Labour education in the information age

Abstract

In the context of the managerial and economic restructuring currently underway, this article argues for a systematic policy of labour education meant to empower workers as active participants, critical members and knowledgeable negotiators at the workplace and in society at large. Such labour education is diagnosed firstly in terms of what it is not, by a critique of the dominant brand of "education for work" recently embarked upon by both state and private capital educational agencies. Secondly, in terms of what an effective labour education programme should include. The article concludes with some general ideas on how trade unions ought best to ensure that their interests are defended and advanced via the educational system.