Dear Alumni and Supporters,
By the end of the spring 2016 semester, the future was looking dire for the Labor Center. The Dean had suspended admissions to our full-time Labor Studies degree program; we were informed that our Teaching Assistant (TA) positions would be eliminated and externships would not continue to provide tuition waivers; and our part-time faculty budget had been eliminated. As this news became public, our alums and allies stepped up and mounted a campaign of a scale that UMass Amherst has never seen. You built a website, held conference calls, used social media and the press, and organized over 5,000 signatures to a petition to ask the administration to restore the cuts to the Labor Center. As a result of your efforts and other expressions of support for the Labor Center, including a letter of support from the Sociology Department, the UMass Chancellor met with Steve Tollman, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and Frank Callahan, President of the Massachusetts Building Trades along with other labor leaders in September and publicly affirmed his support for our Labor Center. In October he met with over two dozen Labor Center stakeholders and agreed to make a proposal to address our concerns about the Labor Center within 30 days. Subsequently the Chancellor and his staff met with Interim Director Tom Juravich and we would like to outline what the Chancellor has guaranteed. The top priority of the Labor Center faculty, the labor leaders and stakeholders was to fight for support for our graduate students so that they would not be required to pay full tuition. We are pleased that the Chancellor has restored all 6 of our 10-hour TA positions that provide both a tuition waiver and a stipend as negotiated by their union, GEO/UAW. Additionally, the Chancellor agreed to waive tuition for up to 12 externships, now renamed internships. He agreed to convert these externships -- where unions paid students directly -- to internships -- where unions or other organizations would pay the University. Under the new internship system up to 12 new students will now be GEO members. Furthermore, as a result of our meeting, the Dean will now convert all externships to internships in the College. We are confident that the labor movement will step up and support the Labor Center by hiring our students as interns. The Chancellor has agreed to fund these positions for three years with funds from his office, which speaks to his commitment to the Labor Center. We would have liked to have had a longer commitment, however, with this kind of student support coupled with the support of the labor movement, we feel that three years from now we will be able to make a strong case for the continuation of support moving forward. We have also resolved the process for selecting the next Director of the Labor Center. Labor Center faculty will play a key role in selecting who will lead the Labor Center. This search process will begin shortly. While we are pleased about the large commitment the Chancellor has made to our students, we didn’t get everything that we asked for. We had requested a new faculty position, which the Chancellor did not support. We were also not able to secure any additional staff support for the Labor Center. In the short term, the Labor Center will use its own reserve funds to hire the part-time faculty necessary to cover required courses and to fill out staff needs. A number of issues remain about the University’s priorities and budget models. As part of this process the Chancellor has recognized that not all graduate programs are the same, and that some graduate programs, such as the Labor Center, require additional resources. But there is still much work to be done. In the final analysis, while we didn’t get everything we asked for, we got a commitment from the university about the importance of the Labor Center to the mission of the university, and significant support for our graduate students to build a new foundation for the Labor Center. No doubt there is a lot of hard work ahead but we hope we can count on you to be part of that process moving forward. We will be convening a new advisory board for the Center, and discussing ways that our alumni and community allies can be more involved in the life of the Labor Center. None of this would have been possible without the huge outpouring of support from our alumni and friends and we are especially grateful to Steve Tollman and Frank Callahan for their efforts. We are proud to call you our sisters and brothers. In Solidarity, Members of the Labor Center Committee Tom Juravich Eve Weinbaum Jasmine Kerrissey Clare Hammonds Dan Clawson Ofer Sharone December 6, 2016
