By ED FINKELSTEIN
Publisher
The St. Louis Workers’ Education Society (WES) has expanded its staff with the hiring of Al Neal to help explain labor issues and rights to non-union workers enrolled in the Painters District Council 58’s Advanced Skills Workforce Center.
Neal, the former ‘Fight for $15’ midwest coordinator and SEIU union representative, will become the WES Director of Advocacy and Education, a new position.
He will teach the new painter recruits about labor relations and collective bargaining and workplace rights in non-union workplace settings.
Neal not only served as an organizer, campaign director, union representative, educator and chief negotiator, he also has an educational background in labor history, labor relations, and alternative dispute resolutions.
OTHER TRAINING PROGRAMS
WES also offers a variety of educational courses for union members and activists to include “The History of the Labor Movement” and “Non-traditional Organizing in the 21st Century” taught by WES President Tony Pecinovsky and Secretary-Treasurer Don Giljum. They also provide steward training programs.
As part of WES’s advocacy program, Neal will work with community and labor leaders, as well as legal peers and State Rep. Peter Meredith (D) to confront issues related to unemployment benefits and wage theft.
WES just completed a weekend youth camp for 20 young people about issue advocacy which included hands-on walks in the four city neighborhoods where the WES focuses its effort to help with voter education and registration, Pecinovsky said.
WES MISSION
WES’s mission is to have a positive impact on the residents of St. Louis City, including but not limited to other surrounding and regional areas, through grassroots, community-labor coalition building, meeting facilitation and issue-based worker-educational training. It strives to assist St. Louis area residents in issue-based worker-education and community mobilization.
If you would like to know more, or discuss setting up a worker-education course specifically designed for your union, please e-mail Al Neal at: al@workerseducationsociety.org
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