National Labor College
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| Type | Private coeducational labor college |
|---|---|
| Active | 1969–2014 |
| President | Paula Peinovich, PhD |
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Academic staff
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6 full-time |
| Undergraduates | 1,364 |
| Location | Silver Spring, Maryland, USA |
| Affiliations | AFL-CIO |
| Website | nlc.edu |
The National Labor College was a college for union members and their families, union leaders and union staff in Silver Spring, Maryland. Established as a training center by the AFL-CIO in 1969 to strengthen union member education and organizing skills, NLC became a degree-granting college in 1997 and in March 2004 gained accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Until the college closed on April 26, 2014, it was the only college of its kind in the United States.
In July 2014 the Amalgamated Transit Union purchased the National Labor College campus. The ATU plans to expand its long-standing union education and activism program to the newly acquired campus.
In 1969 AFL-CIO President George Meany founded a labor studies center under the direction of Fred K. Hoehler Jr. to promote education and training opportunities for union leadership and rank-and-file members. The Executive Council of the AFL-CIO determined an educational and training center held an important role in the organization's effort to further develop trade unionism, and decided to locate a permanent campus for the pursuit of labor studies.
On November 6, 1974, AFL-CIO President George Meany dedicated the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, located on the former campus of Xaverian College. The property was purchased from the Xaverian Brothers by the AFL-CIO for $2.5 million in 1971. At the dedication, Meany remarked that the purpose of the institution was to help union officials "make a better contribution to our people and to our nation."
In 1997 under the leadership of AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, the center received authorization to grant baccalaureate degrees by the State of Maryland Higher Education Commission and became an independent institution of higher learning and renamed the National Labor College. By 2004, National Labor College had become fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
The National Labor College published Labor's Heritage, a scholarly journal of labor history, until 2004.
In the fall of 2006 the new Lane Kirkland Center opened on the National Labor College campus, to provide upgraded facilities, and to greatly expand the college's hosting capabilities. At the time, the college hoped to promote the Kirkland Center as "America's union hall."
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