News

United Association for Labor Education
Conference 2011

Unfinished Business: Workers' Rights for the Next Generation

New Orleans, Louisiana

Thursday March 24 - Saturday March 26, 2011

Loews Hotel
300 Poydras Street
New Orleans, LA 70130

Papers and Presentations

Conference presenters: Please send us your papers, Power Point presentations and/or other materials, and we will upload them to this site to make them available to others.

Click here to see and download what we have available so far.

Awards

Coming soon

Conference Materials

The Conference 2011 Program Book and the detailed schedule for the conference are available for download.

About the 2011 Conference

Labor educators from unions, workers centers, colleges, universities and community-based organizations will meet in New Orleans March 24-26, 2011, to explore how our work advances workers’ rights today and for future generations. We welcome proposals on topics across the entire span of the challenges facing working people. Proposals draw from many disciplines and take many forms, including strategic or academic reports; qualitative or quantitative analyses; teaching demonstrations; labor history research, curriculum for adults or K-12; union membership training tools; case studies; workshops; general curriculum design; strategy sessions and performances – music, art, especially murals – and theater, especially improvisation or collectively created. 

We are interested in the impact of the recession, inequalities and the broader political climate on organizing, bargaining, representation and access to fundamental rights including education, occupational safety and health, housing and healthcare. Because our conference is in New Orleans, we especially welcome proposals that raise issues related to the intersection of race, class and gender as enacted here, from Jim Crow to Plessy vs Ferguson, to the Civil Rights Movement, to the ongoing impact of Hurricane Katrina and now, as of this writing, the British Petroleum oil spill. 

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW

Meals provided with conference registration:  continental breakfasts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday; dessert on Wednesday; reception/dinner on Thursday; Awards Banquet on Saturday.  Lunch on Thursday for directors; Lunch on Friday for Women’s Caucus.   

Teaching demonstrations are all in St. Landry Room, Ninth Floor.

To navigate quickly to a particular day, click the link below.

Wednesday, March 23

9:00 – 12:00: Labor tour of historic New Orleans
 Meet in lobby of Loew’s Hotel, 300 Poydras 
 Tickets $25, reserve through Verlene Jones at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

1:00 – 5:00: Popular Theater Workshop
 LaFourche Room
 To reserve a space, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

1:00 – 5:00: Labor Studies Journal editorial board meeting
NOTICE: This meeting has been changed. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for new date, time and locaiton.

3:00 – 5:00 UALE Executive Board meeting
Pointe Coupee Room, Ninth Floor

4:00 – 8:00 Registration opens.
Parish Hall, Tenth Floor           

Poster boards available for posting papers, materials, artwork

7:00 – 8:00 New Member Orientation
Everyone welcome
Welcome, Robert “Tiger” Hammond,  IBEW 130 and New Orleans CLC President.
LaFourche- Pointe Coupee Rooms, Ninth Floor
Coffee, tea, desserts  

8:00 – 10:00 Cananea Report
LaFourche- Pointe Coupee Rooms, Ninth Floor
Immigration/Globalization Working Group

Thursday March 24

7:00  Registration
Continental breakfast for everyone
Parish Hall, Tenth Floor           

8:00 – 10:00 Plenary session: What’s Going on in New Orleans?
Louisiana Ballroom, Tenth Floor
Speakers: Saket Soni (NOWCRJ), Norris Henderson, Larry Carter and Claudia Munoz (ROC). small group question and answer discussion intervals.Facilitators: Steven Pitts and Verlene Jones

10:15 – 12:15 Concurrent sessions
All breakout rooms on Ninth Floor

 12:15 - 2:00 Lunch for Union, CBO and University/College Directors
Louisiana Ballroom 1
Bob Bussel and Cheryl Teare, co-conveners

1:15 – 2:00 Special session: Afghanistan and Labor's Agenda
Point Coupee Room
Michael Zweig

