For further information contact the extension coordinator in your area:
Amherst
Dale Melcher, Coordinator
Labor Relations & Research Center
Gordon Hall
418 N. Pleasant St.
UMass Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003
dmelcher@lrrc.umass.edu
413-545-6166 • 413-545-0110 fax
Boston
Tess Ewing, Coordinator
CPCS Labor Resource Center
UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125
tess.ewing@umb.edu
617-287-7352 • 617-287-7274 fax
Dartmouth
Kim Wilson, Coordinator
UMass Dartmouth
Dubin Labor Education Center
285 Old Westport Road
N. Dartmouth, MA 02747
kwilson@umassd.edu
508-999-8781• 508-999-9168 fax
Lowell
Susan Winning, Coordinator
Labor Extension Program
UMass Lowell
600 Suffolk St.
Lowell, MA 01854
susan_winning@uml.edu
978-934-3127 • 978-934-4033 fax
The University of Massachusetts
Labor Extension Program
Providing union education to build a strong labor movement.
Download Labor Extension Bulletin
Download "The Boss
Can't Do That, Can He?"
Workers' Rights curriculum
What is the Labor Extension Program?
The UMass. Labor Extension Program is a state wide effort, based in the UMass campuses at Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell, to provide training and education to workers, their unions, and other workers' organizations. The focus of the program is on strengthening these organizations, increasing activism, and building the skills necessary to effectively advocate for the needs and concerns of the workforce.
The Labor Extension Program helps unions and other worker organizations to fully and effectively represent an increasingly diverse membership, to train a new generation of union leaders to face the challenges of the future, and to prepare all workers, organized and unorganized to exercise their full rights in the work place and the community.
How does the Program Work?
We offer programming in a variety of formats for individual unions, central labor councils, and union members, including short courses, seminars, conferences, and special programs on a broad range of subject areas. We contract with unions to custom design programs for their members, officers and staff. We also offer open enrollment programs that anyone may attend for a small fee.
Finally, we provide assistance and support to labor organizations in the development and delivery of their own educational programs.
Photo Gallery
Labor Extension Activities
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Isabel Lopez from MassCOSH and Monica Ceccatto from the Worker Education Program enjoy a moment at Training of Trainers for Labor Extension's new Worker Rights Curriculum. To see why they are smiling, check out our |
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Comparing notes in an internet research class. |
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WILD--the Women's
Institute for Leadership development. Labor Extension Program
contributes resources and teachers. |
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| How to be a Union
Treasurer-- training for Mass Nurses Association. |
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| Machinists in training
learn about their rights on the job. |
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| IBEW members enjoy workshop on how to run union meetings |
Labor Extension Bulletin
To learn more about what the UMass Labor Extensiuon Program does, download current and past issues of our newsletter, the Labor Extension Bulletin.
| January, '09 | May '09 | Sept. '09 |
| January '08 | May '08 | Sept. '08 |
| January '07 | May '07 | Sept. '07 |
| January '06 | May '06 | Sept. '06 |
| January '05 | May '05 | Sept. '05 |
| January '04 | May '04 | Sept. '04 |
| January '03 | May '03 | Sept. '03 |
| January '02 | May '02 | Sept. '02 |
| January '01 | May '01 | Sept. '01 |
Notices |
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What's Going On? Listings of current Labor Extension activities and related events What's inside? See what else is on our website. Navigate to inside pages. What's Going On?Organizers’ Roundtable
Roundtable discussions on topics of interest to union organizers.
What's Inside Our Website? Future of Work ProjectThis joint project of the four UMass Labor Centers aims to help Massachusetts workers analyze and respond to the way that our workplaces are changing around us, due to larger political and economic forces such as:
See the Future of Work page. Resources on ImmigrationImmigration is a major topic these days in the country as a whole, and in the labor movement in particular. What is organized labor saying about immigration? What are the facts? What are the major debates and points of view? The Labor Extension Program has pulled together articles, fact sheets, and other references on immigration and its effects on the lives of working people-- both the native born and the immigrants themselves. Click here for the Immigration Page. "The Boss Can't Do That, Can He?"A Worker Rights Curriculum The UMass Labor Extension Program has developed a Worker Rights Curriculum which is available for download from this site. This Curriculum is frequently revised, based on changes in the laws as well as feedback we get from users. As we finish our revisions, we post them on this website. Most of the Curriculum is available in Spanish as well as English. The curriculum
is for work with immigrant workers, students, and others new to or
rejoining the US workforce. Topics addressed include an introduction to
basic worker protections, how to read a pay check, minimum wage, rights
of workers under 18, overtime, protection from discrimination, health
and safety, the FMLA, unemployment insurance, contingent work, and
unions and the right to organize. To see or download the curriculum click here.
Updates include new state and federal minimum wageWe have updated the Minimum Wage and Overtime modules of the Workers Rights Curriculum, as well as the resource pages "In a Nutshell", to reflect the current state ands federal minimum wages, as of July 24, 2007. Click here for updated versions. Using the CurriculumIf your organization would be interested in training on any of the topics above, please contact the Coordinator at the campus nearest you (see left side of page). You can also simply download the materials and use them yourselves. If you do that, we would appreciate getting your feedback on how well the curriculum worked, as well as your suggestions for improvements. Please Send us Your FeedbackIf you have piloted the Workers Rights Curriculum, or any part of it, with your organization, please take a moment to complete our feedback form. Workers Rights for ESOL and ABE LearnersRecent immigrants to this country are among the people who could gain most from classes on workers rights. Since our curriculum is aimed at people with some literacy in English, we encourage teachers of ESOL or ABE to adapt the curriculum as needed for use with people with limited English proficiency.
For an example, Jenny Utech, of the Mass. Worker Education Roundtable, has kindly shared an ESOL curriculum she developed based on the Health and Safety module of the Workers Rights curriculum. To download it, click here.
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