Trains, Buses, and Basic Skills: Learning in—and from—a Union Education Program for Transit Workers

Abstract

This article begins with a brief history of two decades of U.S. workplace basic skills efforts that laid a foundation of goals, content, policies, and practices for subsequent worker education programs. It then draws on program records to present a case study of a work-related basic skills program in the New York City public transit workers’ union in the early 2000s. It describes why and how the program was begun, learners served, jobs focused on, stakeholders involved, practices used, and shorter and longer term results. It concludes with reflections on how stakeholders can use worker education to serve workers, their families and communities, employers, and unions while supporting economic and societal renewal.