Labour History: Introduction to Worker's History - Online May 6 to 21

Registration opens on January 2, 2024.  To register, login to the online registration system at https://aupe.geniussis.com/memberlogin.aspx. Members must enroll themselves and ensure all prerequisites are met. 

Your Member Number ID is required to register. If you do not have your member number, please contact the Member Resource Centre at 1-800-232-7284. 

For more details regarding courses AUPE has to offer, please refer to the website at https://www.aupe.org/training/courses 

Two-week course; complete at your own pace.

Have you ever wondered why and how workers formed the first trade unions? This introductory course will help you see yourself in the past, to better understand yourself in the present. You will learn how history and activism are integrated, and gain access to the information, traditions, and knowledge that inform our union’s present struggles.

Note: The course will not provide a complete picture of the ‘jigsaw puzzle of the past,’ but rather gives some tools and understanding to continue exploring on your own.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Your Union

This course is for: Anyone who wants to understand the past through a working-class lens and gain some insights into present-day struggles for democracy.
 
This course utilizes:

• A short homework reflection activity that helps you see your own stories as part of history, and to construct a timeline in class.
• Members learn to access historical information through videos, academic articles, primary documents, comics, and photos.
• Students will participate in group activities and give short presentations to teach each other about the topics they are assigned.
• AUPE's award-winning animated labour history video series.

Learning outcomes:

• Identify what qualifies as history and how workers make it collectively.
• Sympathize with the workers who formed the first trade unions.
• Describe the transition from independent commodity production and craft unionism to mass production and industrial unions.
• Discuss aspects of the history of women, indigenous, racialized and LGBTQ workers.
• Discover the role AUPE members can play in preserving and sharing labour history in Alberta.