Education

Vision Statement

Labour education is collective learning and development designed to strengthen unions and their individual members, to instill belief in trade union principles, and to achieve social and economic justice for workers and our communities.

The SFL Education Committee will work to promote and sponsor educational opportunities for workers which are:

• union-oriented in content
• accessible in terms of design, location, content, and cost
• designed to empower workers to change their workplaces and the world
• delivered by workers for workers

To this end, we will:

• place an emphasis on supporting education which follows a popular education format and principles, and on supporting worker educators to develop the skills and knowledge to deliver popular education
• provide unions and workers with information on how to increase and strengthen worker education for their members
• promote and inform workers of the opportunities available to them to take part in education activities
• support efforts to extend educational activities to affiliates, union members and staff, and to nonunionized workers and young workers
• promote the inclusion and full participation of workers from equity-seeking groups and of young workers in delivering and receiving worker education

To date, the activities we have supported include:

The annual SFL/CLC spring school, input into the design of the U of S labour studies program, the CLC Labour College of Canada, administration of labour education scholarships, popular education design and facilitation training for union educators, promotion of Ready for Work and similar programs aimed at young workers, and promotion of union education funds through bargained employer contributions.