Labour School

As a Union Steward, you will be a champion for your worksite, a grievance handler, and help your fellow workers resolve worksite issues through alternative avenues. AUPE Union Stewards are the eyes and ears of the worksite and will act as an information liaison between the union and the worksite. This course will equip learners with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively represent their fellow workers in the workplace.

In this course, we will cover: Roles and Responsibilities of a Steward, Interviewing Techniques, Collective Action, Investigations, Disciplinary and Non-Disciplinary Grievances, Legislation, the Grievance Handling Process from start to finish, including Grievance Writing and Presentation. 

Prerequisite: Contract Interpretation and must be a Nominated Steward

This course is for members who want to:

• Those who want to learn about labour relations, collective action, and actively represent fellow workers. This means going to investigations, filing grievances, collective action, and working with AUPE staff and members to resolve issues.

This course utilizes:

• Online Pre-reading modules
• Lectures
• Discussion
• Video
• Individual, paired, and group activities.
• Case Studies
• 2-days in-office mentoring

Learning outcomes:

• Identify Occupational Health and Safety issues on the worksite and understand your rights under OHS legislation.
• Demonstrate grievance-handling steps by interpreting collective agreements.
• Select and complete relevant grievance handling documents to support the grievance.
• Demonstrate interviewing techniques through roleplaying.
• Apply facts from case studies to identify breach of rights within collective agreements, Alberta legislation, including Duty to Accommodate.
•  Suggest alternate forums to resolve issues that are not a grievance.
• Apply all the Grievance Handling Steps as per AUPE policies.
• Explain the Union Steward’s role in the Duty of Fair Representation.

In 2017, Bill 30 caught up Alberta’s OHS system with other provinces. But in 2020, Bill 47 ran important parts of the OHS rules through the paper shredder. Now, we’re dealing with the tatters that leave our workplaces less safe, and that roll back compensation for injured workers. Are we up to today’s health and safety challenges? To reduce the disturbing rates of injury and occupational disease, you’ll need to promote your rights, make the most of your joint committee, bargain for safety…and even organize co-workers to take direct action.

Prerequisite: OHS for Union Activists

This course is for members who want to:

• Foster a culture of safety in the workplace.
• Deepen knowledge of OHS legislation and tools to resolve issues.
• Hone skills to participate effectively on joint health and safety committees.
• Organize co-workers to take workplace actions for safety.

This course uses:

• A homework assignment before coming to Labour School
• Stories from working-class history
• Body mapping
• Videos, including case studies from AUPE's award-winning Careful, Safe, Intact series
• Readings and lectures
• Short presentations
• Public speaking and scenario role plays
• Group discussions

Learning outcomes:

• Hold your employer accountable under Alberta's OHS legislation and constructively resolve common health and safety issues.
• Participate actively as a worker representative or co-chair for a joint worksite health and safety committee (JWHSC).
• Describe the limits of the internal responsibility system and why you’ll need to file grievances, bargain for safety, and organize for safety.
• Gather information and mobilize your co-workers to take action.

Continuing Education for Stewards builds on the skills of grievance handlers and overall activists. This course provides practice of these skills through examination of case studies and discussion on direct action alternatives. Note: This is not an introductory course. 

Prerequisite: Must be a Union Steward

This course is for active union stewards who:

• Have experience in handling grievances
• Want to build their reading, writing and research skills
• Want to practice presentation skills for grievance hearings and direct-action methods
• Want to learn about Human Rights legislation and how to be able to identify and assist members who face discrimination at their workplace

This course utilizes:

• Lecture
• Case studies
• Group work
• Individual assignments
• Grievance presentations

Learning outcomes:

• Apply grievance handling steps
• Demonstrate proficiency in completion of required grievance handling documents
• Describe process for duty to accommodate
• Recognize how different jurisdictions are applied to scenarios
• Model appropriate behaviour in grievance hearings

Leadership in today’s rapidly changing world requires a dynamic set of both skills and personal attributes.  Challenges to effective leadership include a capacity for communication skills, respect, ethics, empathy, mentoring and relationship building. This interactive course will focus on both skill development in these areas and practical application of demonstrating “leadership.”

Prerequisite: Basic Conflict Management

This course is for:

Members interested in reflecting on their leadership style and enhancing their skills. It is also for those willing to maybe step out of their comfort zone in order to learn more about themselves and what they can offer to leadership within AUPE.

This course utilizes:

• Group work
• Personal assessments
• Case scenarios
• Videos and guest speakers

Leaders take a stand and have a voice. Learners will have an opportunity for an individual five-minute leadership presentation using the communication and presentation skills developed in this course.

Learning outcomes:

• Demonstrate self-reflection as it relates to leadership style
• Recognize effective communication skills
• Model and incorporate ethical practice
• Correlate importance of relationship building
• Assess motivations for leadership
• Apply presentation skills developed through course

Unions are under attack because they are one of the only institutions powerful enough to stand up to runaway corporate greed and cuts to public services. Fighting back won’t be easy – Alberta has the lowest unionization rate in the country and the media amps up common misconceptions about organized labour. Workers are also divided by barriers to solidarity.

Prerequisite: Direct Action, Workplace Power or Rethinking Politics (formerly Introduction to Politics) 

This course is for:

• Members who want to gain confidence, tools and practice having conversations that challenge negative stereotypes about labour.

This course utilizes:

• A homework assignment
• Group work, including story circles
• Current data and research
• Discussions with the Union’s Executive
• Public speaking
• A strong focus on inclusion, celebrating diversity, and overcoming barriers to solidarity

Learning outcomes:

• Promote the benefits of unions, strong public services, and the value of your work.
• Define union terms in order to “talk union.”
• Explain why business and government often blame workers and attack their unions.
• Start conversations to refine issues and learn from others.
• Identify paths and resources to continue learning and mobilizing.

Facilitators will guide and coach you on using a critical perspective, the learners research and choose a content source (video, reading) or other resource material, and write a discussion guide. They deliver the lunch’n’learns to each other, thereby practicing communication and facilitation skills. We ask the audience to critique and offer suggestions to improve the session.

Prerequisite: Contract Interpretation and must be a Component Officer

This course is for members who want to:

• Build engagement and deliver information to your fellow members on your worksite.
• Organize learners to come together on topics and issues that they find relevant and important.
• Foster organizational engagement on possible topics not currently explored or championed by AUPE.

This course utilizes:

• Group work
• Lectures
• Print and web publications
• Online sources
• Other research materials

Learning outcomes: By the end of the course, you will create lunch'n'learn discussion guides based on topics you generate and group research.