2:00 – 4:00 Concurrent sessions 

4:15 – 6:15 Concurrent sessions

6:30 – 8:30 Reception
Food and Drink
Parish Hall
Welcome, Elissa McBride and Helena Worthen

Friday March 25

7:00  Registration
Continental breakfast
Parish Hall

8:00 – 10:00 Plenary: Building a New Labor Movement for the New Economy
Louisiana Ballroom 1
Elise Bryant, Bob Bussel, conveners
Kent Wong, facilitator
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
Jon Hiatt, Chief of Staff, AFL-CIO
Rachel Micah Jones, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante
Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance

10:15- 12:15 Concurrent sessions

12:30 – 1:45 Women’s Caucus lunch
Louisiana Ballroom 1
Co-conveners: Bielski-Boris, Dowsing-Buie

2:00 – 4:00 Concurrent sessions

4:15 – 6:00 Membership Meeting
Louisiana Ballroom 1

6:00 – Free evening

Saturday March 26 

7:00 Registration
Continental Breakfast
Parish Hall

 8:00 – 10:00  Concurrent sessions
Bryant, Bussel, conveners.

10:15 – 12:15 Concurrent sessions

12:30  - 2:30 Awards Lunch
Louisiana Ballroom 1
Elissa McBride, MC
Mike Wisnewski, Coordinator
Presenters: Elise Bryant, Verlene Jones, Joan Hill, Lynn Feekin, Bob Bruno and Michelle Kaminski, Kent Wong

3:00 – 5:00 E-Board meeting
Beauregard Room

REGISTRATION

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL
(For your reference only; deadline has passed.)

1.  Create a title page for your submission.  The title page should include:

a. title of the submission
b. topic area of the submission 
c. presentation format (choose from list below)
d. name(s) of the author(s)
e. department(s) and affiliation(s)
f.  mailing address(es)
g. e-mail address(es)
h. phone number(s)
i.  fax number(s)
j.  corresponding author if different than lead author

2.  Email your abstract and/or a summary of your paper, no more than 750 words long, along with a title page to UALE Conference Review Committee, care of Helena Worthen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email within 1 week.

3.  Presentation Formats

• Paper sessions will consist of three to five presentations in a 120 minute session.  The session will be divided equally between the presenters.  A session moderator will time each presentation and introduce the session.

• Workshop presentations will be given a full 120 minute session.  Workshops are interactive sessions that involve participants.

• Panel sessions will provide an opportunity for three or more presenters to speak in a more open and conversational setting with conference attendees.  Submissions for these 120  minute sessions should include the name, department, affiliation, and email address of each panelist in addition to a description of the presentation and the title page.  

LABOR STUDIES JOURNAL Session

The theme of the LSJ special session(s) will be "The Public Perception of Unions" Send proposals for papers for this session to Monica Bielski- Boris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Deadline November 15.

DEADLINES

October 15, 2010:

• Deadline for proposals for individual presentations or papers.

• Deadline for proposals for group presentations.
  Send these proposals to Helena Worthen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  Please mark clearly whether your proposal is for a presentation (paper, panel, power point, etc., or for an interactive workshops.

November 15, 2010:

•  Deadline for proposals from Working Groups (Popular Education, Worker-Writers, Online Learning, Immigration/Globalization, Central Labor Councils, and  K-12 Labor Education). Contact information for Working Groups is on their respective pages on this website. Click on "Working Groups" in the main menu. 

Please mark clearly whether your proposal is for a presentation (paper, panel, power point, etc., or for an interactive workshop.

• Deadline for proposals for papers to be submitted to the Labor Studies Journal conference issue. The theme of this issue will be the public perception of unions. Send these proposals to Monica Bielski-Boris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

December 1, 2010: Deadline for proposals for papers from students for scholarship competition. Students should send proposals to Joan Hill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

January 15, 2011: Deadline for Best Book, Best Labor Studies Journal Article, Outstanding Contribution and Lifetime Achievement Award nominations. Send these proposals to Mike Wisniewski at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.