Patricia Chong Worker Education & Critical Political Consciousness Global Labour University Alumni Research Project

Updated February 2015

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot

Introduction “ . . . for us as labour educators, designing union education is not a technical task, but rather a political one. Union education is about trying to build a movement for social change.” - Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot Draft 1

In this Neoliberal era where education has been redefined as simply about training people to enter the job market rather than an opportunity to learn how to think critically, worker education is essential. Hence, this paper recounts the development and implementation of the Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot. The goal of this historically significant pilot was to fill a gap in training educators on course design both technically and politically. The pilot provided a space for participants from different labour unions with varying levels of experience to meet, learn and work with each other. 2

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot, Draft Week 1 Exercise: 1

Guiding Principles for Union Education Introduction.

The original scope of this paper was the pilot project itself. However, the Global Labour University Alumni Research 2

Group on Worker Education decided to explore the topic more deeply. Thus, there are two versions of this paper. The first, again, simply focuses on the CLC pilot itself through interviews with the developers, etc. The second and more lengthy draft includes the original paper and then focuses more on the impact of the pilot on the participants.

�1

Second, this paper identifies and assess the long term impact, if any, of the CLC pilot on the participants’ critical political consciousness and the link, if any, to actual practice thereafter.

Third, the concluding section focuses on the program developers’, facilitators’ and participants’ comments, their opinions about the need this education initiatives which provides the opportunity to exchange best practices. Within this framework, questions are also raised about the potential and limits of Worker Education.

For the first part of this project, with the assistance of the Canadian Labour Congress, author Patricia Chong with support from Nicole Wall identified and interviewed people involved in various ways with the pilot to provide a wider perspective. This allowed for some participatory observation (albeit in hindsight). Based on a series of questions provided by the Workers’ Education research group, the following people were interviewed:

Bev Burke is a Labour Educator who was involved with the program conceptualization, a Design Team member and co-facilitated the first week-long session.

Kai Lai is the United Steelworkers of Canada (USW) staff person responsible for Equality Issues. Kai was part of the Design Team, co-facilitated all three sessions and acted as a mentor for the USW participants. He self-identifies as a worker of colour.

Lynn Carlile worked on this project as Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Labour Education Department staff and co-facilitated the first week-long session. She self-identifies as a “bi[sexual] white woman with a disability.”

Nicole Wall was involved with the program by assisting the designers in the design meetings, as well as editing and formatting the pilot while employed as a Labour Educator for the Labour Education Centre. Nicole self identifies as a worker of colour.

�2

Background: The Canadian Labour Congress / Congrès du travail du Canada

The Canadian Labour Congress is the result of a merger of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the more traditional craft-based Trades and Labour Congress

�3

Image 1: “Union Coverage, by type of union and affiliation, 2013” in ‘Union Coverage in Canada, 2013’ in Employment and Social Development Canada, 2014, p. 9. <http://www.labour.gc.ca/eng/resources/info/publications/union_coverage/union_cov2013_en.pdf>

(TLC) in 1956. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) / Congrès du travail du Canada (CTC) is the largest labour organization with more than 3 million members (69.2%) of all unionized workers in Canada in 2013. The table above compares the size of the CLC to other labour congresses in Canada. The CLC’s members include both Canadian and 3

International unions, provincial and territorial labour federations, and regional labour councils, public and private sector unions, and it is thus nicknamed the “house of labour.” The CLC is affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). It 4 5

is difficult to make general comments about the type of unionism (e.g. business, corporatist, social movement) practiced by CLC affiliates because there is variation between unions and within unions.

Québec (a predominately French-speaking province) has a unique labour history which has been shaped in part by the Catholic Church in the 1900s and the demand for sovereignty. Thus, the Confederation des syndicates nationaux (CSN) exists as an 6

alternate congress affiliated to the CLC in the province and represents 323,586 member (7.0%) of unionized workers.

The CLC is headquartered in Ottawa, the capital of Canada and has four regional offices to carry out its work. While the CLC’s purpose is specified in Article 2 of its Constitution, the following overview is on its webpage:

We advocate on behalf of all working people in many different ways – from organizing campaigns and rallies to lobbying federal politicians in Parliament to speaking out in the media and to business on key issues to representing Canada’s labour movement internationally to developing partnerships with the community and other supportive groups. 7

‘Union Coverage in Canada, 2013’ in Employment and Social Development Canada, 2014, p. 3 3

<http://www.labour.gc.ca/eng/resources/info/publications/union_coverage/union_cov2013_en.pdf>

H. Krahn et al., Work, Industry & Canadian Society 5th ed. Nelson Education Ltd., Canada, 2008, p. 343.4

‘About the CLC’, The Canadian Labour Congress, <http://www.canadianlabour.ca/about-clc> 5

Krahn, op. cit. p. 353. 6

‘About the CLC’, The Canadian Labour Congress, op. cit. 7

�4

Worker Education: The Canadian Labour Congress and its Affiliates

Besides the Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot, the CLC Labour Education department offers separate learning programs such as the CLC Schools (weeklong and weekend courses) and the more in-depth Labour College (a four-week program) to its affiliate members. The Labour College was established in 1963 and offers a mix of theory and practice for trade unionists. The Labour College webpage for 2012 states that: “All courses provide an equality and anti-racism analysis and 8

perspective in accordance with the priority the labour movement places on equality.” 9

While individual unions provide their own education, the CLC has one of the largest education programs with about 50,000 participants every year and has trained more than 10,000 worker facilitators as of 2002. These courses range from union skills 10

education and more overly political workshops. The CLC courses afford an opportunity for union members to meet other unions members across sectors, regions and sometimes across the country. Furthermore, it also builds global solidarity with guest speakers from around the world to speak about their own struggles. Both Patricia Chong and Nicole Wall have attended CLC weeklong and weekend schools in Ontario as participants and facilitators.

In Canada, most collective agreements are negotiated on a workplace by workplace basis. Some unions have negotiated paid Education Leave and Funding language into

“’Anti-racism is an action-oriented strategy for institutional, systemic change to address racism and interlocking 8

systems of social oppression.’ Anti-racism mobilized the skills and knowledge of racialized people in order to work for a redistribution of power in organizations and society. It also equips White people with knowledge and skills to acknowledge their own privilege and to work for social change.” T. Lopes and B. Thomas, Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations. Between the Lines, Toronto, 2006, p. 264.

‘Labour College of Canada’, The Canadian Labour Congress, 9

<http://www.canadianlabour.ca/labour-education/labour-college-canada>

The Canadian Labour Congress, ‘Statement on Education: Learning Together for Action, Solidarity and Justice’ in 10

CLC Convention Executive Council Report, 2002, pp. 46.

