New Charles A. Scontras Labor Center at USM to Launch in 2023

The new Charles A. Scontras Labor Center at the University of Southern Maine is getting off the ground and is expected to be up in running in 2023. It became an “official center” of University of Southern Maine in September of this year.

Earlier this year, the Maine AFL-CIO, the Southern Maine Labor Council and others backed state legislation(LD 1816) that created the center to honor the legacy of the late Maine labor historian Charlie Scontras. The Maine AFL-CIO is working with University and community stakeholders  to search for the Labor Center Director, a teaching fellow position, an outreach organizer and an office assistant. The hope is hire a director by April 1.

“This is going to be a community labor education center to help build the labor movement for the entire working class of Maine. It will equip working class people with the knowledge, skills, passion and connections to build a strong labor movement,” said Michael Hillard, a retired USM Professor who has been active in the creation of the new Center. “It will provide training for rank-and-file union members to strengthen their leadership skills and be better activists within their unions as well as training and general labor education for the broader working class.”

The Maine AFL-CIO has been reaching out to union members, labor organizations, community groups, new Mainers, and others to get initial input and feedback about what they would like to see in a new labor center. The Scontras Labor Center will be tuition free, but won’t offer to traditional courses for college credit. It will focus on non-credit labor education like introductory workshops, six-week classes and certificates and specialized trainings.

Some of the topics covered in these workshops may include:

• Labor law and your rights as a worker
• An introduction to Maine and US labor history
• What do unions and other labor organizations like worker centers do? And what labor laws shape their roles?
• New collective bargaining unit/union member training
• How is labor law and policy developed?
• Structural racism 101
• Basic economics for workers

Six-week courses and certificate programs may include:

• Union leadership
• Labor studies and movement building
• Collective Bargaining
• Economics for Trade Unionists
• Labor and Politics
• Labor History
• Hurt at Work: Your Legal Rights
• Labor, Climate Change and Work
• Labor and Racial Justice
• Public Speaking and Media Skills
• Music, Art and the Labor Movement

The Scontras Center will also provide space for experts, activists, leaders, community stakeholders to explore and develop policies for improving working class lives and strengthening the labor movement.