July 27, 2000
LABOR EDUCATION INSTITUTE RECEIVES $25,000 GIFT FROM AFSCME
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Council 13 of the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has made a $25,000 contribution to the Labor Education Institute, which operates as part of the Educational Resources Group of the State System of Higher Education.
The Institute is a cooperative educational venture among the State System and labor organizations across the state. Its goals include preparing labor for an enhanced role in workforce development and participating with teachers to incorporate into the public school curriculum an understanding of the role of organized labor in Pennsylvania.
“AFSCME’s generous gift suggests to me that we are providing a resource that is helpful to labor organizations across the state,” said Wes Johnson, the director of the institute.
The primary goal of the Institute is to “expand labor’s power through education,” said Johnson. The Institute would like to work with labor organizations to provide them with tools to help them become “more active in playing a positive social role,” he said.
The Institute is developing a labor/management cooperative program aimed at promoting solutions to problems involving worker’s compensation.
It is also assisting Cheyney University of Pennsylvania with the implementation of a diversity apprenticeship program in partnership with the Philadelphia Revitalization Education Program and 14 construction trade unions in the Delaware Valley. Program participants may enroll in a free course of study designed to help prepare them for successful completion of the unions’ apprenticeship tests.
The Institute is working in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with unions involved in the hospitality and food-service industries to help enhance workers’ career options.
The Institute also will provide traditional programs designed to educate the public on labor issues, according to Johnson. It will rely on the resources of Cheyney, Kutztown and Indiana Universities of Pennsylvania.
The State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 350,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.