Laboring to Learn: A Case Study of Learning and Labor/Community Organizing at the Bus Riders Union/Sindicato de Pasajeros in Los Angeles

Laboring to Learn: A Case Study of Learning and Labor/Community Organizing at the Bus Riders Union/Sindicato de Pasajeros in Los Angeles Paper presented at the University of California Institute for Labor and Employment Graduate Student Conference UC Santa Barbara, California, February 21-22, 2003 Introduction to the problem Almost certainly, few adult educators today have not had a close encounter with the disordering effects of global economic restructuring. On the one hand, if not personally, many adult educators including literacy workers are all too familiar dealing with the pain, anguish and despair of people who have been “freed” from the burden of secure employment, pensions and adequate health care. On the other, many adult educators, who may not even consider themselves as such, including human resource developers and trade union trainers, are responsible for facilitating it (Foley, 2001; Youngman, 2000). Regardless, what is important to this study-in-progress is the assumption that all of these knowledge workers share a commonality in terms “of helping adults to develop particular skills, knowledge, values and attitudes” (Youngman, 2000, p. 5). In particular, given that the only knowledge valued (and certified) is that which is useful for the smooth reproduction of the existing economic regime, the essential role of adult education is to enhance the productive potential of the laboring subject for industry and business. This is so because in order for national capitals to ensure profitability within the context of global imperialism, corporate pragmatism demands that they must capture and harness the labor power (i.e., skills, knowledge, subjectivity and will) of workers to secure competitive advantage in the marketplace (Liebowitz, 1999).