2008 Canadian Labour Congress WINTER SCHOOL

One of Canadas best labour schools, held at Harrison Hot Springs, in January and February 2008

The CLC Winter School offers a wide variety of week-long, quality labour orientated courses. Past HSA participants have rated the courses and the experience highly. The school offers an opportunity to meet people from other unions and workplaces across BC. To support HSAs ability to represent HSA members effectively and to help build a stronger union, members and/or stewards can apply to take courses chosen to meet these objectives.

HSA offers a number of scholarships, including the Ann Hallman Scholarship, which covers full reimbursement for wages, travel, registration, accommodation (twin), meals and dependant care.

HSA members can apply for an HSA scholarship or the Ann Hallman Scholarship by completing an application form. Please note that HSA CLC Winter School Scholarships are popular, and more applications are usually received than can be accommodated. Application forms must be fully completed and received at HSAs office by 4 pm, Tuesday, November 27, 2007, to be considered. Please contact Leila Lolua for further information.

Applications Deadline: November 27, 2007

ALL MEMBERS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR SCHOLARSHIPS TO ATTEND THE FOLLOWING COURSES:

1. Facing Management (Weeks One, Two, Three, and Four)
   This course deals with evolving employer agendas and management styles that are used to implement new programs in the workplace. You will learn about managements hard-line and soft-line approaches, various workplace strategies for reorganization, team concepts, and employee involvement schemes.

   This course is designed to teach a critical awareness of the latest management tactics so the union can protect and advance its agenda. We hope to better equip participants with some of the necessary skills to deal with management and win the hearts and minds of your membership at the same time.

2. Parliamentary Procedure and Public Speaking (Weeks One and Four)
   This course deals with how to run a union meeting; the duties of a chairperson and the rules of order; the principles and characteristics of effective speaking; how to organize and build a speech; the use of humour and gestures; how to be convincing and persuasive; the art of impromptu speaking; introductions and speeches of courtesy; and to provide first hand experience in speaking before a group. This course is excellent for local union officers and aspiring politicians.
3. Women in Leadership (Week One)
   This course offers union women an opportunity to develop and enhance their leadership skills and knowledge in a variety of current and emerging labour issues. A major component of the course will cover communication and motivational skills that are important for women activists. Participants will leave the course ready to take an active role in their union.
4. Pensions ... A Trade Union Perspective (Week Four)
   Pensions are an important part of worker wage and benefits packages. Their future importance may increase as government commitments to social programs continue to decline. This course will review some basic areas such as pension objectives, the legal environment and funding concepts. The course will assist you in evaluating your own pension arrangement, give you ideas to improve an existing plan or give you enough information to know what needs to be done to establish a plan. The course will address pension issues from a private and a public pension perspective. The course will enable workers to make more valuable contributions to their unions pension policy or pension committees. Participants should bring any information pertaining to their pension plan to the course.
5. Collective Bargaining (Basic) (Weeks One and Two)
   This course develops an understanding of the Collective Bargaining process, how it works and the skills you will need to participate in the process. Participants will learn about preparations for collective bargaining, bargaining proposals from the membership, key contract clauses and current bargaining issues. An opportunity is provided to analyze union and management tactics in a -mock bargaining" session.

   This course will be of interest to new bargaining committee members and local union officers who are involved or anticipate being involved in actual bargaining. Bring a copy of your collective agreement and a calculator for this course.

6. Duty to Accommodate (Weeks Two and Three)
   Recent human rights decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada have expanded the duty of employers and unions to accommodate workers on the basis of sex, race, disability and religious beliefs with both positive and negative implications for unions. It can be difficult to understand the extent of the duty and the point at which accommodation becomes undue hardship. Participants will gain an understanding of human rights law and skills in identifying appropriate accommodations and in implementing strategies to reduce the potential for negative impact on the bargaining unit.

   THE FOLLOWING COURSE HAS PREREQUISITES:

7. Human Rights ... Issues and Advocacy (Week Three)
   This course will help participants to: recognize how discrimination and prejudice evolve, examine how the -isms" are connected, explore stereotypes and our own biases, apply the human rights test: accommodation of difference (duty to accommodate), examine systemic barriers in the workplace, increase awareness of the experience of equity-seeking groups, applying conflict resolution skills for the resolution of harassment and discrimination cases and promote union remedies for the advancement of human rights through changes in collective agreements, internal policies and education, lobbying and social action.

   Prerequisite: At least one year experience as Steward.

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