The 2013 UALE Conference in Toronto Ontario, closed on Saturday, April 20, with an Awards Lunch at which several well-deserving labor educators received UALE's annual achievement awards.

Among the honorees were D'Arcy Martin, of the Center for the Study of Education and Work at the University of Toronto, for Lifetime Achievement; and The Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Labor Education in 2012. The Illinois Labor Education Program, and in particular Director Bob Bruno and Steve Ashby, were honored for their work with the Chicago teachers Union last year. 

Read more: UALE Honors New and Lifelong Contributors to Labor Education

The entire Program Book for the 2013 UALE Conference is now available for download here. UALE-2013-Program-Book5.pdf

More than just a listing of the various sessions and activities planned for the Conference, the Program Book contains detailed descriptions of workshops and presentations; abstracts of papers; information about UALE, its governance, its Working Groups, and its affiliated organizations; a listing of participants registered for the conference; and more.

Please note that even though the final Program Book has gone to the printer, there may still be further changes in the confernce schedule. So keep checking back to the Conference page for the latest updates.

The 2013 UALE Conference is about to start in Toronto. Registration will be open in the Metropolitan Hotel  from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm today, April 16. Visit the Conference 2013 page, which is being updated continually with new information about sessions, labor walking tours and other conference-related activities. (Latest updates: 4/11/2013)

This year's theme is "Across Boundaries: What are Workers Saying and Doing?", and in keeping with the theme, we are holding the conference across the border from our usual venues, in Toronto, Canada. So make sure your passports are up to date! This will be our first Canadian conference since UALE was offically launched in 2001.

Our three plenary sessions “Speed Dating Across Boundaries”, “Town Hall Meeting on Labor/Labour Education”, and "Challenging Global Austerity" promise to be innovative and engaging in form as well as in content.

40 break-out sessions include roundtables, academic paper sessions, and hands-on participatory workshops. Details of the breakout sessions can be downloaded here (in draft form): Concurrent sessions 4-11 draft

Participants will also have the opportunity to join -- or form-- Working Groups to carry on work and networking in their areas of interest in between annual conferences.

Among the enjoyable "extracurricular activities" planned for us by our Canadian brothers and sisters will be music, art installations and other performances. See the "Arts at UALE" page for details. 

There are also museums and galleries in the immediate neighborhood that showcase the rich history of Canada's working class, immigrants and First Peoples. 

The UALE Executive Board is pleased to announce the recipients of the UALE 2012 research award.

The 2012 award will support the research of Cindy Hanson and Adriane Paavo.  Their project, "Sustaining Transformation:  Building on the Success of the Prairie School for Union Women," will evaluate the movement-building potential of a women's labor education school in Saskatchewan.  

Cindy Hanson is an education professor at the University of Regina, and Adriane Paavo is education officer of the Saskatchewan Government and Employees General Union. They will be assisted in their research by the steering committee for the Prairie School for Union Women.  

We look forward to having the authors  present the results of their research to UALE audiences once it is completed.

In a move that took the Labor Studies Program by surprise, the administration of UMass Boston has decided to “inactivate” the Labor Studies undergraduate degree program at the university effective immediately.

The reason given was low enrollment, but there are other programs on campus with lower enrollments that are not threatened. In addition, the Labor Reource Center operates in the black. And it is unclear that shutting the program will save any money, as all the same courses will continue to be offered for certificate students. This decision closes the only bachelor’s program in Labor Studies in our state and region. It is therefore of the upmost importance that the Massachusetts public university system continue to offer this program.

Please take a few minutes to let the UMass Boston know that you want to bring back the Labor Studies Undergraduate Degree Program.

• E-mail Chancellor Keith Motley at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Provost Winston Langley at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
• Better still, send them a letter. Letters often get more attention.
• We have also created a petition online. We would appreciate your circulating it among other sympathetic people.

For details on sending letters of support, click on Read More.

Read more: Alert! Help Save UMB Labor Studies BA Program