�5

their collective agreements, explains Lynn Carlile. For example, a union negotiates 11

three cents per member per hour during collective bargaining that goes into an Education Fund controlled by the union. This is in line with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 140 passed in 1974 on Paid Education Leave. 12

The CLC’s commitment to education was reconfirmed in the “Statement on Education: Learning Together for Action, Solidarity and Justice” as part of the 2002 CLC Convention Executive Council Report. Worker education was defined as the following in this report:

In labour education, union members share their experiences and work together to solve the challenges they face. We find out what’s important to our members, including those who don’t feel connected to the union. We create learning experiences out of everything we do within the labour movement. 13

The Executive Report recognizes the importance of diversity specific to Labour Education:

The diversity of our participants and facilitators must better reflect the faces of our membership and our communities. Labour education, must reach more women, people of colour, Aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities, 14 15 16

L. Carlile, Personal Interview, May 25, 2012. 11

“C140 - Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140),” International Labour Organization, 12

<www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C140>

CLC, ‘Statement on Education,’ pp. 46. 13

People of Colour: “This term began in the United States as one attempt by racialized people to name 14

themselves, not as ‘not-whites,’ ‘coloured,’ ‘ethnics,’ or ‘visible minorities’ but as people with a positive identity. It applies to people who are not White or Aboriginal.” T. Lopes and B. Thomas, op. cit. pp. 268.

Aboriginal Peoples: “This is the overall term used in Canada’s Constitution Act, 1982 to refer to Native Indians, 15

Inuit, and Métis peoples. The word recognizes the fact that Aboriginal peoples are the original inhabitants of Canada. There are many other words which Aboriginal peoples use to describe themselves. It is always best to ask how people wish to be named.” T. Lopes and B. Thomas, op. cit. pp. 263.

Disability: “Refers to physical, mental, or emotional conditions which limit and/or shape an individual’s 16

participation in work and society. Canadian law now requires employers to accommodate people with disabilities to ensure their maximum participation and contribution.” T. Lopes and B. Thomas, op. cit. pp. 266.

�6

lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and young workers, so we 17 18

can become a stronger, more inclusive labour movement. We must recognize and respect the strong history of self-organizing in these communities. We must review our structures and practices to make them more open to diverse participation. Recognizing the common struggles we have with each other will build greater solidarity within our movement . . . Our programs must meet access challenges like child and family care, physical access, transportation, scheduling, geography, and cultural sensitivities. 19

Lynn reflects that as more Labour Educators reach retirement age, the question of who will be replacing them is asked. The vast majority of Labour Educators are White and 20

thus, according to the 2002 CLC Convention paper, the CLC needed to attract more equity-seeking groups.

Transgender person: “A transsexual person is someone who is not comfortable with, or who rejects, in whole or 17

in part, their biologically assigned gender identity. The umbrella term is used to describe transsexuals, transvestites or cross-dressers, and intersex people.” T. Lopes and B. Thomas, op. cit. pp. 271.

Young workers are defined by the CLC as being 30 years of age or under.18

CLC, ‘Statement on Education,’ pp. 48. 19

White: “Refers to people belonging to the dominant racial group who enjoy skin privilege in North 20

America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and anywhere European colonialism has created racial inequality. People who are White may also face discrimination because of their class, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and age. But this does not erase their skin privilege.” T. Lopes and B. Thomas, op. cit. pp. 272.

�7

Collaborative Course Design Training Program PilotBeginnings & Importance

Labour Educator Bev Burke recounts the early stages of the course. The CLC already had a short workshop about course design and based on its popularity, there was a discussion about what a longer course could accomplish and what it would look like. Over lunch one day, then CLC Education Director Cindy Wiggins, staffer Tamara Levine, staffer Lynn Carlile and Bev Burke had a “brainstorm” to flesh out this idea. According to Lynn, there was not enough training for labour educators who mostly learned via “trial by fire”. Thus, money was being spent on training but how much money was being spent on how to design? Bev Burke echoes this sentiment adding that there was labour education but “no one is training them on how to do curriculum work.” There was an obvious gap in training. Lynn Carlile adds that there was also a lack of racialized, Aboriginal and young workers involved with in design and facilitation.

Bev Burke was asked to lead a discussion about the Collaborative Course Designer Training Program at the CLC Labour Education Committee that consists of affiliate representatives. The idea was so well-received that then Education Director Cindy Wiggins asked Bev Burke to write and submit a proposal to the committee.

Bev Burke reflects that the CLC (as the ‘house of labour’) was in a unique position to offer an education program across affiliates and union sectors. Thus, it makes sense that the CLC take on the task because it is the largest federation in Canada. She adds: “The CLC was the only one in a position to do it” and emphasized the importance for the participants to be given an opportunity to “cross fertilize” ideas. “No one else is doing it.”

�8

The Design Team/Organizational Structure & Pedagogy

With the approval of the CLC, a Design Team was established to figure out the “what”

and “how” (or content and form) for a pilot project that was to run in 2011. The use of 21

a popular education approach incorporating Paolo Freire’s critical pedagogy was an important moment of the pilot explains Bev Burke. In terms of developing worker consciousness, Freire's concept of transformative education as having the potential to liberate minds is key and is reflected throughout the project. 22

CLC Education staff Lynn Carlile explains that the Design Team consisted of a diverse group of key educators in terms of age, gender, ability, sexual orientation, racial backgrounds, etc. The team consisted of “founding elders” Bev Burke and Jojo Geronimo and representatives from the following affiliates: the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) and the United Steelworkers (USW).

Kai Lai, a member of the Design Team, explains that the group met every 2 months or so over a period of one year. Jojo Geronimo and Nicole Wall would facilitate these sessions and take notes of their ideas. They basically reviewed “what we thought were important aspects of a design.” Then at the next meeting, there would be a 23

discussion and new information/ideas were added. The group made most decisions on a consensus basis. There were some tension about who would facilitate the pilot program from the Design Team, but it was ultimately up to the CLC to decide this. 24

L. Carlile, op. cit.21

'Paulo Freire on Education that Liberates' in New Learning: Transformational Designs for Pedagogy and 22

Assessment, <http://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-2/paulo-freire-on-education-that-liberates>

L. Kai, Personal Interview, August 21, 2012. 23

L. Carlile, op. cit. 24

�9

Structure & Content

The Design Team created a 2 ½ week pilot project that would occur over a 9 month period in 2011. The pilot project has four goals:

1. Diversify our pool of course designers

2. Upgrade skills of current course design practitioners

3. Expand / strengthen network of course designers

4. Develop creative approach to labour education / course design that integrates the goal of skills development with that of social change 25

The first weeklong session would run in March and the second weeklong session would run in late May. The final three-day session would run in late November. All sessions took place at the CAW Family Education Centre, in Port Elgin, Ontario. In between sessions, participants paired up to work on creating their own education modules. Participants created a 3-hour education workshop between session one and two and they teamed up again in different pairs to create a 1.5 day workshop in between session two and three.