Contact: Ed Blaguszewski 413/545-0444 AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced a path forward to revitalize its distinguished Labor Center and engage a new generation of students in labor issues. The plan includes significant new investments by the university and a mutual understanding with Massachusetts labor organizations about the value of helping to fund the internship program. It also updates course and program offerings to achieve a robust level of enrollment. The plan includes initial commitments for three years and a thorough evaluation to determine any necessary adjustments. Milestones for progress include increasing undergraduate enrollment (now approximately 100 students) by at least 100 percent, and maintaining a cohort of at least 12 new, full-time students per year in the residential master’s program. The revitalization strategy follows a productive campus meeting in October involving Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and a variety of Labor Center stakeholders including alumni, faculty, students, union representatives and Massachusetts labor leaders. Subbaswamy said, “UMass Amherst’s commitment to educating students about workers’ rights and economic justice has been unwavering for more than half a century. Inspired by a commencement address by AFL-CIO President George Meany in 1964, the university created a labor relations and research center that has uniquely prepared labor leaders in Massachusetts and throughout the country. The steps we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to this eminent program.” Steven Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said, “For the last hundred years the working class has made significant gains, but all of those benefits and protections—from unemployment insurance to Social Security—can be taken away with the stroke of a pen. We must continue to organize, educate and activate our civic society to stand up for workers’ rights. The UMass Amherst Labor Center is needed more than ever. I applaud the chancellor for his vision and commitment.” Francis Callahan Jr., president of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council, said, “This plan is a giant step towards re-establishing the UMass Labor Center as the nation’s premiere institution of education for the next generation of labor leaders and in-depth research on the issues confronting America’s workers.” Tom Juravich, interim director of the Labor Center, said, “We are thrilled by these reaffirmations by the university and the labor movement to the Labor Center so that we can continue our important work of creating innovative courses, degree programs and research in support of workers’ rights and economic justice.” The Labor Center will benefit from these commitments:
The UMass Amherst Labor Center is announcing an exciting new scholarship program for our limited residency Master's degree program in Labor Studies (ULA). Designed for union officers, staff and activists, participants attend 5 ten-day sessions held in January and July and receive their Master's degree in three years. Click here for more information about the program.
Based in part on the contributions of two alums and their unions, we are delighted to announce a new scholarship program that will cover the tuition costs ($2,628) for up to ten (10) new students to start in the ULA session January 7-17, 2017. Students would only need to cover their travel and a meal/facility charge. This is a one-time opportunity to begin the program at a substantially reduced cost. If you are interested in this scholarship program, contact Tom Juravich, and he can assist you with the application process. RALLY TO SAVE THE LABOR CENTER
MONDAY OCTOBER 17 1:00 PM UMASS AMHERST STUDENT UNION STEPS (C3 on this map) Action includes leafleting students about the importance of the Labor Center and supporting the stake holders who are meeting with the Chancellor. Mass. AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, and Frank Callahan, President of the Mass. Building Trades Council (and Labor Studies alum) are hosting a stake holders meeting on Monday, October 17, 2-4pm, on the UMass Amherst campus, “to consider ways that the UMass administration, labor, and key stake holders can partner to strengthen the Labor Center so that it continues to play a leading role in advancing the cause of organized labor and Massachusetts workers for many years to come.” Steve is bringing 20 other stake holders; the Chancellor’s office will bring others. The meeting is not public. We will rally at 1:00 and proceed to greet and support the stake holders, leafleting along the way. Bring a friend and a homemade sign. We are invited to return at 4pm for a briefing by Steve and others.
By Lucy Martirosyan, WMUA News
https://soundcloud.com/lmartirosyan/labor-center-story-full-mixdown The former director of the Labor Center Eve Weinbaum wrote a letter last month in September that sparked outcry by faculty and alumni of the program; inspiring the organization of Save the Labor Center, which has a petition with nearly 5000 signatures. The term that grabbed everyone's attention was "revenue generator," which has apparently been an expectation of the center for years now. This podcast was made in collaboration with WMUA News and The Daily Collegian. The next meeting of the “Save the Labor Center” Joint Committee of Hampshire/Franklin Central Labor Council and Western Mass. Jobs with Justice is, October 12, 5:00-6:30pm, in Bangs Community Center Glass Room (moved next door from Lower Meeting Room) on the Lower Level, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst.
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