Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1946-08-23
Washington
|LaborReport
ON THE MARCH

which will set up a labor ex-
tension education service in
the Department of Labor. The
purpose of the legislation is
to provide federal aid and
financial assistance to public
institutions which want to
develop programs of workers
education.
The introduction of this
legislation is one of the
aspects of the current up
surge of interest in workers
education from a variety of
sources. For government, this
is an undertaking which is
fully in accord with the best
interests of public policy.
If collective bargaining is
an integral part of the demo-
cratic process, and if, more
over, effective collective bar
gaining, as has been indiSputa-
bly, proved, can only proceed
from strong and secure union
ism, then it seems reasonable
that government should as
sumo some responsibility for
encouraging workers educa-
ton program.
The government has pro-
ceeded on this promise in pro-
viding financial aid to agri-
culture extension work, voca-
tional education and aids to
business in establishing new
kinds of enterprises.
In the past several years
the universities have also be-
come interested in providing
educational opportunities for
union lie a ders and union
groups. This development is
not an unmixed blessing. At
the outset, 1t is worth noting
that with one or two excep-
tions, this interest followed the
fact that the unions had al
ready established their right
to exist, without significant
help from the universities and
their schools of business ad-
ministration
The university movement in
workers education is worth
encouraging by the unions
where 1t is clear that the
higher institutions of learning
are seeking to help the unions
and their memberships to help
themselves to become more
effective. 1t can be said that
University of Wisconsin School
for workers, which is the
pioneer institution in the field,
and the workers service pro-
gram developed by the Uni
versity of Michigan, to name
a few cases in point, came
under that category.
ENCOURAGING
There is another and per-
haps less encouraging tenden-
cy in university workers edu-
ton. Here the purpose of these
schools is to train union
leadership by subjecting it
'r e a soma b / e" and more
"statesmanlike." This is just
a fancy way of seeking to
delute the militancy, vitality
and resourcefulness of union
leadership by subjecting 1t
to many of the spurious values
of business administration and
personnel procedures.
In the curriculum of one
of these university union
schools which l saw "a leading
American university, by the
way), courses were provided
In everything except in the
history of the American labor
movement. It is inconceivable
that a worthwhile job of
workers education can be
done without installing some
understanding of the, signifi-
canoe of century and half
of organized labor. The recog-
milton that labor is a move
ment and not only a business
enterprise constitutes one of
the indispensable resources of
the unions in weathering the
stormy days that loom darkly
before us. No university can
do a respectable job of work
ers education unless it gives
expression to this recognition.
The other tendency to look
for in university workers edu-
cation are those schools that
aim to train leadership re-
sources for the unions. These
have not grasped
the fact that the unions them
selves can do a much better
job of providing their own
leadership resources and
maybe If the universities are
enough they may
be allowed to improve the
quality of union leadership
after the leadership has been
democratically chosen.
The universities are In a
position to make a much
greater contribution than they
nave yet perhaps realized. If
hey are so disposed, they
ought to look into their schools
If business administration and
examine the kind of education
n labor problems which they
ira Swing IN tha future nar.