CHANCELLOR SUBBASWAMY Announces plan to REVITALIZE the umass amherst labor center

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:

• Up to six full-time equivalent graduate student internships per year. Labor organizations may provide $23,071 in funding for each internship. The university in exchange will provide associated tuition waivers of $13,524 per internship (at the 2016-17 tuition rate).
• Three 20-hours-per-week graduate teaching assistantships/associateships. Their primary work will be related to teaching or assisting with courses either in Labor Studies or a related discipline in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS). The university will provide $36,595 for each position (at 2016-17 rates).  The Labor Center may, at its option, instead provide up to six 10-hours-per-week positions at the Graduate Employee Organization negotiated stipend rate with full tuition waivers.
• Any net income from Continuing and Professional Education programs, such as the Union Leadership and Administration program, will be used to support and enhance other Labor Center programs as needed.

The Labor Center director will report directly to the department chair of Sociology. Given the importance of the Labor Center and its activities to the university, the Labor Center director will also retain a reporting relationship to the dean of SBS to avoid any unintended consequences due to policy changes in the college or department.