Resolution No. 25: Education and Membership Development: Building a Fighting Union

WHEREAS, since the early 1900s labor education has served to transform workers’ lives on the job and in their communities, and create spaces for them to learn, discuss ideas and solve problems; and

WHEREAS, the USW was founded on a set of principles, including to unite all workers regardless of creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, ability, language, or nationality; to work to increase wages and improve conditions of employment by legislation and joint agreements; to secure old-age pensions, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance; to secure laws to protect workers’ safety and the right to organize; to enforce just laws and secure the repeal of those that are unjust; and

WHEREAS, the USW continues to stand on these principles today; and

WHEREAS, workers’ education is premised on the idea that those most impacted by problems have the knowledge and solutions to address them; and

WHEREAS, the mission of labor education is to empower our members with the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to build a fighting union and to foster passion, activism, and innovative thought; and

WHEREAS, education is central to our ability to maintain the strength that is necessary to represent our members, organize new members, and secure social, economic and legislative justice for the working class; and

WHEREAS, the labor movement overlaps with other movements of liberation and freedom for marginalized people; and

WHEREAS, education challenges participants to think critically about the mission of our union, political environment and economy, and to envision and organize towards an equitable and worker-friendly economy and society; and

WHEREAS, education helps us envision a legislative environment that will equalize the power relationship between labor and capital, expand job opportunities and build worker-friendly communities; and

WHEREAS, education empowers rank and file members to exercise their voices in their workplaces and their local unions; and

WHEREAS, training provides the skills to negotiate collective bargaining agreements, process grievances, conduct arbitrations, educate and mobilize members, advance workers’ safety and equity, and represent and advocate for their interests; and

WHEREAS, in keeping with our historical mandate, the membership of the USW is today remarkably diverse in terms of sector, race, gender, age and other characteristics; and

WHEREAS, education requires opportunities for all in our workplaces; and

WHEREAS, education must begin on every member’s first day on the job; and

WHEREAS, we must also continually educate our staff and leadership; and

WHEREAS, our education focuses on the challenges that our members face in the workplace and at the bargaining table; and

WHEREAS, our union values education that helps us identify the biases we’ve been raised with and develop attitudes that allow us to stand in solidarity with our union family and friends; and

WHEREAS, we recognize the important contributions that courses on gender identity, Indigenous culture, rights, and history, mental health; and acting on gender-based violence have made in opening our union up to our full membership and taking on divisive issues plaguing our society; and

WHEREAS, our USW education program prepares members to serve as stewards and local union officers and in new and emerging roles such as women’s advocates, equity advocates, “Be More than a Bystander / Elevating Action” facilitators, and good neighbors and allies with Indigenous peoples; and

WHEREAS, in the face of powerful adversaries, educating our members on the critical issues facing workers and mobilizing them for action has made a crucial difference in building our power; and

WHEREAS, we learned much during the pandemic about providing online education in an accessible format; and

WHEREAS, education occurs in many spaces in our union, including department-specific trainings, district and national conferences and educational programs, Women of Steel, Civil and Human Rights courses, Leadership Scholarship, Rapid Response, and staff development; and

WHEREAS, the Education and Membership Development Department in the U.S. and the Education and Equality Department in Canada develop curriculum, coordinate educational programs with districts, consult with other departments on curriculum, produce a range of communications to educate members, including the Stewards Corner newsletter, and look for new ways to offer educational opportunities to our members; and

WHEREAS, one of the core responsibilities of the Education and Equality Department in Canada is to train and support member-facilitators who are fundamental to the success of the Back to the Locals education program because there is no one better to pass on skills to fellow workers; and

WHEREAS, the Back to the Locals program educates thousands of members in Canada through a member-to-member education program and provides local union leaders with the skills to build strong local unions; and

WHEREAS, one of the core responsibilities of the Education and Membership Development Department is to build rank-and-file leadership through the Leadership Scholarship Program; and

WHEREAS, since 2008, we have developed and provided member education in Spanish, French, and English; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of members have graduated from the Leadership Scholarship Program, with several hundred more developing their skills so that they can become the future leaders of our union; and

WHEREAS, union members from Australia, Finland, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have participated in every level of the Leadership Scholarship Program; and

WHEREAS, in both Canada and the United States, USW education departments create a variety of curricula to meet the needs of members and work in the field to educate members on a regular basis; and

WHEREAS, our members are far more likely to get involved when the union provides education specifically designed to help them win the struggles in which they are engaged.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that:

The USW endorses building bargaining power as a central purpose of all USW education and training activities and commits to allocating the resources needed to continue mobilizing our members to strengthen the union and achieve our bargaining and legislative objectives.
The USW will continue to educate our members in ways that have been effective in the past, but will expand our educational program to meet changing needs, including the use of online training, new media and local union educators.
The USW will ensure that gender and diversity lenses inform all USW education courses and materials so that they reflect the experiences of every member and promote solidarity and respect.
The USW will support activists and leaders in their work of engaging members and winning their loyalty to our union by seeking out and incorporating into our courses new approaches that help members see the relevance and value of our union, techniques for effective listening, and other tools for building the strength and solidarity of local unions.
The USW will provide courses that equip local union activists with the specific communication skills necessary to deal with conflict and harassment between and among members, which, left unchecked, can erode solidarity within our union.
The USW will recognize the traumatic life experiences of many of our members, acknowledge that these can follow them into the classroom, and take this into account as we plan and run courses that focus on gender-based violence, racism, colonialism, workplace accidents or other traumatic topics, including having support people on hand during particularly difficult discussions and activities.
The USW will expand its ability to offer online training in all its formats to meet the broad range of our union’s needs and interests.
The USW will strive to produce the highest quality educational materials we can for participants, including incorporating graphics, video, and music produced by unionized workers.
The USW supports the “Back to the Locals” program in Canada as a means of developing activists and building local leadership capacity, continuing to devote resources to training member-facilitators and upgrading their skills, and aims to develop a comparable program in the United States.
When recruiting members to send to courses and be trained as member-facilitators, the USW will pay attention to the demographics of our union’s membership and ensure our classrooms reflect that diversity.
The USW supports the continued coordination of the USW education and new media networks to advance the union’s goals in ways that relate to the needs and concerns of our members, retirees and their families.
The USW commits to the goal of building activism by integrating legislative action, organizing, civil and human rights, history and economics education throughout the USW education program and conferences.
The USW will also provide educational programs, materials, and the Stewards Corner to promote our mission of internal and external organizing, grow the union and empower the membership.
The USW Education Department will continue its commitment to lead the development and maintenance of the Staff Toolbox and other resources that facilitate the work of the union.
The USW supports the Leadership Scholarship Program and other district-based programs specifically aimed at developing a diverse pool of future leaders and equipping them with the skills they will need at the bargaining table and in administering their labor agreements during the term of those contracts.
The USW will continue to welcome union members from across the world to participate in the Leadership Scholarship Program to build the global labor movement and to be involved in the Workers Uniting Leadership Program, which brings together union activists from across Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland to build the skills necessary for global action.
The USW will make as a primary objective developing new member orientation materials in the interests of educating those just entering our facilities and promoting activism among new members.
The USW commits to building a more inclusive union by offering training in a variety of languages, encouraging minority group and sector participation, and assuring that all educational venues are welcoming to all members and all educational materials are inclusive of all sectors and members.
The USW supports a recognition of the land on which we meet and the people who have lived on those lands at all USW educational programs.
The USW commits to continuing to preserve and make public our history by the establishment of the USW Museum and our continued engagement with the academic organizations that maintain our archives.
The USW affirms the importance of supporting the AFL-CIO’s constituency groups.