Labor Education in the Time of Dismay

Abstract

Notably absent from the discourse on labor union revitalization is a reevaluation of the strategic role of labor education. Using ethnographic methods, the authors elucidate four dimensions of a Freireian-based labor education program, characterized as (1) where rank-and-file unionists teach, (2) where shared experience is the basis for knowledge, (3) where programming involves a dialectical process of action and reflection, and (4) where participants convene in a collectively determined cultural context. Moreover, the authors address reservations to Freireian pedagogy and describe how the adoption of Freireian programming alters the role of labor educators. Finally, the authors hypothesize that Freireian pedagogy complements several contemporary recommendations for arresting the decline in union representation.