Southwest Organizing School
The Southwest Organizing School (SOS) is a project of the National Labor College. Union officers, activists, and members who live in or near the Southwest come to the school to learn skills and gather ideas to help build a stronger labor movement. Some students attend the Southwest Organizing School to take part in continuing education and skills courses; others to begin to earn a bachelor’s degree. Whatever the reason, the Southwest Organizing School is a great resource for sharpening skills and gaining valuable knowledge.
SOS Courses
Click the links below to learn more about SOS courses.
Print Registration Form
You may mail or fax the Print Version of the NLC Registration Form
You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the form in pdf format. The free Acrobat Reader is available for download at the Adobe web site:
Mail the completed form to:
- Southwest Organizing School Registration
- National Labor College
- 10000 New Hampshire Ave.
- Silver Spring, MD 20903
Fax the completed form to 301-628-0160. Attention: Registration.
Southwest Organizing School Instructors
Morty Simon and Carol Oppenheimer each have over 25 years of experience as labor and employment rights attorneys doing arbitration and labor litigation. They have both been listed in the Best Lawyers in America. They taught trial advocacy and tactics in law schools and to groups of attorneys. Over the last 10 years they have taught arbitration, advanced arbitration, workers’ rights, grievance handling, and negotiations for the Southwest Organizing School. They teach employment rights at the main campus of the National Labor College. They also serve as Directors of the Southwest Organizing School. They also have experience running political and community/labor campaigns on economic and social justice issues.
Diane Pinkey is currently a professor at the Santa Fe Community College. She has Ph.D in educational development and has been a workplace educator for the past twenty years. During that time, she has developed labor-management adult education programs at numerous unionized worksites. Currently she teaches developmental writing and commercial drivers license test preparation at the Santa Fe Community College. She is conducting an interview study of community college students’ educational experience to better understand student retention and college degree completion.
Cam Duncan has been a labor educator and union researcher for over 20 years. From 1998 to 2006, Cam was Regional Director for the Americas of Public Service International, the global federation of public service unions. PSI represents over 20 million public employees worldwide. Cam also has worked for the AFSCME Research Department, the AFL-CIO Workers Institute for Safety and Health, and the AFL-CIO International Department. Besides teaching for labor groups, Cam taught economics at the American University and the University of Buenos Aires. He served as Chief Economist for the U.S. House Committee on Small Business between 1986 and 1988. Cam received his Ph.D. in labor economics from American University.
Southwest Organizing School Email Subscription
Southwest Organizing School Mailing List Enter your name and email address to subscribe to the SOS mailing list. When you have completed the information below, click the Submit button.
Southwest Labor History Archives Site
The Southwest Organizing School maintains a collection of photographs of Southwest labor history. Visit the Southwest Labor History Archives on the web.
Additional Information
For more information contact Morty Simon or Carol Oppenheimer at 505-992-8477.