I wish I could lay claim to all the content of this handbook. Most of it is my own, but nearly all of the activities in this book have roots in other people's work and ideas. I expect that you too will find that the real "value added" will come when you adapt this material for your own uses.
Explain what popular education offers to union democracy and power.
Teaching/learning tech (learning techniques exist also)
Democratic teaching for democratic organizing...
Building capacity for collective action...
This should explain union democracy to an unfamiliar but pro-labor reader, in context of labor renewal. It should reinforce
Use triangle tool here to show union democracy as laws and procedures, culture, and participation.
Maybe include checklist of democratic organizing?
Links to AUD, quote material from AUD site.
Is Democracy Good for Unions? Is Democracy Good for Intellectuals? exchange
The Union Democracy Triangle
(The Triangle Tool is from Educating for a Change.)
I find it helpful to think of union democracy as having three main aspects:
This handout goes with the Visions of Unionism diagrams. It is not "the answer," but it does reveal my thinking about the diagrams and my biases. It is very schematic, just a starting point for discussion.
When I used this activity, I included this text in a packet of materials. I did not use it in the actual workshop because the workshop was about helping the participants articulate their own visions of unionism, not debating mine (much as I would enjoy that!).
put my line here, image first
Tu, con que intencion y como pretendes utilizar las tecnicas? (Alforja, Tomo 2, "Advertencia!")
And you, what are your intentions, how do you plan to use these techniques?
Some of the sources I have used.
Tecnicas Participativas Para la Educacion Popular, Laura Vargas Vargas et al., Alforja. The best handbook of techniques for popular educators also presents an argument for popular education as a dialectical method integrating theory and practice in the context of social and political movements.
Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Augusto Boal, Routledge, New York 1992. Great material -- a collection of games that explore a wide range of physical, emotional, social, and political motions and relationships.
Part of the preparation process is the initial dialogue and research that goes into planning -- before we plan, talking to activists, getting the picture...
Matt Noyes is Internet Coordinator for the Association for Union Democracy, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is also an Assistant Professor at Meiji University and teaches "English for Activists" courses for Labor Now, in Tokyo, Japan.
REDO THIS AS AN EDUCATOR's JOURNEY
Teaching work history:
Matt started teaching in 1989, at a community school run by the National Network of Neighborhood Women, then moved on to Adult Education at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York.
I learned this from working with the Coalition of University Employees, and the mediator, ------, they brought in to help with their internal communications and group dynamics.
It matters because it names disagreements openly. It identifies them as problems or issue to be addressed. It recognizes their importance and their "hotness" and keeps them on the table, without obstructing other work.
