Claude Bordeleau photo Organizing school participants included, from left, Dave Bosveld (organizing director), Jean Broughton, Terri Monture (Canadian Media Guild), Sean Henry, Christian Laforce, CWA Canada Director Arnold Amber, Lucius Dechausay, Stacey Carter, Maureen Brosnahan, Chris Meadows, Laura Fraser, Chris Beesley and Don Flatt.
02 May 2011
School infects students with organizing bug
CWA Canada is being accused of causing an infection, but it's one the union hopes will spread to workplaces far and wide. That, after all, was the whole point of the Organizing School held over three days in Toronto.
"As facilitators, you have done a superb job over the weekend," Claude Bordeleau, a member of the Court Interpreters Association of Ontario (CIAO), wrote in a note following Sunday's wrap-up session. "Your enthusiasm and dedication was such that I doubt there is any vaccine that can inoculate against such an 'infection'."
The school brought together 11 people, 10 of them CWA Canada members from as far away as Halifax and Fredericton, for a comprehensive program that "went really deep," says Dave Bosveld, the union's new organizing director, who led sessions alongside Terri Monture of the Canadian Media Guild, its largest Local.
What is now engrained in the participants is the understanding that the key to organizing is empowerment, says Bosveld. Equally important in the weekend seminars was to make it clear that CWA Canada is not a typical union. It has "very strong values, which it wants to share but not impose," he says.
The message wasn't lost on Bordeleau, who travelled from Kingston to take part in the school. The CIAO, whose freelancer members are fighting for increased rates and boycotting assignments in Eastern Ontario courtrooms to back their demands, is exploring whether to have CWA Canada advocate on their behalf.
He thanked the union for "allowing the interpreters, through my attendance, to participate in this Organizing course. ... It gave us much more than a layout to follow in recruiting potential members, it allowed us to gain insight into the true meaning of a 'union'.
"For me personally, it represents more than a structured body acting on the workers' behalf. It is all about the workers finding the courage and determination to empower themselves and have a true voice in what happens in their workplace."
Bosveld says he was pumped by the time the school wound up. "We had some gems in that class. I was inspired by the participants and impressed by how involved, motivated and smart they were."
Unions need to build their memberships and there's a "lot of pressure to organize, but most people have no idea how to get started," he says.
This school dealt with many aspects of organizing, ranging from legal ramifications to conducting a one-on-one conversation with a disgruntled worker.
As a result, says Bosveld, the folks who took part in the school are now "really well prepared to go and work on a campaign."
For more information, contact Dave Bosveld by email or telephone 416-948-0539.
