AUPE members at Labour School urged to participate in history project
KANANASKIS COUNTRY – The stories of AUPE and its members must be told, Athabasca University Labour Studies Professor Winston Gereluk told more than 200 participants in the union’s fifth annual Labour Education School last night.
“We can’t just tell stories of struggle,” said Gereluk during his dinner-hour presentation. “We have to tell stories of the real difference AUPE has made in peoples’ lives. That’s the real bedrock of this union.”
Gereluk, a former AUPE employee and a director of the Alberta Labour History Institute, told labour school participants of plans to collect historical information about AUPE during the union’s 30th anniversary this year.
“We want you to be part of this project,” he said. “We need information about your local, the workers it represents, some of their stories pictures and resource materials.”
Gereluk is also co-instructing a course at the Labour School.
Attended by more than 200 AUPE activists, stewards and staff members from throughout Alberta, the labour school commenced Sunday evening at the Delta Lodge at Kananaskis with dinner and opening remarks by AUPE President Dan MacLennan.
The program will run until noon on Thursday, March 2.
The goal of the program, which AUPE developed in 2002, is to train a large number of members in the skills they need to make AUPE an effective representative for their co-workers at worksites across Alberta.
There are seven classes in this year’s school: one each of Union Counseling Training; Education Techniques and Processes for Union Activists; Advanced Unions Stewards Course; Lobbying Government and Changing Legislation, and Essential Skills Assessment Training. In addition, there will be two Union Leadership classes.
Photo: Winston Gereluk, a former AUPE employee and a director of the Alberta Labour History Institute, informs labour school participants of plans to collect historical information about AUPE during the union’s 30th anniversary this year.