The UMass Labor Extension Program has put together a curriculum on workers' rights for use with people who are fairly new to the workforce in the United States. The audience for the curriculum includes young people just starting to work, recent immigrants, and people moving from welfare to work. The curriculum offers nine modules on subjects such as basic legal rights on the job, discrimination, and the right to unionize, and more modules are planned. Each module ranges from 45 minutes to two hours. Inform-ation on workplace rights for facilitators and teachers is provided in a clear and easy-to-understand format.

You can download all of the material from the new curriculum from cpcs.umb.edu/lep.

In March 2003 many ABE and ESOL teachers attended a training for trainers on using the new curriculum. These teachers suggested that the materials would need to be modified for specific adult basic education populations, especially for beginning level ESOL groups. The Labor Extension Program is interested in hearing from teachers who have ideas for modifying the curriculum so they can share these insights with other facilitators. If you have comments or questions about the curriculum or the work of the Labor Extension Program, contact Tess Ewing.

Tess Ewing is the director of the UMassLabor Extension Program. She can be reached at: tess.ewing@umb.edu.