Why should education be the top priority of every union? Think about when you were a child. Now think that as an infant you were born without any source of guidance (mother and father) available. What happens? You have just been doomed to failure. This failure results in extinction. Now think about the present. You are a member of a union. You worked as a rank and file member for a few years. You have just been elected business leader of your union. Congratulations! Next week begins the start of contract negotiations and globalization is here. Guess what? You have just been doomed to failure. You don't know how to negotiate a contract or even deal with the ramifications of globalization. The only training you received was the training necessary to do your job. Your fellow leaders have only past experience, no new ideas and have stagnated. What will happen with your union? This has been the union norm for years now. They seem to provide only enough training to get by, or no training at all. Unions were unprepared when globalization hit in the 1980s. Today, in the 21st century, they are still unprepared. Unions tend to think that they have limited resources on the topics that concern them, or that they do not know how and where to obtain these resources, or even complete the training task. Some even think that education and training are a waste of money. The money they say should be used to fuel union organizing and political candidates. Unions must realize this by being proactive in training and education; they will have developed an advanced intellectual power that will be ready to face any confrontation that comes their way. This is where union educators come in. Unions must realize that education programs must be strong, be the main focus and be at the heart of every union in order to prevent union extinction. Unions have many topics that need to be addressed. be continually taught, trained, studied and critiqued. Some of these concern grassroots unionism, job training, safety, organizing, grievance handling, contract negotiations, health care, political action, employee benefits, labor law, as well as others. All these elements must be taken into consideration at the local and international levels. High-level education programs must be established to keep rank-and-file members, as well as leaders, abreast of new innovations and technologies and maintain progressive intellectual competence..