Do not miss Virtual Open House in October
The event will take place online, on October 21, 2023 (Saturday), at 9 am EST/, 2 pm CET/, 3 pm SAST/, and 9 pm HKT. It will allow our partner faculty, alumni, and current students of the LGWR program to discuss the program, curriculum, degree requirements, the application process, and more!
The Center for Global Workers’ Rights and School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State University offers a twelve-month Master of Professional Studies in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights (LGWR). The program is designed for U.S. and international labour activists interested in labour rights, social justice, and global solidarity. It focuses on global workers’ rights, work and gender, race and migration, social movements, and labour relations systems around the world.
Professors teaching in the program have rich experience in the global labour movement and labour-related research. Students will have opportunities to intern with unions and labour groups and to dialogue with labour scholars and activists through symposiums, speaker series, film series, and more. Graduate fellowships, including tuition waivers, are available.
This Master’s program is part of the Global Labor University, a network of universities in five countries (Brazil, India, Germany, South Africa, and the U.S.) along with global union federations, national unions, and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Applicants will be admitted on a rolling basis. The final deadline is January 31, 2024.
Visit this link or email lgwr@psu.edu to learn more.
From September 05-07, 2023, the GLU South Africa branch at Wits University will be hosting the annual GLU International Conference. The theme of the Conference will centre on the contested concept of the Just Transition. The event will include a range of presentations on this topic by GLU Alumni, GLU academics from the various GLU campuses and invited academics and guests representing workers’ and labour support organisations.
The theme, Just Transition, pivots around intertwined economic, ecological, social and political poly-crises facing the world today. As such, the event conceptualises the Just Transition in a broad manner, and asks how decent jobs and decent lives can be secured for all in the transition away from fossil fuels, in the context of persistent social inequality, poverty and unemployment (including worker, immigrant and community vulnerability)- in all parts of the globe, but most particularly in the Global South.
In other words, what is “Just” in the Just Transition, and how can we prevent corporate capital (in collusion with uncaring states) from stamping its imprint onto this transition, in the form of a green capitalism that renders such a transition “Unjust” for the working class and marginalised (particularly in countries of the Global South)?
The Thematic Conference will take place at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. This international convergence will culminate in a meeting of the GLU International Steering Committee at the end of that week.
Interested parties can also attend the thematic Global Labour University International Conference via Zoom.
Call for Applications for Honours and MA Programme Open Until August 31
Call for Applications for our GLU South Africa Honours and MA programme for 2024 is still open. Students can send their applications until August 31, 2023.
The programmes are offered through the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a full-time coursework and research study programme located in the School of Social Sciences. The goal is to equip and engage trade unionists more effectively to tackle the challenges of globalisation.
Note that applications must be completed online. Incomplete applications and applications submitted after the closing date will not be reviewed.
For more information about the Programme and the application process, please contact:
Yurisha Pillay, the GLU Administrative Coordinator at Yurisha.Pillay@wits.ac.za or
Warren McGregor, the GLU Programme Coordinator at Warren.McGregor@wits.ac.za
Further information is available here. Read the call for applications here.
South-South Cooperation Ongoing
via GLU Programmes
The Global Labour University (GLU) and the GLU Online Academy have been creating spaces and opportunities for South-South Cooperation to prosper. ENGAGE Asia Programme is the latest outcome of South-South cooperation between the ENGAGE Programme South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in Johannesburg and the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) in the Philippines.
The development of the curriculum of the ENGAGE Asia training programme started with exchanges of information and curriculum-related materials between Warren McGregor, Coordinator of the Global Labour University (GLU) master’s programme and the ENGAGE Programme South Africa at the WITS, and Melisa R. Serrano, Dean and Professor at UP SOLAIR.
The ENGAGE Asia Programme is composed of six modules and follows a blended mode of learning. It is comprised of two phases—the online phase and the residential in-person phase.
Module 1: Global Governance and the Role of Labor
Module 2: Labor and Development
Module 3: Global and National Wage Policy and Finance
Module 4: Changes in the World of Work and the Transformation of trade unions
Module 5: Trade Union Capacity building
Module 6: Group Research Project
The online phase involves the completion of five GLU Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and several chapters of the online Power Resources Toolkit developed by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, that are related to the modules. There is an online workshop involving the participants of the training and an online tutor for each of the modules. These online resources serve as knowledge input into the various sessions divided into six modules of the residential phase.
