This year’s UALE Conference, which took place in Toronto from April 17 – 20, broke new ground in several ways.

With over 200 participants, it was the largest conference we have had in several years. One of the exciting features of this year’s gathering was the participation of over 50 Canadian labor educators. We also had attendees from Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Nepal and Trinidad & Tobago, which gave the conference a truly international feel.

See photos of the Conference in the Conference 2013 Photo Gallery. Download some of the papers and presentations here (More to come).

The conference theme, “Across Boundaries: What Are Workers Saying and Doing” was intended to make the optimal use of this coming together of colleagues from different countries, and the results were as hoped. Interactive plenary sessions gave all participants a chance to hear from and dialogue with colleagues from everywhere, and to see both the commonalities and the particularities of each country’s situation.

Read more: Toronto Conference has International Perspective

UALE member Tom Juravich, Professor of Labor Studies and Sociology at the University of Massachusetts and graduate students in the UMass Labor Center have created a soup-to-nuts website on Strategic Coprorate Research that will be a great boon both to unions that want to engage in research on their employers and to labor educators who want to teach others how to do it.

Aimed at both US and Canadian corporations, as well as public sector and not-for-profit entities, this website provides everything one needs not only to research a company but to mount a strategic campaign. The website includes a tutorial, videos, plenty of graphics, and useful links. It's easy to follow, with step-by-step instructions as well as more detailed and theoretical pieces for those interested in the "Why" as well as the "How".

You can get to Strategic Coprorate Research from this website by clicking on "Weblinks" under the "Resources" tab above, and then going to the subcategory "Resources for Labor Educators"

The 2013 UALE Conference in Toronto Ontario, closed on Saturday, April 20, with an Awards Lunch at which several well-deserving labor educators received UALE's annual achievement awards.

Among the honorees were D'Arcy Martin, of the Center for the Study of Education and Work at the University of Toronto, for Lifetime Achievement; and The Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Labor Education in 2012. The Illinois Labor Education Program, and in particular Director Bob Bruno and Steve Ashby, were honored for their work with the Chicago teachers Union last year. 

Read more: UALE Honors New and Lifelong Contributors to Labor Education

The UALE Executive Board is pleased to announce the recipients of the UALE 2012 research award.

The 2012 award will support the research of Cindy Hanson and Adriane Paavo.  Their project, "Sustaining Transformation:  Building on the Success of the Prairie School for Union Women," will evaluate the movement-building potential of a women's labor education school in Saskatchewan.  

Cindy Hanson is an education professor at the University of Regina, and Adriane Paavo is education officer of the Saskatchewan Government and Employees General Union. They will be assisted in their research by the steering committee for the Prairie School for Union Women.  

We look forward to having the authors  present the results of their research to UALE audiences once it is completed.

In a move that took the Labor Studies Program by surprise, the administration of UMass Boston has decided to “inactivate” the Labor Studies undergraduate degree program at the university effective immediately.

The reason given was low enrollment, but there are other programs on campus with lower enrollments that are not threatened. In addition, the Labor Reource Center operates in the black. And it is unclear that shutting the program will save any money, as all the same courses will continue to be offered for certificate students. This decision closes the only bachelor’s program in Labor Studies in our state and region. It is therefore of the upmost importance that the Massachusetts public university system continue to offer this program.

Please take a few minutes to let the UMass Boston know that you want to bring back the Labor Studies Undergraduate Degree Program.

• E-mail Chancellor Keith Motley at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Provost Winston Langley at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
• Better still, send them a letter. Letters often get more attention.
• We have also created a petition online. We would appreciate your circulating it among other sympathetic people.

For details on sending letters of support, click on Read More.

Read more: Alert! Help Save UMB Labor Studies BA Program