Please refer to the following pages for the workshop structure overview. 26

CLC’s Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot: Week 1 Draft Course Outline, pp. 3.25

CLC’s Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot: Week 1 Draft Course Outline, Week 2 Draft26

Course and W,eek 3 Draft Course Outline.

�10

�11

Two exercises relating to worker consciousness will be reviewed as there is not enough room to recount all the exercises of the 2.5 week project. It should be noted that the book Education for Changing Unions was used extensively in the course and that Bev Burke was one of the co-authors. 27

Guidelines for Transformative Union Education is an exercise done on the first full day of the pilot and sets the foundation for the course and was taken from the Education for Changing Unions book. This exercises identifies the Six Threads and how to incorporate or “weave” them into course design. The Six Threads are as follows:

1. Community – building connections between individuals and groups for common purposes

2. Democracy – strengthening real participation by diverse members in the labour movement decision-making process

3. Equity – exposing and challenging systemic barriers and privilege built into structures throughout history, modelling equitable practices

Bev Burke, et al., Education for Changing Unions, Between the Lines, Toronto, 2002.27

�12

4. Class consciousness – understand, as workers, the differences between those

who rule the economy and those trying to be employed in it

5. Organization building – increasing the collective strength of unions and the larger social movement

6. Greater good – making links between our members and the wellbeing of the larger public – here and globally. Explain this a little by saying that as we discussed this morning in our work with the context circles, popular education connects the individual experiences with the broader social struggle; links the local and the global, helping build a global movement for change. 28

The threads are displayed on a sign and participants are asked to stand by the sign /thread that is especially important to them. Participants share why they need to weave these threads into union education and how they do so. These principles are thus explicitly recognized and frames union education in an emancipatory role that goes beyond mere functional / utilitarian purposes.

The Tools for Social Analysis exercise took place during the second week-long session.

While it consisted of several tools, our focus will be on the 'social tree' exercise. Social analysis is defined as: “A process that breaks down the whole into its component parts to better understand how it works as a system.” Thus, social analysis is about 29

“looking at the root causes of problems” and understanding how these root problems feed into the “''big picture.'” A 'social tree' is created to assist participants to name, visualize and understand the “sub -systems” and their relationship to each other. Economic and social sub-systems are the roots of the social tree; politics is the trunk; and ideology its branches, leaves and fruits. Ecology is the ground beneath the tree as it provides life. More specifically:

The Six Threads summary is quoted word for word from Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design 28

Training Program Pilot Draft Week #1 Exercise: Guiding Principles for Union Education

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot Draft Week #2 Exercise: 29

Summary: Aspect of Social Analysis: Why and when to use it.

�13

Economic and Social (the roots): means of production and social relations; basis on which society is built – the socio-economic system. What people need: Food and Friends; bread/rice and dignity; production and reproduction).

Political (the trunk): how society is organized, through laws and ways of enforcing laws: parliament, courts, police, prison; means of control that serve the interests of the dominant class.

Ideological (the branches, leaves, and fruits): how social values and beliefs get transmitted (schools, media, churches, cultural forms [ . . .] what justifies the way society is organized and lives. 30

Participants are put into groups and presented with bottled water. The participants are asked to do a social analysis of this commodity using the social tree. Facilitators encourage discussion by asking the following questions: Who produces, sells, and buys this product? Who benefits? Who suffers? What are the impacts on the environment, on health, ownership of water utilities / sources, and public services? Who is involved where – what countries? Communities? 31

The exercise concludes with a discussion about the ‘social tree’ as a tool, its limitations, its strength, possible adaptations, how they might use the social tree in their own course design. The importance of doing social analysis is also emphasized by stating that that workers must understand the situation in order to change the system and it is understanding that provides the “basis of action” that will lead to “long lasting and meaningful change.” 32

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot Draft Week #2 Exercise: 30

Tools for Social Analysis: The “social tree”.

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot Draft Week #2, 31

op. cit.

The Canadian Labour Congress’ Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot Draft Week #2 Exercise: 32

Tools for Social Analysis: Summary.

�14

Facilitators Lynn Carlile reflects that the CLC could have been “more clear ” as to who would decide who would facilitate from the Design Team would facilitate the pilot project as all the Design Team members were well-experienced labour educators. Kai Lai echoes this comment: “it was a difficult choice anyway because everyone was capable.” However, in the end it was decided that “the criteria reflected the design principles, so having facilitators that reflected diversity” was essential. The Design Team decided facilitators should be from equity-seeking group, so there was representation based on racialization, gender, ability and sexual-orientation.

Week One Session: Co-facilitated by Bev Burke, Kai Lai and Lynn Carlile.

Week Two Session: Co-facilitated by Amal Rana, Jojo Geronimo and Kai Lai.

The Third Session: Co-facilitated by Amal Rana and Kai Lai.

Furthermore, the feedback from the first session from the participants was that they wanted some continuity from the facilitators between sessions. Thus, Kai Lai facilitated all three parts of the pilot program and Amal Rana from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) co-facilitated the second and third session.

�15

Participants

While it is the affiliates who decide who to send, the CLC wanted to get a diverse participant group. As Lynn Carlile put it: they did not want to end up with the “usual suspects.” In order to do this, the CLC recognized the lack of diversity within the 33

labour education community in its letter to affiliates about the pilot project:

Skills of some activists and educators formed in diverse communities are not recognized in the labour movement and remain untapped to a large degree. We need a much more diverse group of developers to properly reflect the diversity of the labour movement from all equality-seeking groups; but particularly we need more developers of colour and Aboriginal developers. 34

The “participant criteria” also explicitly encouraged its affiliates to send participants from equality-seeking groups: 35

This program is aimed at staff or member facilitators identified by their sponsoring organization as having talent and interest in course design, with a view to specifically include facilitators from equality-seeking groups, particularly workers of colour and Aboriginal workers, and who:

• Have demonstrated that they believe in and are passionate promoters of trade union values

• Have demonstrated that they respect and value the knowledge and experience of workers

• Have demonstrated some critical analysis ability

• Believe in the importance of equality as a guiding thread in union education

• Are experienced union education or community facilitators

L. Carlile, op. cit.33

L. Carlile, op. cit.34

Canadian Labour Congress, 2011 CLC Collaborative Course Designer Training Program letter to affiliates, pp. 3.35

�16

Thus, while it was a ‘open registration’ meaning anyone could apply, it was also targeted in terms of attempting to get members from equity-seeking groups. The application was also worded so that any labour organization (not just unions, labour councils or federations) could sponsor a participant.

