Women’s Summer School – course descriptions
Candidate development for women
This is a next step for women leaders, who are considering running in a municipal, provincial or federal campaign. It is designed to address the day to day challenges in the face of high stress campaigns. Participants will take away new ways of campaigning, strategic planning, and framing our message. By building on communication and presentation skills, participants will leave with the tools to best communicate their message in oncamera interviews, face-to-face debates, and with new media.
Collective bargaining Level 1
Union Sisters will leave with a solid understanding of the bargaining process and the factors that affect collective bargaining. This course also introduces some of the laws and rules that structure the bargaining process and provides opportunities for hands on practice and skills development in preparing for and negotiating parts of a collective agreement. Level 1 is aimed at new bargaining committee members and local union officers. You may want to bring a calculator for this course.
Union women on Turtle Island
This course is for all trade union women who want to understand the issues Aboriginal women face in diverse working environments. Participants will explore the reasons for the invisibility of Aboriginal women in union structures and begin to develop strategies to encourage sisterhood.
Using modern tools to talk with your members
Beginning with an internal union communications audit, this course will teach participants how to use a variety of communication tools in order to reach union members with the union’s message and culminate with a custom internal communications plan. The course will take a look at websites, newsletter/bulletin design and writing skills, crafting effective emails, starting and managing email lists, and basic poster design. Participants will also learn the basics of taking great photos and producing short, engaging videos to better communicate with their union members.
Taking unions to the next generation
Is your local struggling with member apathy, on how to reach the different generations in your union and workplace? Do you want to build your skills to represent and defend the union message? This course deals with the important issue of recruiting and mobilizing local union activists. It will increase your awareness of the needs and realities of members of different generations in the union and workplace. It will build your level of comfort and provide you with the skills for engaging in meaningful cross-generationa dialogue. We invite you to explore how the union might respond to the values of young and new workers, and share perspectives on how union culture can continue to adapt to meet the needs of each generation.
Sisters in the struggle Part 2
This women’s leadership course is for ETFO women who have completed Sisters in the struggle Part 1. ETFO is very excited to offer PART 2 this summer! We will focus on visioning for the future, the connection between leadership, equity, and allyship, skills assessments, building the feminist movement, and transformation. This course is taught from a feminist, antioppression framework. Please contact Kelly Hayes khayes@etfo.org for further information. The application process takes place through ETFO.
UNIFOR women in leadership (for UNIFOR Members)
This course is open to all Unifor members who have completed the one week Women’s Activist Course. This course provides participants with practical hands-on tools for effective campaign-building, bargaining an equity agenda, creatively responding to sexism and gender discrimination and much more. Our union needs more women leaders – this course is designed to further equip and inspire women in Unifor to increase their activism and involvement in the union and the broader women’s movement to create social change. Please contact Lisa Kelly at lisa. kelly@unifor.org for further information. The application process takes place through UNIFOR.