The LIUNA Public Employee Department (PED) established the PED Academy in 2001 as part of its Strategic Plan with the assistance of the PED’s Coordinating Committee. The Academy is designed to educate union leaders, activists, staff, and stewards in the areas of communications, organizing, representation, labor history, bargaining, and labor law. The training provides students with tools to better represent our union Brothers and Sisters in the federal, healthcare, education, and state and local government sectors.
The PED Academy is comprised of five courses – Arbitration, Collective Bargaining, CORE (Communications, Organizing and Representational Excellence), Grievance Handling and Stewards Roles, and Organizing. The course descriptions are listed below along with links to the agendas.
C.O.R.E. Communication, Organizing and Representation Excellence (Formerly Level I Training)
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An introductory course that brings selected activists or new staff members into the experience their role in the local and the International Union. They are brought into the history of the Union movement and LIUNA’s history in particular. Each student is taught the roles of Local Union offices and positions. They are asked to expand and demonstrate their communication skills and taught the fundamentals of members to member organizing and the elements of excellence in representation.
Grievance Handling and Steward Roles
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A more advanced course that gives attention to members to member organizing in represented bargaining units through the O.P.E.N. training. However, its main focus is on advanced representation where students are asked to read cases and analyze them and prepare an opening and closing statement in an arbitration.
Collective Bargaining Training
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The first day of this course gives students an overview of how the union and management prepare for negotiations. Students are assigned to a negotiation team that are either union or management and are tasked to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement by Thursday of the training week. This process allows students to get firsthand experience in preparing and negotiating an agreement. Mentors are either union or management and participate in the training by assisting students during the negotiation process.
Organizing Training
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The training begins with a session on Organizing Public Employees Now (O.P.E.N.) which gives students the basics on organizing principles in the public sector. Two students are assigned to a mentor organizer and will work as a team during the week long training in bargaining units represented by the host local or at selected external targets. Organizing and classroom training are continuous throughout the week with organizing results reported by each team on a daily bases. The hands on experience will prepare students to return to their respective locals with a better understanding of the importance of organizing and how to organize.
Arbitration Training
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This course is designed to help students understand how to interact with members, witnesses, grievants and management in preparation for arbitration. Students will learn how to determine if a case should go to arbitration, how to present opening and closing statements, witness preparation, and direct and cross examination. All students will participate in a mock arbitration on the final day of training. This class is appropriate for experienced stewards and union staff whose Business Manager would like them to become introduced to the arbitration process, with the goal of assisting with arbitration preparation.