Learning How To Be a Union Activist

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Learning how to be a union activist

Amid efforts to limit the power of unions nationwide, labor activists try to galvanize members and recruit new blood by holding one-day Troublemakers School sessions that are part pep rally, part instruction.

By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times

10:18 p.m. CDT, July 5, 2011

There was no room left so the students piled onto stools and folding chairs and sat on the floor, clogging the aisles of this stifling classroom on a recent Saturday morning.

They shifted in their seats as the teacher, who wore his politics on his sleeve in the form of a red "We Stand With Wisconsin" T-shirt, started to lecture. At first they checked their cellphones, doodled on the pages of their notebooks, and munched on the free chocolate chip cookies and potato chips they were provided, uninterested.

"Who are the people here facing budget cut issues?" asked the teacher, Paul Krehbiel, a grizzled activist who has organized nurses and factory workers over a long career, which includes serving as the chief negotiator for registered nurses at Los Angeles County government hospitals and clinics.

LINK: Gotta just LOVE those unions!