The George Meany Center for Labor Studies provides an example of an alternative to the traditional structure of higher education. It is designed to train full-time union staff representatives and elected officials and does so in cooperation with local community colleges and through on-campus labor education programs. (JMF)

Discusses organizational strength, teacher strikes, collective bargaining and negotiations, and political action as forms of teacher militancy that are linked with increasing professionalism. Concludes that teachers have been able to improve their professional status in recent years largely because of growing activism. (Author/GC)

Changes and problems in the economy and workplace, including the certainty of future struggles for good jobs, new management mood toward unions, automation, and fringe benefits, are examined. It is suggested that education for this future must inculcate moral values along with academic skills and seek to restore faith in institutions. (JMD)

A representative of a New York public service union discusses the role of his union in the education of workers. Focus is on the union's provisions for the educational needs of members, and changes in the workplace, particularly the trend away from industrial jobs to service occupations, for which union members must be prepared. (JMD)

In what has become a major new trend in adult education, community colleges, seeking to attract new students, have started labor studies courses. Unions often support the programs and pay for members to attend but the programs are controlled by the colleges. Focus is on such a program at Manhattan Community College. (JMD)

Among the ambitious programs in workers' education sponsored by Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are high school equivalency programs, college scholarships, tuition assistance, and overseas travel-study tours. Focus is on the critical thinking seminars offered at the union's Long Island retreat. (JMD)

A primary rule for implementing the collective bargaining grievance process in higher education is to settle early and at the lowest possible level. To achieve this or to prevent grievances, clear contract language, a contract administrator, and a "two-one-one" grievance structure should be adopted. (Author/JMD)

Although it is widely believed that unionization in higher education is incompatible with traditional academic practices involving collegial self-governance, the University of Connecticut Chapter of the American Association of University Professors found that unionization can augment the faculty's role in peer self-governance. (JMD)

A survey of 1,054 institutions by the AACJC Service Center for Community College-Labor Union Cooperation concluded that while substantial joint undertakings exist between unions and community colleges, in many cases labor and community colleges are waiting for the other party to make the first move. (JG)

Discusses three approaches to the construct of "professional" and examines the nature of teachers' professional practice and the roles played by both teacher unions and school authorities in relation to practice. Concludes that the quality of student learning in Australian schools depends, in part, on clarity about the nature of…

James R. Mingle and Larry Gold discuss distance education issues raised in an American Federation of Teachers report, "How Unions Can Harness the Technology Revolution on Campus." Highlights include cost-effectiveness, quality control, access to education, faculty jobs and roles, and the future of distance education. (AEF)

School boards are woefully unprepared to deal with "make or buy" issues, due to massive union efforts to eliminate or restrict board freedom to contract for services. Teachers neither understand nor support a market economy. School boards' contracting out ability will not be secure until favorable legislative options are considered and…

In the early 1980s, public school teachers in Chiapas, Mexico, organized themselves in a dissident mass movement aimed at democratizing their participation in union affairs and restructuring the relations of domination and subordination affecting their work lives. Macro-level analysis focuses on union corruption situated within an authoritarian…

A panel comments on the book, Working in America, and implications for the U.S. labor market, including declining traditional internal labor markets, the need for private versus public policy interventions, international labor policy, and value-based policy. Commentators include David Neumark, Peter Cappelli, Sanford M. Jacoby, Rebecca M. Blank,…

Defines telework as online or offline electronic work performed at home or in central offices, customer sites, and satellite centers. Examines the nature, extent, and impact of telework on working conditions, work organization and explores the legal status of teleworkers, changing attitudes of employers and trade unions, and government…