Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

October 3,4,5: Building Our Union, Building Our Movement! Ensuring Labour’s Relevance in a Changing World

The theme of this year’s union school is “Building Our Union, Building Our Movement! Ensuring Labour’s Relevance in a Changing World.” Our goal is to strengthen our union and ensure the relevancy of the labour movement in a changing world by building solidarity with other workers and communities, both locally and globally.

Can our union and the labour movement remain relevant in an increasingly changing world? How can we mobilize to protect the rights of our members and build solidarity with other workers struggling against exploitation? How can the labour movement organize a collective response to the increasing corporatization of our workplaces and our communities? How can we engage our political system, particularly at a municipal level, to make sure that as trade unionists, our voices are heard in the larger arena?

By working hand-in-hand with other members of our locals, our unions and communities around the world, we can create and build a labour movement that can respond to the many challenges that workers face today. By building solidarity with other workers - particularly those that are working in unorganized workplaces, in temporary jobs and often in precarious working conditions – and exploring creative strategies to protect our collective rights, we can forge a vibrant movement for social change that in will in turn, strengthen our own union.

This theme underscores how critical it is for our survival and growth as trade unionists to identify new strategies for resistance that are rooted in building alliances across unions, communities and borders, particularly with those workers and other members of our society who are the most marginalized.

Plenary sessions and guest speakers will demonstrate the links between strengthening our union, maintaining the relevance of labour movements at both a local and global level and protecting the rights of all workers.

Visit the Union School 2008 page for more information, course descriptions, and application forms.