Education Symposium Highlights

The Education Department held a Symposium for CUPW facilitators from September 12 – 15, 2024.  In total, 90 people took part, including participants (CUPW worker educators), Regional Education and Organizing Officers (REOOs), Union Reps (URs), staff, those facilitating sessions, guest speakers, and our 2^nd National Vice-President, Coleen Jones.

The goal of the Symposium was to share knowledge, tools and experiences, and to exchange on education. Among the many activities, participants engaged in a Labour Education Café in order to think collectively about innovative strategies CUPW Education can put in place to respond to members’ need for a diverse, inclusive, relevant and cutting-edge program to engage members in learning.

Facilitators from across the country took part in various workshops, from how to prepare to facilitate a course, to online learning, to how to deal with conflict, and learning how to integrate a political analysis when facilitating. There were also sessions on energizers, role play and oral history practices. In addition, there were sessions on how to create an intentional space that fosters trust, connection, and collective learning.

We were honoured to have heard Myriam Zaidi, the Director of Education of the FTQ, speak to us about the rich history of popular education in Quebec, that spans 50 years.

Another highlight was a talk show that was emceed by Coleen Jones, and the guests were some of CUPW’s most experienced (and now retired) facilitators: Guy Lafontaine, Ruth Breen, Denis Lemelin, Lisa Ziegler and David Condon. They shared some stories and imparted wisdom to the audience on union education in general and CUPW’s popular education practice in particular.

Solidarity,