Learning about Labour in Canada. NALL Working Paper.

The questions of what and how working people learn about labor organization and activity in Canada were explored through a review of available literature and face-to-face interviews with more than 30 education officers and union leaders. Unions continue to be the principal source of labor education. Of the many courses and educational experiences that unions offer their membership, steward-training courses tend to be the best developed and documented. However, steward-training courses constitute only a small portion of the labor education that is currently being made available to trade union members and staff. Many unions are offering a sophisticated and integrated educational experience that is allowing union members to learn a variety of skills and knowledge that could be recognized by the formal education system. Special events and schools range from modest 1-day affairs to week-long functions. The measure of the various courses/programs is their success in preparing union members and activists to deal with the concrete demands they face in the workplace, their union, and their community. Some unions insist that labor education be provided primarily by rank-and-file members, others deliver courses through an educational officer, and yet others have "specialists" deliver courses. (A description of the Learning Labour project is appended.) (MN)