**PRESS RELEASE**
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, August 7, 2007Contact:
Matt Losak, 347-531-8031AFL-CIO PASSES HISTORIC POLICY STATEMENT SUPPORTING HIGHER EDUCATION ACCESS FOR WORKERS
Silver Spring, Maryland—National Labor College (NLC)National Labor College (NLC) officials are hailing the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council passage of a policy statement in support of advancing access to higher education for workers. The statement represents the first time in the history of the AFL-CIO that higher education access has been formally adopted by the Executive Council.
“This statement represents our recognition of the unprecedented challenges from a modern workplace to a global economy facing workers today,” said John J. Sweeney, Chairman of the NLC’s Board of Trustees and President of the AFL-CIO. “Workers must be able to compete in a ‘knowledge-based’ workplace.”
NLC officials applauded the American Federation of Teachers President and NLC board member, Edward J. McElroy Jr., for spearheading the statement through the Executive Council.
The statement noted several critical factors in today’s economy: the share of the workforce with a bachelor’s degree doubled from the 1960-1990s; the hourly earnings of college graduates averaged 4.5% more than high school graduates; unemployment for those with bachelors degrees was at 2% compared to high school graduates which hovers at 4%.
The statement also acknowledges the erosion of public policy support for the American higher education system over the past decade and that working families access to higher education has declined as a result. The statement noted that state and local funding for public higher education has reached its lowest level in 25 years.
"We cannot expect quality of public higher education if we fail to hire full-time faculty and pay decent wages to all higher education workers-including contingent faculty," said McElroy. Less than a third of today's instructional workforce is made up of full-time tenure-track faculty, the statement noted.
“Our society is now based on a technologically complex and global economy,” said Susan J. Schurman, President Emeritus of the NLC who worked with AFT and AFL-CIO officials on the statement. “Higher education public policy must recognize that full-time workers with families have special higher education access needs in addition to affordability. Programs need to include innovative distance and online programming, and public spending needs to recognize that in a marketplace that requires highly educated workers in order to be successful must budget for lifelong learning access for all workers.” Schurman retired from the NLC June 30th.
The National Labor College is the only accredited college in the world exclusively dedicated to educating union members, leaders, activists and staff. Originally founded by the AFL-CIO in 1969 as the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, the center became the NLC in 1997 offering upper level degree completion programs for union members seeking to finish their college education. The NLC offers a unique combination of fully online courses along with partially online program with a low-residence on-campus component that allows full-time workers with families maximum flexibility to schedule study time. The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an independent, regional accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
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