Kent Wong, President of the University and College Labour Education Association in America, speaks about the formation of a new labour education association and other important developments unfolding in the American labour movement.

The United Association for Labour Education (UALE) had its founding meeting on April 15, 2000 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The UALE is a new, united organisation of labour educators launched at the start of a century which promises progress, growth, and hope for the US labour movement. Born of the merger of Worker's Education Local #189 and the University and College Labour Education Association (UCLEA), the UALE will work to promote education as an essential tool in the process of union transformation, to develop new leadership, and to strengthen labour education in order to meet the needs of unions and workers.

This new development in labour education comes at a critical time for the American labour movement. In 1995, a new leadership of the AFL-CIO was elected, pledging to bring a new voice to American workers. Since that time, there have been more changes in the American labour movement than in the past several decades.

In the international arena, the AFL-CIO has abandoned many of its Cold War policies. The AFL-CIO joined with human rights, women's rights, environmental, and youth organisations to demonstrate against the World Trade Organisation in Seattle in December 1999. Such a coalition would have been unthinkable in years past.

In the domestic arena, there has been a greater emphasis on organising unorganised workers, strengthening political power and building labour and community alliances. Last year was a significant turning point in the American labour movement. Unions experienced a net gain of 265,000 new workers, for the first time reversing a 25 year trend of diminishing union density. A net gain of 265,000 reflects a much larger organising effort, since 600,000 new workers joined unions last year. The AFL-CIO currently has 13 million members.

The AFL-CIO has also initiated new changes in labour education. Its education department has launched "Common Sense Economics," an educational initiative to engage unions across the country with a sharp critique of capitalism. The George Meany Centre, the AFL-CIO's education centre, has launched the National Labour College, providing unprecedented opportunities for workers to attain college degrees for participation in labour education.

It is in this broader context that the United Association for Labour Education is being launched. The formation of the United Association for Labour Education brings together the rich traditions of both the UCLEA and the WEL #189. The UCLEA has a 40 year history, and is comprised primarily of university-based labour educators, including staff from 50 university and college labour centres and labour studies programmes throughout the country. WEL #189 has been in existence for more than 75 years as a union of labour educators.

UALE will serve as a single unified voice for labour education in the US. This new united organisation will be open to all who do, or want to do, workers' education. It will conduct an annual conference and meeting, professional development activities, and publish a refereed, academic journal. It will provide regular mailings and other communications.

UALE will seek to advance the American labour movement and workers interests, and strengthen the role of the labour movement in a democratic society. It will seek to

promote open, honest dialogue, debate and criticism to advance knowledge and action, enhance democracy, and build a broader social movement. It will work to strengthen cross border solidarity among labour educators.

The newly ratified constitution of the UALE identifies the following goals:

• To promote the development of labour and worker education;
• To make labour education accessible to all working people, and to promote collective bargaining and the right to organise;
• To bring labour educators together for mutual aid and benefit, to promote their professional development, and to advance their economic and social well-being;
• To advocate for the development and support of labour education programmes in higher education and the labour movement;
• To promote professional standards for labour education and labour studies;
• To promote and publish relevant research;
• To promote and facilitate cooperation among unions, union education departments, university and college-based labour centres and programmes, and community-based labour education programmes;

• To advance affirmative action for women and people of colour and other under-represented groups within labour education.

These are exciting times for the American labour movement. The UALE looks forward to advancing labour education as an integral part of union and worker solidarity. UALE also looks forward to a stronger working relationship with the IFWEA.