“Advancing the Working Families Agenda” is the focus of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists 32nd international convention, May 21–26 in San Francisco. CBTU President William Lucy describes the convention as a time to “tackle the tough issues and suggest solutions which will provide security, a decent standard of living, a voice in the political process and generally make the quality of life a little better for all of us.” The convention will feature special conferences for women, youths and retirees, a community toxics seminar and a town hall meeting on the crisis in American cities. For more information, visit the CBTU website at www.cbtu.org or call CBTU at 202-429-1203.
If you’re lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT), the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute (OI) and Pride At Work (PAW) invites you to a training May 2–4 in Amherst, Mass., to learn more about the most important job in the union movement—helping working people win a voice at work. The OI and PAW sponsors intensive three-day weekend courses around the country that teach potential organizers the basic principles of union organizing and skills every organizer needs. Suitable for activists who want to pitch in and help their unions grow and for those interested in becoming full-time organizers, the training will be the first for LGBT union members. For information on how to apply and how to get your union to sponsor you, contact Jen McDonald at the OI at 781-324-4088, extension 4, or go to the OI website at www.organize.aflcio.org or www.prideatwork.org. 
Women activists can see the human labor behind the clothes they wear and the produce they buy in stores—and learn what the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement might mean for women workers in Central America—by joining the STITCH Language School delegation to Guatemala May 24-June 1. STITCH, a network of U.S. and Central American women unionists, organizers and activists, offers the chance to gain Spanish language instruction and meet women fighting for better working conditions in the textile and banana industries. Cost is $800, which includes housing, meals, language instruction and travel inside Guatemala. For information, contact STITCH at 202-265-3790 or e-mail stitchdc@earthlink.net. Application deadline is April 20. | | 
Teaching for Change: Popular Education and the Labor Movement, edited by Linda Delp, Miranda Outman-Kramer, Susan J. Schurman and Kent Wong, includes articles by labor educators who share how they helped public-sector workers organize into a union in Puerto Rico and provided critical health and safety information to Las Vegas hotel workers. National Labor College President Susan Schurman discusses how the Maryland-based NLC gives union members from around the country a chance to get a university education. $20 paperback. UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education and George Meany Center for Labor Studies. To order, call 301-431-5432 or e-mail imayhew@georgemeany.org.
 Thirty years ago, five African American women in Washington, D.C., formed an a cappella quintet called Sweet Honey in the Rock. Now, after making 18 albums, winning a Grammy Award and performing before countless audiences around the world, Sweet Honey has released a 30th anniversary CD of mostly original songs, “The Women Gather” (EarthBeat! Records). Their music, which is rooted in African American church music—spirituals, hymns and gospel—as well as jazz and blues, is a mix of traditional folk songs, African ceremonial blessings and a cry for justice. $16 from Goldenrod Music at www.goldenrod.com or phone 517-484-1712.
www.iir.berkeley.edu/exhibit—Rotating photo exhibits are featured on this site, sponsored by the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California-Berkeley. The Labor Art Exhibits site also retains previous exhibits, whose subjects include a strike by California Teamsters Local 439 (“Waiting: Life on the Line”), the work days of SEIU Local 535 social workers (“Fighting to Care: California’s Social Workers”) and maquiladora workers in Tijuana seeking a voice at work (“Rebellion on the Border”). www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/
hinex/workport/work1.html—Lewis Hine’s famous photographs of glass workers, watchmakers, cotton mill operators and others are on view at this site. Hine began as a social reformer in the early 1900s and turned to photography in time to become a chronicler of working conditions in the heart of the Depression. www.workrights.org—Find information on employee issues such as drug testing, medical privacy, employee monitoring, the right to a voice at work and whistle-blower rights at this National Workrights Institute website. Founded in 2000 by former staffers from American Civil Liberties Union’s National Taskforce on Civil Liberties in the Workplace, the site includes fact sheets, legislative briefs, sample opinion pieces, letters to the editor, speeches, testimony, articles, legal briefs and links to other workers’ rights websites. @ |