However, a lack of financial resources was one possible reason why the CLC and its affiliates could not get as diverse a group of participants as hoped for. The course itself only had a $500 Canadian fee ($515 USD) but the accommodation including food came out to $3,000 per participant ($3,095 USD). This did not include lost wages and travel. The maximum number of participants was capped at 18.

Fortunately, there was more interest from affiliates about the pilot project than could be accommodated. In light of this, Lynn moved the limit to 19 although if the program were to run again she’d be “hard” on the limit. The following affiliates and central labour bodies participated in the pilot:

• The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)

• The United Steelworkers (USW)

• The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

• The Canadian Media Guild (CMG)

• Communication, Energy and Paper Workers Union (CEP)

• The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

• The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)

• The Yukon Federation of Labour

• The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) 36

The participants were not as diverse as the Design Team had hoped for. Lynn Carlile 37

comments that this lack of diversity is partially due to lack of opportunities for racialized, Aboriginal and youth workers to develop their skills around design and

A CLC staff person (besides Lynn Carlile) was a participant. 36

L. Carlile, op. cit. 37

�17

facilitation in labour organizations. Furthermore, racialized, Aboriginal and youth workers who do this course design are often not recognized for the work they do.

Participant involvement and commitment was above average for this pilot compared to other educationals due to the time and resources asked of the participants. In addition to this, participants were responsible for collaborating with other participant in using their course design skills to develop two workshop in between sessions. Of the nineteen people who participated in the pilot, fifteen graduated at the end. Again, the second part of this paper explores the participants’ experience in greater detail.

�18

Co-Mentoring Reflecting the use Paolo Freire's critical pedagogy and its rejection of hierarchy between teacher and student, the Design Team came up with the idea of co-mentorship as part of the CLC pilot project with the participants identifying a co-mentor from their affiliate. The initial mentoring concept was changed to co-mentoring in recognition of the hierarchical relationship between mentor and mentored and the power dynamics that arise from it. Thus, the term co-mentors was used as the co-mentors “would also be learning from the person they were mentoring,” explains Kai Lai.

Bev Burke explains that the role of the co-mentor was to support the participants by answering their questions, helping to identify a project that the affiliate’s education program could use, to arrange a pilot audience for their designs, etc. The CLC stressed that there should be “diversity of representation” on the application form.

Kai Lai recognizes that being a part of the design group and a facilitator allowed him to understand the project better as a whole and to be a better co-mentor. It may not have been as easy for others who were not as involved. He acted as a co-mentor to the USW participants. He also added that ideally, the mentors should understand what the program was about and value the principles of education and having design skills for the purpose of social justice. In addition to this, a co-mentor would have “authority” within the organization to allow for resources for the co-mentors to access and support their design efforts.

Kai Lai and the USW participants developed a learning contract over the phone in a participatory manner. In terms of his own experience, since Kai works out of the national office, he has the resources to champion the pilot program. Kai Lai spoke to his participants and they discussed how often they would meet / communicate, what the guidelines were, how they would address disagreement amongst themselves, when he would provide feedback, when they would exchange projects, he officially signed off on the learning contacts, etc.

�19

Kai Lai adds:

There should be one session, whoever is going to be a co-mentor should have at least a half of orientation with all the participants to have at least a half day or something where the issues of co-mentoring and all of this stuff is discussed. They are part of the workshop . . .

Failing a face-to-face meeting, there should be a conference call that has everyone on the call he suggests to make it more participatory. A contract should be standardized such as how would each of you deal with things if there were a disagreement to arise, etc.

Bev Burke reflects that the co-mentorship aspect of the program did not work as well as hoped for because of a lack of time, unclear instructions, lack of use / follow up by participants, personality differences between the co-mentor and participants, etc. Lynn Carlile echoes this perspective and adds that potential mentors also had union staff workload issues to deal with. Kai Lai also comments that “to find a mentor that understood popular education . . . it wasn’t necessarily an educator who understood the social justice framework. [Or] if they were an educator they were not socially minded.” These are the realities that participants face.

�20

Worker Education & Political Consciousness The second focus of this paper is to identify and assess the long term impact of worker education on the participants’ critical political consciousness and the link to actual practice. We begin with the facilitators, project coordinators and then move onto the experiences of the participants.

In terms of assessing the impact of the pilot project on the political consciousness of the participants, Lynn Carlile interviewed all the participants before the course started to ensure that they understood the goals of the project. Lynn describes it as a general pre-workshop check-in. During the course, Lynn saw many “ light bulb moments” and believes that there was “significant politicization on personal and systemic levels.” Participants saw how things were connected or how “the threads” came together. Here, Lynn is referring to the Six Threads exercise mentioned earlier.

Labour Educator Bev Burke observed that most participants came to the pilot program with “good politics.” She says that there was “some movement by some people” in terms of the development of class consciousness. More specifically, there were a few “aha” moments (i.e. when a concept is grasped) especially when linking trade union education and global solidarity. Bev also recognized that there were some people 38

who were challenged around some of their misgivings around equity work in general. Lynn Carlile also felt that some participants had a strong anti-oppression and class analysis while some did not.

Kai Lai also echoes the comment that everyone had a good analysis of exploitation, oppression, colonialism, etc. Thus, what is commonly referred to as the Six Threads is “nothing new” to these experienced participants, but how one designs a course that incorporates the Six Threads within their analysis is. He reflects that it can be very difficult for people in a “dominant group” to recognize their privilege and how it may impact their course design.

Please note that G G was originally interviewed September 2012 during the original (Phase 1) of this project and 38

interviewed again using the semi-structured participant questions in the summer of 2013.

�21

There were also learning moments for facilitators. Kai recounts that there was an exercise that was a “difficult section to facilitate . . . that had to do with equality and the acceptance from some people in the group . . .” He continues:

I will describe it rather than try to define it. It was an exercise . . .[called] ‘Columbus and the Slave Girl’. There are lessons about colonialism, oppression, the dominant group, whether the dominant group is actually aware of dominance, etc. . . this section is one that caused some tension for the group. Number one, that is inevitable. The second is how do facilitators deal with it when it comes up. If the course runs again, [it] would be to their benefit to think about what may come up . . . there were a few elements about it. The actual idea of discussing dominant cultures in relation to equality seeking groups. The other the facilitation style of the person who had the bulk of this workshop. An aspect of both of those things.

