Labor Resource Center
The Queens College Labor Resource Center is dedicated to revitalizing a
strong and democratic labor movement and supporting labor’s efforts to create a
more just and equitable society. The Center brings together union activists,
academics, and community leaders to focus on those issues and policies that
impact on workers and their communities. It is also dedicated to enabling
rank-and-file workers to play more active and informed roles in their unions,
workplaces, and communities. To fulfill its mission, the Center conducts
research, offers leadership development programs, holds monthly forums,
organizes national conferences, publishes educational material, develops public
education programs, and provides a number of venues for dialogue and debate on
the future of the labor movement.
a journal of ideas, analysis, and debate
The journal examines labor’s past, assesses its contemporary challenges, and
provides a forum for those with strategic proposals for increasing labor’s
strength in a changing and increasingly global economy and culture. New Labor
Forum encourages debate and presents a range of viewpoints on issues. The
journal’s roster of contributors includes national and internationally
recognized scholars, labor leaders, and public intellectuals as well as policy
advocates and union dissidents.
(more)
an action research project focusing on labor, community
and public policy
A collaboration of the Labor Resource Center and the New York City Central
Labor Council, Urban Agenda focuses on public policies and the impact these have
on workers, the poor, and working class communities. Urban Agenda conducts
policy research, surveys communities, convenes labor and community coalitions,
provides testimony to local and regional legislative bodies, and advocates for
public policies that promote a more socially, economically, and environmentally
sound New York City. Among the issues addressed by Urban Agenda are: housing,
transportation, education, the environment, health care, and economic
development.
an arena for discussion and opposing views
The Labor Resource Center organizes monthly forums to provide opportunities
for candid discussion among labor leaders, activists, scholars, and policy
makers. Forums showcase speakers who represent a wide range of scholarship and
expertise in the fields of civil rights, government, the national and
international labor movement, and the arts. Speakers have included Nobel
laureates, foreign ministers, national and local officials, leaders of
international labor organizations, distinguished scholars, civil rights leaders,
political analysts, and advocates for immigrant rights, the poor, and the
homeless. Over the past 10 years, well over 100 speakers have addressed the
Center’s forums.
Among the international speakers
Tony Benn, Labour MP and Cabinet Minister, UK; Augosto Boal,
Playwright, Workers’ Party, Brazil; Louis Viannet, President,
Confederation Generale du Travail, France; Mike Mabuyakhula, African
National Congress, South Africa; Amira Hass, journalist, Israel; Hikari
Nohara, economist, Japan; T.A. Francis, National Secretary, All India
Trade Union Congress, India; Peter Waterman, Senior Researcher,
Institute of Social Science, Denmark; Boris Kargalitsky, journalist,
Russia
Among the domestic speakers
David Montgomery, labor historian, Professor Emeritus, Yale
University; Angelo Falcon, President, Institute for Puerto Rican Policy,
CUNY; Ruth Messinger, former Borough President and current President,
American Jewish World Services; Manning Marable, author and Professor of
History, Columbia University; Kimberly Crenshaw, author and Professor of
Law, Columbia University; Bill Fletcher, former Assistant to the
President, AFL-CIO and President, TransAfrica Forum; Brian McLaughlin,
President, NYC Central Labor Council and member, New York State
Assembly; David Moberg, journalist; Paul Buhle, author and senior
lecturer, Brown University; Walter Bernstein, screenwriter and activist;
Francis Fox Piven, author and Distinguished Professor, Graduate Center,
CUNY; Maurice Isserman, author and Professor, Hamilton University; Bill
Tabb, author and Professor of Economics, Queens College; Nelson
Lichtenstein, author and Professor of History, University of California,
Santa Barbara; Gifford
Miller, Speaker, New York City Council; William Thompson, Controller,
City of New York; Michael Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts; Nydia
Velazquez, member of Congress; Jeff Faux, President, Economic Policy
Institute; Bogdan Denitch, author and Professor of Sociology, CUNY
Graduate School;
and many more...
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The Center’s conferences have attracted hundreds of participants from across
the country and around the world. Topics have included class equity issues in
higher education and the future of the labor movement.
preparing unionists for leadership in electoral politics
A collaboration with the NYC Central Labor Council, LCP is a non-partisan
initiative to increase the level of informed and responsible citizen
participation in local and national politics. Through a series of college
credit
courses and fieldwork assignments, LCP prepares union staff and activists to
participate fully and effectively in the electoral process and make constructive
contributions to local, regional, and national civic life. Faculty in this
program include elected officials and other high-level political activists and
analysts. LCP graduates have served as key campaign staff in local elections and
several have run for public office themselves.
Labor at the Crossroads
preparing union activists for union leadership
This program is designed for shop stewards and union staff with leadership
potential. Participants sharpen their communication skills and learn about labor
and labor relations as they earn credits toward a college degree. Courses
include writing, public speaking, labor history, economics, labor relations, and
labor law.
a unique study and internship program for visiting college students
A collaboration with the NYC Central Labor Council, the Union Semester
program brings college students, usually between the ages of 18 and 25, from
around the country to work as paid interns with NYC unions or community
organizations while studying labor history and contemporary labor issues at
Queens College. Participating unions and community organizations provide tuition
scholarships and weekly stipends. Union Semester provides a rich working
experience for interns and facilitates a dialogue between young and veteran
activists. Union Semester has changed the lives of many students who have gone
on to work full-time for unions or related social justice organizations.
(more)
BASS (Bachelor of Applied Social Science)
a degree program preparing students for advocacy work in the non-profit world
BASS is an interdisciplinary degree program specially designed to prepare
students for advocacy work in the public and non-profit sectors. Students select
a concentration in one of three areas: 1) labor, 2) politics, government, and
public policy, or 3) community and human services. Field Work is an important
component of the BASS program, and students can select from a wide range of
internships with government agencies, unions, community organizations, advocacy
groups, and other non-profit organizations Customized Education Programs The
Center works with individual unions to develop workshops, seminars, and
conferences tailored to meet the educational needs of their rank-and-file
activists. These leadership programs have taken a wide variety of forms,
including miniconferences for the union’s key political activists; retreats for
the union’s staff and stewards; and workshops for over 1,000 shop stewards on
revitalizing the union.
Customized Education Programs
The Center works with individual unions to develop workshops,
seminars, and conferences tailored to meet the educational needs of
their rank-and-file activists. These leadership programs have taken
a wide variety of forms, including miniconferences for the union’s
key political activists; retreats for the union’s staff and
stewards; and workshops for over 1,000 shop stewards on revitalizing
the union.
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