The CWE staff worked with a committee of TWU members to clarify what questions they needed to answer and where to find needed information. (The CWE representatives had received training in the Equipped for the Future standards and wove EFF’s list of necessary skills into their investigations of skills needed by TWU members.) The research team set up focus groups with groups of workers from key departments, including track maintenance, signals, cleaning, car and bus maintenance, and station management. The team found that (a) virtually all workers were concerned about the changes being created in their jobs by technology and other factors, (b) workers wondered what impacts these changes would have on their job security and chances for advancement and further education, and (c) many workers had considerable skills — including familiarity with computers — that they wanted to further develop through various kinds of education and training.

This input from workers — and additional input gained through meetings with Transportation Authority representatives — provided the research team with rich information and ideas. The two CWE representatives — with many years between them as adult educators and researchers — wrote a report which described the context in which workers were now operating, the need for various kinds of education and training programs, and options that the TWU could pursue.

Now — A Member Education Program in Place

It is now two years later. TWU leaders took the report seriously. Working with the Consortium for Worker Education, the TWU has gotten resources and hired new staff to put a member education program in place. The TWU is now operating classes which help 750 members per year develop computer, ESOL, electronics, math, and other skills they asked for. In recent contract negotiations, the union and Transit Authority management also agreed to set up a joint US$ 9.1 million education fund over the next three years. It is now planning to set up new computerized learning facilities and counselling services, and is developing career maps to identify job titles and skills sets for 35,000 workers. All of this started with a forward-thinking union leadership and a thoughtful, New York version of an organizational needs assessment. (For more information, call Arthur Goldberg at 212-873-6000, extension 2152 or Maureen LaMar, extension 2016.)

Helping Unemployed Garment Workers Get Ready for a New Future

The September 11th attacks affected many workers in New York City, including garment workers in the Chinatown neighbourhood near the lower-Manhattan site of the attack. Many garment shops closed permanently in the months after the attack, as entire neighbourhoods were closed to deal with construction, security, or environmental needs. For Chinese-speaking garment workers who spoke little English and had little experience outside the garment industry, that has meant unemployment and financial and psychological insecurity in the past year.

In fall 2002, the Consortium for Worker Education received a grant from the September 11th Fund to help these workers develop skills in basic English, computers, and job-readiness, to help them move into new jobs inside or (more likely) outside the garment industry. CWE staff quickly set to work to assess the learners referred from a Chinese community development organization, develop curricula, hire and train teachers, and schedule classes. This program — called “STEP” (Skills Training for Employment Program) — attempted to put into place several features often included in guidelines for work-related basic skills programs, including: