strategies in the labor movement.  Shaun Richman from SUNY Empire State moderated the panel, which featured Michelle Eisen of Starbucks Workers United, Brima Sylla of Amazon Labor Union, and Chloe Sigal of Online to Offline Strategies.

Lara Skinner, Director of the Labor Leading on Climate program, also spoke on a panel titled “Organized Labor and the Climate Crisis.”  Todd Vachon of Rutgers University moderated the panel, which also featured Mariah Dignan of Climate Jobs New York and Kathleen Ma of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center.  Skinner and the other panelists spoke about the work happening across the nation to attach labor standards to climate work, such as offshore wind development and retrofitting public schools.  They also spoke about various ways in which the labor movement is tackling the climate crisis.

UALE is an international organization meant to advance the role of labor education.  Cornell’s Worker Institute, as well as several individual faculty, are members of the organization.  The Northeast Regional Gathering was sponsored by the Worker Institute’s Lois Gray Innovation Initiative, Penn State’s LABOR School, the New York State Nurses Association, and SUNY Empire State College’s Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies.