Unions hold 'teach-in' at Columbia

America's leading academics and intellectuals have joined with top union officials for a "teach-in" at Columbia University scheduled to conclude today. The event, entitled "The Fight for America's Future: A Teach-In with the Labor Movement," will feature more than 50 writers, professors and unionists in support of America's labor movement. Regional teach-ins will occur simultaneously in nine cities throughout the nation. At Columbia, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney opened the teach-in last night, along with several authors and professors. "We welcome the support of these distinguished teachers and writers who we think are the natural allies of working Americans in the many battles that lie ahead," Sweeney said. Organizers of the teach-in said they hope to strengthen the nation's unions, which they say are "numerically weak and politically embattled." In the first half of the 20th century, there was a strong alliance -- which has since weakened -- between the intellectual and labor communities, the activists said. Roger Wilkins, a History professor at George Mason University, said he hopes the teach-in will encourage a renewed alliance. He added that stronger ties between unions and academia are especially crucial now because of today's economic uncertainty. Penn History Professor Thomas Sugrue, an organizer of the event, noted that such an alliance is imperative to improve America's current economic conditions. "A revitalized labor movement, reaching from the academy to the shop floor, is essential to stem the forces of economic decline, family insecurity and poverty," said Sugrue, who specializes in the subject and authored The Origins of the Urban Crisis. Today's events will include a morning conference called "The Incorporation of America," and a concluding plenary session in the evening entitled "Organizing the Unorganized." Organizers are also holding several workshops on issues such as immigration, the globalized economy and organization within the African American community. Other topics of discussion include welfare and work, families and feminism and labor political action. Columbia History Professor Eric Foner, who chaired last night's event, stressed the importance of the teach-in. "A vigorous and powerful labor movement is indispensable if America is to ever live up to its own ideals of democracy and social justice," he said. "Today, more than ever, those of us in the academic world need to lend our support to labor's revival." Steven Fraser, executive editor at Houghton Mifflin publishing company and an organizer of the event, said he is optimistic about the future of the labor movement. "Two generations have passed since American intellectuals could hold a fruitful dialogue with the leadership of the trade union movement in the United States," he said.