The 2013 UALE Conference in Toronto Ontario, closed on Saturday, April 20, with an Awards Lunch at which several well-deserving labor educators received UALE's annual achievement awards.

Among the honorees were D'Arcy Martin, of the Center for the Study of Education and Work at the University of Toronto, for Lifetime Achievement; and The Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Labor Education in 2012. The Illinois Labor Education Program, and in particular Director Bob Bruno and Steve Ashby, were honored for their work with the Chicago teachers Union last year. 

The first award, known as The New Generation Award, was given to the writer of one of the student scholarship papers. Among several submissions, three students were chosen to present their research papers at the conference. This year the winner was Stephen Lockie (IBEW Local 570/NLC) for his paper on Organizing the Electrical Construction Industry of the 21st Century. The paper focused on what building trades unions can do to gain new membership and begin to retake some lost market share. Recent college graduates Bridgette Benjamin (United Association of Steamfitters Local 601/NLC) and Jeff Hines (Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation/NLC) were also recognized for their presentations.

Next was the award for the best article to be featured in the Labor Studies Journal. The winner of this award is selected by the LSJ editorial board. This year’s award went to Leah L. Carmichael and Andrew Herod for their article: “Dockers and Seafarers: What the Politics of Spatial Embeddedness and Geographical Scale Have Meant for Union Organizing in the European Maritime Trades.” (Vol 37, No. 2, June.)

There were several books nominated for the award for the Best Published Book in 2011-2012 Related to Labor Education. The winner was Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism written by Immanuel Ness (University of Illinois Press, 2011). With greater attention devoted to the global economy, how workers are treated within and outside our borders is of increased significance to the labor community. The book sheds light on the abuses inherent in guest worker programs in the US.

The Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Labor Education in 2012 went to The Labor Education Program of the School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois for its work with the Chicago Teachers Union. Director Robert Bruno and Steve Ashby spent many months working with the union and its membership to help them develop a successful campaign to thwart the efforts by the City to undermine their bargaining strength. This effort resulted in a rare and teachable win for the labor movement.

The ceremony closed with the Lifetime Achievement Award going to D’Arcy Martin. D’Arcy, Coordinator of the Center for the Study of Education and Work at the University of Toronto was one of the key planners of this year’s conference. As noted in his nomination, D’Arcy has been a pioneer in advancing popular education in Canada and the US, and has been at the forefront of building relations between labor leaders and labor educators in our two countries. D’Arcy was joined by his family and surrounded by his colleagues in accepting this prestigious award from UALE.

The ceremony closed with parting comments from President Elissa McBride and a round of Solidarity Forever song by the conference participants.