ABOUT US

Our Mission and History

Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) is a workers’ institute dedicated to broad social movement unionism actors.

The Labor Education and Research Network’s mission is to help strengthen trade unions and other forms of organization through education, research, publication, and networking activities.​

LEARN is committed to contribute to the development of a broad, strong, autonomous and democratic labor social movement unionism. We believe that social movement unionism (SMU) carries the right perspective to mobilize and modernize the unions of working people, and to generate social technologies that would create our socialist project. SMU has the dynamic and power to respond to the prevailing neo-liberal global political and economic order. Social movement unionism provides a repertoire of actions to frustrate labor exploitation inside and outside the workplace, nationally, and globally.

By orientation, we are, firstly, a social movement unionism organization, and secondly, a civil society organization. Our primary constituency is the SMU community that includes: trade unions; unions and organizations in the public sector; informal workers unions; community organizations of working people; women’s organizations in the workplaces and in the communities; labor centers; and, unorganized working people. We also include in our constituency individuals and institutions such as academic institutions, media, political parties, and others that seek reforms for the betterment of the working people and development of social movement unionism.