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Strengthening the Trade Unions: the Key Role of Labour Education

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Strengthening the Trade Unions: the Key Role of Labour Education Strengthening the trade unions: The key role of labour education Labour Education 2007/1-2 No. 146-147 Contents Editorial V Globalization and labour education, by Enrico Cairola 1 The present and future challenges of labour education in the global economy, by Bruce Spencer 11 Distance labour education – Solidarity learning around the globe, by Marc Bélanger 19 Research as a key element in labour education, by Verena Schmidt 25 The Global Labour University network – Bringing unions and universities together, by Frank Hoffer 33 Educating for equality – Workers’ education and gender, by Elsa Ramos 45 Trade union education in Africa – Challenges and future prospects, by Mohammed Mwamadzingo and Insa Ben Said Dia 49 Trade union education in Asia, by Christine Nathan and Hiro Ishibashi 57 Trade union education in Europe – Some latest developments, by Jeff Bridgford and John Stirling 65 Labour education the Nordic way – The Nordic Folk High School in Geneva, by John Steen Johansen 71 Trade union training and labour education in Latin America – Progress and challenges, by Carmen Benítez and Eduardo Rodríguez Calderón 75 III Editorial t is no doubt more than appropriate that, over ten years after the Ilast major international trade union meeting on labour education (Helsingør, 1994), the 2007 Symposium organized by ACTRAV, the Bureau for Workers’ Activities (Geneva, 8–12 October 2007) should be devoted to this topic. It is one of considerable importance to workers’ organizations. No, we do not mean the Labour Education that you are reading at this very moment. We are talking about the training of activists, shop stewards and leaders which, almost since the birth of trade unionism, has been one of the main sources of its faithfulness to its ideals and principles, its growing strength, its constant adaptation to new realities and, last but not least, its durability. Does all this international attention mean that labour education is in crisis? Certainly not. Every year around the world, it trains hundreds of thousands of trade unionists in the basics and techniques of collective bargaining, trade union recruitment and organizing methods, occupa- tional safety and health issues, rights at work, equality and so on. In many countries, it goes beyond workplace-level concerns and deals with the role of trade union organization in society, the strengthening of democracy and the fi ght for social justice or the environment. As truly popular education, in the best sense of the term, labour edu- cation does not mimic the teaching given in schools and universities, although the importance of that teaching is of course beyond dispute. Rather, it offers a unique kind of training which takes as its starting point the problems faced by working men and women. Its content can be very different to school curricula, and its teaching methods are its own. Constantly evolving, labour education has broadened its own scope and has established crossover points with all levels of the education system, including the universities. The workers’ activities programme of the In- ternational Training Centre of the ILO, Turin has not lagged behind. Each year, it trains several hundred trade union leaders, confi rming the high value that the ILO assigns to strengthening the capacities of workers’ organizations through labour education. So why devote an international symposium to it? The answer is simple. Labour education has already given much to the trade union movement, but in future it may well have to give even more. And since the Hel- singør meeting, the world has changed and the challenges posed by glo- balization and the need for decent work have become clearer. The issues at stake are summed up very well by Bruce Spencer, from the Athabasca University, in his contribution to this special issue of Labour Education: “Beyond immediate concerns trade unions also have to wrestle with the question of what it is they want to achieve through labour education. Are they simply striving to represent members within the new global order or should they strive to become key players in civil society?” If they choose V the latter, Mr Spencer adds, there are implications for labour education; the focus of labour education would shift (but never retreat) from rep- resentative training that is core labour education, towards courses and programmes stressing education for community building as much as for work. In other words, training will also have to expand, adding courses and programmes that will enable trade unionists to take part in the con- struction of society as a whole. This debate has already begun, and some trade union centres have started adjusting and experimenting with new pathways. Hence the idea of the 2007 Symposium, which will enable trade unionists involved in training on all fi ve continents to dialogue, exchange views and experience, and look into coordination and synergies. This discussion should provide an opportunity to pinpoint the trade union movement’s current and future concerns in the fi eld of training, and to adapt its teaching methods and programmes to meet them. Labour education is the main implement at the trade union move- ment’s disposal. And we should never forget that it is, to a large extent, fi nanced by trade unionists’ dues. It is therefore also a precious invest- ment. “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!” So said Derek Bok, former President of Harvard University. His wisecrack became the slogan of many a trade union campaign to improve the quality of public education, but of course it applies equally to the unions themselves, which know how important it is to invest in training. Apart from being an implement for the unions, labour education is also the laboratory in which activists cook up new ideas for mobilizing, so as to face the new problems that they encounter in the workplace or which are of more general concern to workers. Stress, violence at work, homophobia and harassment are some of the issues that trainers have had to tackle – sometimes even before they found their way onto their union organization’s agenda. Today, trade union organizations and their training programmes have to take account of the effects of economic globalization, the demand for decent work, the fi ght against the spread of HIV/AIDS and against any discrimination towards HIV-positive people, climate change, migration, and the expansion of the informal economy. They have to prepare the workers’ representatives to take responsibility for complex negotiations: economic integration processes, strategic poverty reduction programmes, fl exicurity, multinational company councils. Important issues such as good governance, debt reduction for the poorest countries, and the pro- grammes of big funders such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank are all part of the everyday workload facing national and international trade union organizations. And all this in an environment that often does not exactly foster dia- logue. In its fi rst annual report (September 2007) on violations of trade union rights, the new International Trade Union Confederation cites 144 murders of trade unionists in 2006, more than 5,000 arrests in connection with trade union activities and more than 8,000 cases of dismissal for the same reasons. The report lists violations of freedom of association, to varying degrees, in 138 countries. This special issue on labour education is a good place to recall that, for the ILO, labour education is more than a necessity. It is a right. Article 2 paragraph (c) of the Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140), stipulates that each ILO Member shall formulate and apply a policy VI designed to promote paid educational leave, including for trade union education. And various instruments stress the importance of this provi- sion for different categories of worker – young, part-time and older work- ers, those with family responsibilities and night workers. The international workers’ 2007 Symposium on labour education could also provide an opportunity for the unions to commit themselves to promoting the ratifi cation of Convention No. 140 (to date, it has gar- nered just 34 ratifi cations) and to remind governments of the importance of this instrument. Our colleagues at the Programme for Workers’ Activities of the Inter- national Training Centre of the ILO, Turin, and those in the Bureau for Workers’ Activities at ILO headquarters, have contributed to the prep- aration of this special issue, looking ahead to the discussion that will take place at the 2007 Symposium on labour education. Their analyses do not provide any ready-made pattern for the labour education of tomorrow. Nor do they claim to do so. That was not their aim. But together with the analyses by other specialists published in this issue, they shed some light, they take stock and they give food for thought – as they also will for the discussions ahead. In fact, globally focused literature on labour education is in short sup- ply. The trade union movement’s contribution to the promotion of educa- tion for all, free of charge but of high quality, is known and acknowledged by the public at large. But the movement’s own training role, through labour education, has stayed out of the limelight. This despite the major investment that it requires, in terms both of fi nancial and of human re- sources. The international workers’ 2007 Symposium on labour education and the documents that will be devoted to it, including this one, will help to fi ll that gap. They will enable the ILO and, more particularly, its Bu- reau for Workers’ Activities to reassess training programmes in the light of the conclusions that will be adopted. Above all, it is hoped that they will fuel the debates and will be enriched by them and that the discus- sions will produce an action programme that can make labour education even more effective, even more relevant and better adjusted to the age of globalization.
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