Labour Education Is About Making a Difference

Welcome to Winter School!

Attending a labour school – the BC Winter School in particular – is a unique opportunity that only a few workers get to experience. Make the most of it. Your co-workers, your union and your community rely on your newly refined skills to make their voices heard, their presence felt, and their wishes acted upon whenever and wherever decisions are being made that affect our lives.
Unions have been successful in having employers listen to workers’ concerns in the workplace. Increasingly, we must apply the same skills to make governments, at all levels, listen to workers’ priorities and act upon them. More and more, to be successful, your activism and your leadership must help carry our voices every day; not just in the run-up to the next election or the major push on a specific campaign.

In recent years, we have made substantial progress in Ottawa. The priorities of working families have been put back on the agenda. More money for medicare. Legislation to protect workers’ wages and pensions when employers face bankruptcy is awaiting final approval in the Senate. Anti-scab legislation came the closest it ever has to becoming law, losing only because big business lobbyists ran a campaign of fear and misinformation before the final vote that mislead many people. Our proposed changes to the EI program were endorsed by a parliamentary committee. Money is (finally) being targeted at worker training.
Labour education is never neutral because you will gain knowledge and skills to make difference in the world. During your time at the Winter School, you will share experiences, develop critical analysis, strengthen your membership in the labour movement, and start to work for progressive change. The new ideas, skills, and friends you will make here will stand you in good stead for many years to come.

Progress for working families – like good pensions, jobs with decent salaries and benefits, child care, economic equality for women, and expanding medicare to help with the cost of prescription drugs – starts with trained activists who can point to the connections between political decision-making and our quality of life. The training you gain here will allow you to do this for your co-workers, your union, and your community. Remember, they are counting on you.

Kenneth V. Georgetti
President
Canadian Labour Congress