After 15 years of sponsoring union-based workplace education classes, The Workers' Education Program at UMass/Dartmouth is now addressing its own workplace equity issues. Six of the full-time staff who work through the Labor Education Center are now members of the Educational Services Unit (ESU) of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

"We always thought it was ridiculous," said Lisa Jochim, director of the UMass/Dartmouth program, "that we've been trying to teach workers about their rights and the protection of being in a union, and we have none of that!" Lisa explained that the last funding cycle was an excellent time to bring staff members into the union. "Since DOE had included 'attracting and retaining staff' as one of their proposal priorities, we thought that creating benefited positions through the ESU would go a long way toward retention." She went on to explain, "During the past few years, certain teachers said they wanted to stay long-term. We recognized the irony: here we are working for the Labor Education Center -- a place that works to strengthen unions -- with no job security or benefits, but we love our work. For many of us, now that our jobs are stable, this is the job we want to keep forever. For the past three years, we've had no turnover in staff."

How Did They Unionize?
"Before the last refunding cycle," Lisa said, "we went through the SABES program planning process. One of the goals was to increase and stabilize wages and to get benefits, since none of the staff had benefits. We went through the ESU at UMass/Dartmouth, a division of the AFT that represents professional, non-faculty positions. Even though our program is funded by soft money (grants), we convinced the university that the program was stable and long-term, since we have been consistently funded for 15 years. Not all of our positions are in the union: you have to be 18 3/4 hours to be eligible, and we do have part-time teachers who work fewer hours than that. We started off with adding me to the union. With the last big RFP round we were able to get six full-time jobs and one part-time job with full benefits, insurance, days off, pension, tuition waivers, and other benefits union members enjoy."

Lisa explained that the pay structure of the program was designed by the staff and takes into account experience. The staff also works a flexible schedule to make it all work. "No one works a 9-to-5 schedule." Lisa said, "We have to work when the classes are offered, some in the day and some in the evening."

The program has evolved over the years since it started, in 1986, with a small workplace education demonstration grant under Governor Dukakis' workplace literacy initiative. The program now offers 15 classes on site at the program's center on Purchase Street in New Bedford. Some of the students are members of UNITE, the Teamsters, United Steel, BCTGM and SEIU and some are from the community in general. The program also offers customized classes for UNITE in Fall River and for the United Front Child Development Program workers (represented by the United Auto Workers). The program has always worked closely with union leadership to recruit workers and to integrate workers' rights, social justice, and union content into the curriculum. Lisa noted that the curriculum is largely student-driven and participatory, reflecting the needs of the students and what they ask for.

"We're proud of what we're doing," Lisa said, "and we're happy we were able to get our own workers stable positions with benefits and a better salary-all the things we believe in for our students."

Lisa Jochim is the director of the Worker Education Program sponsored by the Labor Education Center at UMass/Boston. She can be reached at 508-999 -4047 or by e-mail at: jochim@umassd.edu