In terms of methodology for the second part of the project that focuses on the participants, the Canadian Labour Congress contacted Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot graduates on behalf of myself. If participants approved, their contact info was provided to myself to arrange an interview based on a series of questions provided by the Workers’ Education research group. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted in the summer of 2013 which covered five of the nine union affiliates that participated in the pilot that ran in 2011.The interviewees are as follows:

• Isabelle Boucher was an Education Officer at the time of the CLC pilot and has

since transitioned to Literacy Program Coordinator with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Isabelle self-identifies as a “white, female.”

• Oneil Carlier is a Regional Representative covering the Northern Alberta area for the

Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and also delivers union education for this area. Oneil self-identifies as a “male, heterosexual worker.”

• Corina Crawley is a Course Writer for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and self-identifies as a woman.

�22

• Kim Crump is a “rank and file member” of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW).

She is also a curriculum writer and peer educator for the union.

• Marlene Gow is the Staff Representative in Education & Equality for the United

Steelworkers (USW) and also coordinates education for the members in the Ontario and Atlantic region. She self-identifies as “a straight white woman.”

• Mary Lou Scott is a casual Service Representative for the United Steelworkers

(USW) and does education work. She self-identifies as a woman.

• Terri Monture is the Canada Media Guild (CMG) staff person responsible for Human Rights and Equity Issues. She is also responsible for union education work. She 39

self-identifies as a “proud Indigenous woman” of the Six Nation of the Grand River Territories.

As outlined in more detail by Luicole Sauviat in the introduction of the Worker Education and Critical Political Consciousness project, the criteria used by the research group to measure the political consciousness of the CLC pilot participants has three linked dimensions:

1. Political consciousness as counter hegemony to capitalism. In other words, the awareness that we live in a world dominated by capitalism world and the rejection of this fundamentally exploitative system.

2. Political consciousness as the way to advance workers interests. That is having class consciousness and understanding that the working class must act collectively to advance their place in society.

3. Political consciousness as being generally politically activity. Specifically, the engagement in political activities which is defined broadly.

Please note that Terri Monture was originally interviewed September 2012 during the original (Phase 1) of this 39

project and interviewed again using the semi-structured participant questions in the summer of 2013.

�23

The first four questions focus on the interviewee’s level of political consciousness while the remaining questions focus on the pilot program and any link to actual practice thereafter.

�24

1) Do you consider yourself a worker? If yes, what does it mean to you to be a worker?

Not surprisingly, all interviewees identify as a worker and refer to class explicitly. This illustrates their awareness of the capitalist system.

For example, Corina Crawley was “not the owning class” and Terri Monture added: “I don’t control the means of production. I don’t make decisions about where I work, how I am assigned.” A further elaborated:

I would like to add that I do not see myself as middle class because I do not have a high level of education or high level job. If I lose my job, I am in trouble – I cannot pay the roof over my head, the car I need to drive to work or the food on the table . . . Many of us are working class; yet many see themselves as middle class – that is the media’s message! Then, there is the 1%!

In terms of class hierarchy, Oneil Carlier recognized he was not the most disadvantaged of workers but that he is still a worker: “I know as a union representative if there is going to be a tier and a class hierarchy, I know my wages put me out of the scheme of a worker that has to struggle day to day . . . “

Others spoke about the importance of not purely earning money but also enjoying meaning in their work rather than being alienated from it. Some mentioned that they were also unionized as union staff and with that was a recognition that union staff is still a worker but different with activist work.

�25

2) Do you consider yourself a trade unionist? Why?

All interviewees identified as being trade unionist and a number of them saw activism as a key part of this. Hence, the dimension of political consciousness as being political active and engaging in collective action is present.

Isabelle Boucher said “I see activists and trade unionists together. They complement one another. That’s how I basically see that you’re a trade unionist, you’re an activist.”

Kim Crump explained that while she does identify as a “trade unionist”, the term is not entirely correct as she is not a ‘tradesperson’ per se. Rather she prefers to be called a “member of a labour union or a social unionist.”

Terri Monture stressed her belief “in the power of collective power and I believe it is a human right.” Oneil Carlier explained that being a trade unionist is all pervasive:

Yes. That means everything, even my daily life, is about workers, about supporting unionized workplaces, products, social justice, everything that I think trade unionists stand for is at least a big part of my own [life] as well.

�26

3) What does trade unionism mean to you?

All interviewees answered this question by emphasizing that trade unionism went beyond individual workplace issues to deal with workers’ issues as a class and required collective action.

It’s about collective strength . . . we have to advance collective interests in society . . it’s about a creating equality among people in different ways . . . raising the bar around the rights of workers and lowering the bar in terms of the rights of employers to exploit them. It’s also just not workers . . . unions are an important part of a caring society that includes everyone. Where everyone has an equal opportunity to have success and have their basic needs met. - Corina Crawley

“I believe in the power of the labour movement as a social justice [vehicle] and all the things we can correct about work we can probably bring that power of collectivity, organizing and mobilization to society.” - Terri Monture

Make workers’ lives better. Not just about the union workers but for all workers. It’s not just about work life . . . it’s everywhere . . . It’s in your community, it’s in your family . . . making sure you have health care, making sure that you have access to education, making sure that you have the same opportunities as everyone else. Making sure marginalized people have the same opportunities. - Isabelle Boucher

Equality was also a key issue for the interviewees and there is a recognition that capitalism is linked to other forms of oppression such as those based on gender and sexuality: “It means a common goal, fighting for the betterment of all, the antithesis of capitalism, that (as a feminist and queer activist) I have allies in the struggle.” - Kim Crump

�27

Oneil Carlier also emphasized the need for non-alienating work which is the norm under capitalism:

A large portion of people’s lives are at work. To ensure that those times that they are at work are first off, as pleasant as possible, and secondly – and I put that in order on purpose – that they have a proper living wage. It’s important of course but there are so many people out there who are working jobs they hate. How can you spend a large portion of your adult life at a job you hate? That’s just wrong.

�28

4) What in your opinion is the ultimate goal of trade unionism?

Delving deeper into the understanding of trade unionism, interviewees again stressed the goal is going beyond the workplace and trying to establish an egalitarian system.

