On the Road
with Rachel Hendrickson

I In last month's "On the Road," I described a meeting at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Maryland, where a group of us from higher education and beyond worked on developing curriculum materials on collective bargaining for high schools. Our aim was to increase student knowledge of unions and human rights in the workplace.

Recently, the topic came up again at the annual meeting of the Industrial Relations Association, a partner in this effort.

NEA higher ed member Bruce Nissen from Florida was tapped for the IRRA's newly formed education committee. As an early order of business, Bruce and the committee explored how to expand the program we began developing last month at the Meany Center.

As a result of the discussion, a group of committee members, including yours truly, will explore foundation support for taking the collective bargaining curriculum national.

If that wasn't enough, the IRRA instructed its 60 chapters nationwide to get involved in the project in their local areas and make every effort to recruit mentors for the project.

IRRA members include representative of labor, management, the academy, and neutrals.

With this sort of assistance, I can see a time when union and management representatives converge on our high schools to ensure students understand their workplace rights and the real role of collective bargaining in maintaining them.

Students will leave high school understanding the courage and sacrifices of the workers who fought for and won those rights for them.

—Rachel Hendrickson coordinates NEA higher ed activities.