Student Labor Action Coalition
The Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC[1]) is a network of campus organizations that support worker struggles and their unions.
Since its founding in 1994, SLAC organizations typically have worked to educate the campus community on unions and worker struggles, organized students and broader campus communities to participate in labor solidarity activities in the U.S. and worldwide, built coalitions with local unions and social justice organizations, and trained students to work within the labor movement.[2][3]
History
The first Student Labor Action Coalition was established in 1994 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to support the 700 locked out workers at the
In their first year, the UW-Madison SLAC educated the campus community on the Staley lockout, participated in the Miller and Pepsi boycotts of A.E. Staley, traveled to Decatur, Illinois to attend labor solidarity rallies and helped spread similar support activities to other university campuses.[4]
In October 1994, SLAC activists met University of Michigan students at a solidarity rally in Decatur. Soon, Michigan students formed a SLAC on their campus, and in the spring of 1995 hosted a young activist conference which was attended by students from eight different campuses. Within a year, SLAC organizations spread to other campuses in the Midwest and Northeast.[4]
In the 1990s, two developments helped spread the formation of SLAC nationwide. First, the AFL–CIO, under the direction of
By 1999, there were dozens of SLAC student organizations on campuses nationwide, working on a wide variety of worker solidarity campaigns. Many campus SLACs affiliated with the national organization, United Students Against Sweatshops [4], after its founding in 2000.
Notes
- ^ The Free Dictionary (online)
- ^ Student Labor Action Coalition (UW-Madison) Website
- ^ a b Featherstone, Lisa (2002). Students Against Sweatshops. New York: Verso, p. 96, 106
- ^ a b c AFL-CIO Student Organizing Handbook, cited on the Student Labor Action Coalition (UW-Madison) website [1]
- ^ History of SLAC. Student Labor Action Coalition (UW-Madison SLAC) Website [2]
References
Featherstone, Lisa (2002). Students Against Sweatshops. New York: Verso.