. . . true equality . . . more than just economic equality – though that is one of the goals– but social equality as well. I believe that more than just improving the working conditions, rate of pay, benefits, etc. that the goal of unions should always be full equality for all . . . working lives don’t begin and end in the workplace, and thus, our work should not be limited to workplace gains, but also to societal gains. - Kim Crump

“Make workers’ lives better. Not just about the union workers but for all workers. It’s not just about work life . . . it’s everywhere . . . It’s in your community, it’s in your family . . . “

- Isabelle Boucher

I think it’s about meditating the harmful effects of capitalism. It’s very dangerous to have a capitalist system without a strong union system. That’s the basic but that has all kinds of different pieces that flow from it. Even the implications of capitalism are so vast and far reaching. - Corina Crawley

“To improve the quality of life for workers. Inside the workplace but also outside the workplace.” - Marelene Gow

Mary Lou Scott spoke about the need of international solidarity and the United Steelworkers’ work with Unite the Union (a British labour organization) to build a global union. Thus, her activism includes an transnational collective effort. Interestingly, Mary Lou Scott observed that the international nature of the employer made the need for an international approach more obvious at the local level:

�29

I come from a really small workplace but it’s a large corporation that owns the workplace. So when you’re at the bargaining table it’s way beyond what happens in little old Stratford, it’s global. They have manufacturing plants all over the place. . . it’s important to be educated in the whole aspect of it.

On the other hand, Terri Monture addressed how some media workers lack class consciousness partially because of the structure of the media work environment: “. . . part of the problem is that the workers in media because it’s so journalist driven tend to think of themselves as not workers.” She explained:

They don’t want to think of themselves as workers. And I really believe that corporations have dispelled the idea of workers as workers. I think that their propaganda in the last 30 years or so has made people really believe that they are not truly workers and are therefore they are easily manipulated. Therefore organizing becomes very difficult because people think of themselves as an independent contractor or a ‘hired gun’. ‘I just come in and do whatever’ and ‘I’m able to control what I do.’ But that’s not the case at all.

Thus, Terri Monture also found it hard to get workers to attend labour education in the first place: “And they think corporate training is more important than grassroots, build from the bottom, labour education. There’s a constant tension between what they think is useful and what actually is useful.”

The latter half of the interview questions focused on the CLC pilot program and any impact it may or may not have on the participants’ political consciousness and their work / activism after using the three political consciousness dimensions as indicators.

�30

5. Can you please tell me about a part of the education activities which where important for you? Please explain why.

The participants found the hands-on experience, practice, feedback and opportunity to meet others in the union education field helpful. More specifically, the Six Threads activity (referred earlier in greater detail) was the most popular answer. Again, the exercise explored how to incorporate the six threads of community, democracy, equity, class consciousness, organization building and the greater good into course design. In other words, the exercise shows how different exploitations are interconnected and addressed how worker education must also address our interconnected struggles. While not entirely new to all participants, it was important to learn again explained Mary Lou Scott because it showed how to use this tool in “integrating the aspects of taking on global fights, taking on racism, taking on homophobia . . . “ The popularity of this exercise illustrates that the participants’ understanding of how class intersects with other oppressions. Thus, their trade unionism goes beyond the workplace and ‘bread and butter’ economic issues to broader social issues of equality and justice.

The rejection of hierarchy between teacher and student mentioned earlier as part of the co-mentorship concept is also evident for the participants as an outcome of the course:

Some of those concepts did really stay with me. . . the idea that we don’t fill empty heads. We don’t open someone’s head and fill it with knowledge. There’s knowledge there and experience there that we can all learn from so we need to build in those opportunities to engage with the knowledge that is already there and help people connect the knowledge with their lives. - Corina Crawley

�31

6. Since the education activities, have you observed something in society that reminded you about something you heard/did during the education activities?

For some the answer was yes. Isabelle Boucher saw links in “everything . . . everyday . . . everywhere.” Whereas for others there was no link. Again, the materials were not necessarily new to everyone but for some it was the method or how to get these ideas across that was new to them.

�32

7. Has the “union workshop”/education activities affected your work? If so, how? Please explain and provide examples.

All interviewees answered yes. Whether it was developing union workshop materials, organizing a conference and other activities:

Yes. Absolutely . . . I mean pretty much everything I learned I used to develop the workshop. . . The critical thinking aspect, when you are developing a workshop you have to stop and think, and that is everyday when it’s this type of work. Even if it’s working on a separate project we have to have a class analysis . . .how is this going to benefit . . . it definitely feeds into the work I do. - Corina Crawley

Yes because I’ve been involved with mostly conferences since that time and at most of our conferences we use workshops. So I definitely used the skills there to develop shorter workshop types of events . . . I have used those skills either individually or working with others to develop workshops. - Marlene Gow

For sure. As a regional representative we don’t write courses normally but I was able to use what I gained there to finish up a course I was writing. And I’m writing collaboratively with another co-worker . . . - Oneil Carlier

Yes, absolutely...this was a 3 week course on popular education design...following the course, I was on a 2 year contract writing curriculum for the CAW and during this time I used many of the skills, tools, theoretical approaches learned in this course...the spiral model, the 6 threads, social identity cells, too many to name. - Kim Crump

I think I look at things more critically especially in terms of how we do things as a union happen. Even in our communications. Part of my job is to look at it through the lens of equity . . . more so now that I know about the spiral model and I use it a lot now. I’m not even conscious about it anymore because it’s more engrained. - Terri Monture

�33

However, there are challenges for some participants in applying their experiences to union education work especially due to financial cutbacks explained Terri Monture: “It’s really hard to implement the ideas and ideals . . . I’m constantly having to fight to bring the kind of education that I want to do into this union.” Thus, she has found other outlets to express herself which is explored in the next question(s).

�34

8. Besides your day to day work, what other kinds of political/ union/social justice activities in the broad sense have you been involved in since the education activities finished?

9. Can you please describe these other activities? What do you and others do there?

As mentioned before, all interviewees were already active prior to taking the CLC pilot. Thus, their activism after the course was seen as a continuation of their work and a chance to apply their learning rather than a new beginning. Again, interviewees considered their activism to part of their trade union work.

“It’s hard to separate them. It’s not ‘this is my union work. This is my social justice work’. It’s all tied.” - Oneil Carlier

Likewise, Isabelle’s union work continues but has now broadened after the CLC pilot:

It’s a different type of work. Before I’d be on the picket line with local members trying to have an information picket and support them that way for their collective agreements. That still happens but it’s also working with community groups and education . . . Learning from the community groups. Them learning from us . . . Exchanging ideas. Before, I would not have done that.

Terri Monture, who finds it difficult to do the type of education work she learned from the CLC pilot in her everyday union job, channels some of her energy into the “Idle No More” movement work which “calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to

honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water" (idlenomore.ca). This

illustrates another dimension of political consciousness with includes the involvement in other movements that challenge capitalism. While Terri Monture’s participation with the movement began after the CLC pilot occurred, the movement itself took off only after as well. Thus, it is an issue of timing and opportunity rather than a new beginning.