The first ENGAGE Asia Programme took place in 2023. Twenty-three trade unionists and labour activists from nine countries in Asia (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) participated in the training programme. The online phase took place between 20 March and 9 June and the residential/in-person phase between 28 June and 25 July at UP SOLAIR. Warren McGregor of the WITS was among the lecturers in the last module of the residential phase.
To further strengthen and sustain South-South cooperation among the trade unions and worker organizations of the participants of the ENGAGE Asia programme in 2023, the GLU Online Academy will undertake the development of certified local trainers in Asia for the online academy.
GLU at the LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference 2023 –Tbilisi, Georgia
At a workshop session of the LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference held on April 30th, the Global Labour University (GLU) presented its educational offerings under the theme of Rethinking Workers’ Education and Reloading Workers’ Politics. Participants emphasized the need for educational programs that address issues related to labour migration, informal workers, and just transition.
One of the participants from Kazakhstan mentioned that she found a MOOC that was translated into Russian helpful, and this led to the conclusion that the GLU needs to provide more translated offers to enable wider participation. Participants at the conference also expressed interest in obtaining further information about GLU’s MA program in Labor Policies and Globalisation in Germany, as well as its online courses.
LabourStart is a news and campaigning website that has been serving as a platform for trade unionists across the globe for 25 years. Its content is sourced from a network of trade unions and social movement activists who work towards defending workers’ rights and supporting workers’ struggles through international solidarity. The LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference is being hosted by the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) and is an opportunity for like-minded individuals to come together and establish personal and collective connections.
The conference will take place in Tbilisi on May Day 2023 and will provide trade unionists from different countries and sectors with the opportunity to discuss important topics such as a post-COVID and post-war world where workers’ rights are respected, and social justice is on the agenda.
Call for Applications open until August 31
GLU, as an innovative postgraduate programme, is designed to equip and engage trade unionists more effectively to tackle the challenges of globalization. offers formal post-graduate Honours and Master’s degree qualifications through the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
It is a full-time coursework and research study programme located in the School of Social Sciences. Note that applications for our 2024 programmes are now open and must be completed online. Incomplete applications and applications submitted after the closing date will not be reviewed.
The closing date is August 31, 2023. For more information about the Programme and the application process, please contact:
Yurisha Pillay, the GLU Administrative Coordinator at Yurisha.Pillay@wits.ac.za or Warren McGregor, the GLU Programme Coordinator at Warren.McGregor@wits.ac.za
Further information is available here. Read the call for applications here.
Labour Policies and Globalisation
The MA programme Labour Policies and Globalisation is open for applications for the study year 2023/24. The application deadline for the preliminary assessment is March 15, 2023, so make sure not to miss it.
The one-year programme takes place at the University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR) in Germany and is taught in English.
It is tailored to young people who have acquired their first degree (Bachelor/Diploma) in Political Sciences, Sociology, Law or Economics and who have a particular interest and work experience in the field of trade unionism and related areas.
You can find further information about the application procedure here.
Email contact: glu.germany@uni-kassel.de
Elmar Altvater Prize 2023
Virtual Open House: Master's Program in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights
The Center for Global Workers’ Rights and School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State University offers a twelve-month Master of Professional Studies in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights (LGWR). The program is designed for U.S. and international labor activists interested in labor rights, social justice, and global solidarity.
It focuses on global workers' rights, work and gender, race and migration, social movements, and labor relations systems around the world. Professors teaching in the program have rich experience in the global labor movement and labor-related research. Students will have opportunities to intern with unions and labor groups and to dialogue with labor scholars and activists through symposiums, speaker series, film series, and more. Graduate fellowships, including tuition waivers, are available.
In the open house, our director, alum, and current students of the LGWR program will discuss the program, curriculum, degree requirements, the application process, and more! We will take your questions too.
This Master's program is part of the Global Labor University, a network of universities in five countries (Brazil, India, Germany, South Africa, and the U.S.) along with global union federations, national unions, and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Date: December 3, 2022 (Saturday)
Time: 9am EST/ 3pm CET/ 4pm SAST/ 10pm HKT
Registration: bit.ly/LGWROpenHouseRegistration
Programme application deadline: January 31, 2023.
Call for Applications 2023
Global Labour University and the University of Witwatersrand have opened applications for the ENGAGE South Africa Short Course Training Programme. The programme is called “Union Rights, Policy and Practice: Training for Global Union Activists”, and is tailored to trade unionists and labour activists globally.
Call for applications can be found here.
The application form can be accessed here.
For further inquiries, please contact Warren McGregor, GLU South Africa Programme Coordinator: Warren.Mcgregor@wits.ac.za
The closing date for applications is December 22, 2022.