Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of education research at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, is scheduled to participate in a Congressional Teach-In Thursday, Sept. 11, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office in Washington, D.C.

The topic of the teach-in, called by U.S. Reps. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) and David Bonior (D-Mich.) is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

For media unable to attend the teach-in, contact Bronfenbrenner at her Cornell office at (607) 255-7581. Following her participation in the teach-in, she will retrieve messages left at that extension.

Bronfenbrenner is the author of the 1996 report "The Effect of Plant Closing and Threat of Plant Closing on the Rights of Workers to Organize," which was commissioned by the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States. In her study, which examined plant closings and threats of plant closings in more than 500 organizing campaigns, Bronfenbrenner concluded that NAFTA "has both increased the credibility and effectiveness of the plant closing threat for employers and emboldened increasing numbers of employers to act upon that threat."

Bronfenbrenner will be joined at the teach-in by John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, and Harley Shaiken of the University of California at Berkeley.