�35

Corina Crawley remains active in her own union as staff (i.e. not her employer) as a shop steward and part of the women’s committee.

The most common type of political work for the interviewees was with the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada which is considered the most labour-friendly of the major political parties and this electoral engagement is another aspect of political consciousness.

Kim Crump who identifies as a “ “feminist, social justice advocate and queer activist” works on many social issue campaigns such as the fight to keep the Canadian gun registry, the right to reproductive choice, etc. and she is also a member of the NDP.

Marlene Gow also volunteers for the NDP campaigns and even takes leave and holidays from work so she can.

Oneil Carlier who is also involved with the NDP added that his activist work is tied to his union work which again echoes how the interviewees see the activism and trade union work to be largely one and the same:

My involvement with the NDP but a lot of it is still tied to my union work. I’m an advisor to a Human Rights Committee with the PSAC so I’m able to participate in everything from the Pride parades to International Human Rights Day. My job is so busy and these things tie into my union work. It just naturally ties in.

�36

10. Can you please describe an activity you have been involved with that you think is linked with the education activities you have taken part in?

This question is similar to question #7 and the participants referred to various projects, committees and conferences where they had applied their learnings from the CLC pilot. Additionally, most of the participants stayed in contact through Facebook, email and /or other union education related events such United Association of Labor Educators (UALE) conference held in Toronto, Canada in 2013.

These networks and shared resources are crucial explained Marlene Gow:

It was really valuable to build a network of popular educators. I mean I met so many people that I didn’t know and had never met before and a few times since then and I’m faced with an issue where we need some kind of education I’ve actually sent emails to folks and asked geez: Have you done any work on this? So it can help to save some work.

Likewise, Mary Lou Scott explained “you don’t have to reinvent the wheel” and has also sent emails ask for advice, resources, etc.

Corina Crawley sees the sharing of resources as new and hopes to see it grow:

I think it’s really important that the labour movement be sharing resources. Being on the same page. During the course we did share a lot of resources. I think that culture of not being too concerned about copyright around the workshops we are developing, we try to give credit where credit is due . . The purpose is to get it out there and to strengthen the education that unions are doing all across Canada. There’s lots of potential . . . People are working together more across unions on different topics in different ways specifically amongst educators. Invite one another to one other’s workshops and events.

�37

On this last point, Terri Monture continued to work with Corina Crawley and Isabelle Boucher(from CUPE) on a side project and was asked by CUPE to facilitate an Aboriginal workshop.

Others stressed that it was also important to see issues from the perspectives of other unions. This is especially true of having both public and private sector union perspective on issues.

In conclusion, using the political consciousness criteria referenced earlier, the participants were politically conscious prior to the CLC pilot as evidenced by their own union and activist work (both paid and volunteer activities) and their self-identification as trade union activists. The high level of political consciousness makes sense considering the CLC pilot course targeted union staff involved in labour education although the range of experience with labour education varied.

As participants and facilitators have pointed out, the course content was not new to everybody and so the learning came in acquiring an integrated teaching approach that emphasized practical and theoretical techniques to advance political consciousness. In addition to this, the opportunity to meet and work with other labour education activists from different unions was key. After the CLC pilot, participants continued with their activist / trade union work and all were able to apply their learnings in some capacity. There remains an informal networks amongst some of the participants.

�38

Reflections & Recommendations: An Assessment

At the end of each of the three sessions, participants were given evaluation forms and asked to reflect on the program and to articulate what they found useful and not so useful.

Facilitators also met at the end of the sessions and debriefed. Bev Burke attended these meetings taking notes and made concrete suggestions in order to act on the feedback. There was also a final pilot program evaluation. These recommendations were then reflected in the final version of the CLC course.

Based on the course evaluation and feedback provided to the CLC, the participants strongly want the pilot program to run again. Lynn Carlile summarized that the participants were very “clear ” in their recommendations that the CLC and its affiliates need to “grow this” and give it “space” so that more people can be involved in the project. She adds that: “Labour education is not just about skills, but its aim is to inspire people and build a movement sharing in their struggle and working together.” Thus, while not a stated goal, this is the place where we are seeing an “evolution of education” which it is not just important “share materials” people are willing to work across unions now whereas before they were afraid of judgment. 40

Bev Burke reflects that this was a “tremendous learning” opportunity and ‘cross-union connections that were made went beyond the course.” Bev Burke shares that she has been asked to provide the pilot program facilitator and participant notes as some affiliates want to run their own version of the program. However, returning to an earlier point made by Bev, the CLC is the “only one in a position” to provide a cross-affiliate learning to occur. Kai Lai stresses the importance of having cross-affiliate participants:

L. Carlile, op. cit. 40

�39

In the workshops people came from different affiliates, what people learned from each other’s affiliates and learned from different organizational cultures of other affiliates added to the richness of actual skill of design. The cross- pollination of working together is another very important reason for this course to be run again. If we learned anything . . only working with your own affiliate, the design wouldn’t be as rich as it would be working cross-affiliate. Just for those two [reasons] alone, it is clear to me that it should be run again.

Kai Lai adds that the program should be run every couple of years. He strongly feels that the program is:

. . . invaluable to the labour education community to have a course dedicated to design not just design itself but labour education design . I don’t know of anything else out there in any affiliate that fulfils that function. . . it brings a kind of rigour to labour education design by having some sort of template that people can learn, but also in terms of pedagogy, a common design element to labour educators . . . that’s very important.

On behalf of the CLC, Lynn Carlile will be doing follow-up interviews with the participants to see how well the program worked in terms of their needs.

As with all worker education, Lynn Carlile reflects about the tension of having education being about empowering workers and the resistance that can happen when workers start taking power or pushing up against power. Or what happens when participants are “fired up” to go back to work and implement what they have learned but there is no support for it?

�40

Interviewees’ Critique Participants were very positive about the CLC pilot and hope it would continue in some form. Isabelle Boucher suggests the program be offered more broadly:

This program that the CLC set up is really valuable. . . And I wouldn’t even limit it to labour educators. If you are a facilitator but don’t develop the workshop I think it would be good for folks to take that training as well. Because you get an understanding of why courses are developed a certain way.

After taking this program I’ve come into contact with certain facilitators that don’t have training in course design and basically want to redo the whole course . . . but they didn’t understand why it was done the way it was done.

If they had that training it would help them to understand why we are doing the things the we are doing things. . . .

Terri Monture stressed the importance of education and also the need for unions to reexamine how their own structures and policy reinforce oppression:

I think that as a labour movement I really believe that we need to look at how our own structures reinforce white supremacy. I can’t be any more blunt than that. I feel that after all this time we are not talking about it enough. We just keep reinforcing all the power structures that we are trying to change . . . Worker education is basically to change people’s beliefs about their place in the world and to get them to look critically at issues that really affect them.

Several participants pointed out that their unions / employer were supposed to make the CLC pilot a priority for them, but many did not leaving participants to do this work on top of their regular duties. Corina Crawley explained: I think it was challenging for a lot of people and a lot of people did overcome difficulties in the group and others

�41

didn’t. Some of us were just lucky enough to work with someone we got along with and worked similarly to.

She added:

The purpose of the workshop was collaborative course designer training. I didn’t real feel that there was very much learning about how to work collaboratively especially with people who work differently from you . . . I don’t know it’s something that is teachable or not.

With only two self-identified racialized participants and one self-identified Aboriginal participant, Terri Monture felt “annoyed” at having to deal with what she described as “backlash” to anti- racism from some of the other participants. She explained “that as a worker of colour, we are constantly having to explain [anti-racism]”. While there were other allies who supported them, she found it “depressing” that “of all places, you’d think that the people who are doing the education in the union would be in a better place . . . it was an interesting eye opener.”

Reflecting on this matter, Mary Lou Scott added:

Any sort of friction is about . . .when people are learning new theory sometimes it puts them in an uncomfortable position because people who are at that level and taking a design course will obviously have a lot of experience and previous skill set. So I thought that some of the friction came from that uncomfortable feeling when you don’t ‘get’ something right away. And usually there is an ‘aha’ moment but it usually doesn’t necessarily happen when you’re in the course.

Oneil Carlier also commented on the pressure that some participants may have felt:

�42

there were at times . . . I know I can’t speak for anyone else . . . I did observe a lot of angst because people took it really seriously and if they didn’t catch a concept they got really stressed out. That I noticed from others not for myself. . .

I saw a Sister in tears. It wasn’t a personal attack or anything like that. It was just the pressure of trying to do the best you can, I suppose. Maybe in the back of our minds, people came from all around the country on our union’s dime to take this course so there was some money involved.

The discomfort some may feel seems to be an issue as Mary Lou Scott explains:

it’s an uncomfortable position to be when people are introducing theory and you don’t get it right away because these are people who are fairly academic. I believe that a lot of friction happened because it was a course where you were learning new theories and introduced to ideas that were maybe a little uncomfortable. Talking about class struggle and inequities and discrimination and racism. People are sort of uncomfortable and that’s okay because that’s how you challenge the norm.

It was a learning point for me too: that’s it’s okay for people to be a little bit uncomfortable. . . the dots are connecting.

Despite this incident, Terri Monture also cites the same session as being the most rewarding: “that was the hardest and best part.” She adds: “Our elders always say that before you can cure anything you have to draw out the poison . . . maybe that was just part of our process.”

Terri Monture adds:

And maybe we as labour educators we have to figure out a way to make it a little easier for people . . giving us the space to do it in a way that is gentle enough but hits home about some very real truths about Canadian society. Until we do that, as far as I’m concerned, we’re spinning our wheels.

�43

While Terri Monture recognizes that she was part of the pilot program, one of her major suggestions is that a basic understanding of anti -racism be mandatory and that participants should do that work “before we get there.” She commented that when it comes to education and the greater struggle for equality, some “unions are more concerned with bread and butter issues, dealing with the daily demands, then to look at stuff on the global basis.” The pilot project was one place to start having this conversation but ultimately, “there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of privilege, privilege of our co-workers, privilege of our union members.”

�44

Conclusion

Maria Moriarty writes in Neoliberalism and Literacy: A Personal Reflection, that “ . . . the values of social justice and critical pedagogy, have been overwritten, written out by the values of the market. Literacy is decontextualized, marginalized as ‘romantic,’ an impossible dream.” Though Moriarty's comments were about literacy, the same 41

analysis holds true of union education. In a time of attack on labour unions, some may reject this emancipator type of education as being a luxury that unions can simply no longer afford.

However, labour education, including the Collaborative Course Design Training Program Pilot is far from being a luxury. Kai Lai explains:

It’s not a luxury. While there are so-called bread and butter courses, courses that are recognized as skill courses, there are other courses that unions cannot not have, if they claim to be social justice partners in the social justice community . . . Equality is not about grievance handling but you understand grievance handling in a much better way if you understand the issues which constitutes [the background to] a grievance.

At the time of writing, the CLC was evaluating the Collaborative Course Design Training Program. We hope that this paper serves as further evidence that this invaluable course run again and become a core component of worker education in Canada.

I sincerely thank the interviewees and Nicole Wall for their time and energy working with me on this Global Labour University Alumni Research project. Their enthusiasm speaks to their ongoing passion for and dedication to transformative worker education.

M. Moriarty, ‘Neoliberalism and Literacy: A Personal Reflection’, in Literacies, #10, Spring 2009, pp. 28-29.41

�45

Works Cited

Boucher, I., Personal Interview, June 13, 2013

Burke, B. et al., Education for Changing Unions, Between the Lines, Toronto, 2002.

Burke, B., Personal Interview, August 14, 2012.

Canadian Labour Congress, <www.canadianlabour.ca>

Canadian Labour Congress, ‘Statement on Education: Learning Together for Action, Solidarity and Justice’ in CLC Convention Executive Council Report, 2002.

Carlile, L., Personal Interview, May 25, 2012.

Carlier, O., Personal Interview, June 20, 2013.

Crawley, C., Personal Interview, July 9, 2013.

Employment and Social Development Canada, Union Coverage, by type of union and affiliation, 2013. <http://www.labour.gc.ca/eng/resources/info/publications/union_coverage/union_cov2013_en.pdf>

Gow, M., Personal Interview, June 19, 2013.

International Labour Organization, “C140 - Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140),” <www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C140>.

Krahn, H. et al., Work, Industry & Canadian Society 5th ed. Nelson Education Ltd., Canada, 2008

Kumar, P., ‘Is the Movement at a Standstill?’, in Our Times Magazine, vol. 27, issue 5, October-November 2008 <ourtimes.ca/Talking/article_94.php>.

Lai, K., Personal Interview, August 21, 2012.

�46

Lopes, T. and Thomas, B., Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations. Between the Lines, Toronto, 2006.

Monture, T., Personal Interview, August 9, 2012 and July 11, 2013.

Moriarty, M., ‘Neoliberalism and Literacy: A Personal Reflection’, in Literacies, #10, Spring 2009.

New Learning: Transformational Designs for Pedagogy and Assessment, 'Paulo Freire on Education that Liberates', <http://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-2/paulo-freire-on-education-that-liberates>.

Scott, M. L., Personal Interview, June 14, 2013.

�47