2014.04.26
Bursary-winning essays see unions as key to young workers’ security
Both winners of this year’s John Belcarz-Dan Zeidler Memorial Scholarships convincingly argue in their essays that young people need to be aware that unions are vital to their hopes for a financially secure future.
Annika Carroll, daughter of Joanne Schnurr, a member of the Ottawa Newspaper Guild who works at CTV Ottawa, and Nick Brown, the son of Marie Wadden, a Canadian Media Guild member who works at the CBC in Newfoundland, have each been awarded a $1,000 bursary. They chose the same topic: Why I believe the Canadian labour movement is important in this day and age.
The winners were announced at CWA Canada’s annual National Representative Council meeting, held in Vancouver April 25-27.
Annika begins her essay with the observation that “Unions are increasingly under attack in Canada, both on the government side and the private sector side. ... It is a tough time for ... young people trying to find good, full-time employment.”
The Grade 12 student is torn between studying sociology at Carleton University or marketing/advertising at Algonquin College. Why?
“The continued assault on unions may drive my employment decisions down a narrower path if I am to consider benefits, pensions and full-time unionized employment for a better quality of life in the distant future for both me and my family as opposed to perhaps following the path of where my passions lie,” she writes.
“We can’t move forward as a society unless we give people of all income levels a chance to reap the rewards of hard work.”
Nick, in his second year at Memorial University where he’s studying science and psychology, writes that “Many people my age don’t see the difference between a unionized and non-unionized workplace. ... When you are young you don’t worry about the future.”
He suggests that the title of his essay should be changed to “Why I believe more information about the Canadian labour movement is important in this day and age.”
“With all the video games, reality shows and other social media we’ve grown up with, it’s easy to live with the impression that we, individuals, are masters of our destiny. There’s not much attention paid to the importance of collective efforts.”
Nick writes that he has two part-time jobs; one in retail, the other at a climbing gym. “Neither workplace is unionized. The permanent employees, who are in their mid-thirties and up, are starting to worry about their futures, and how they will pay for them without the benefits that a union negotiates,” he observes. “The rest of us, because we are younger and at university, think the jobs are cool. The subject of unions never comes up.”
For more information about the Belcarz-Zeidler bursaries and others, visit the Awards/Scholarships page in the CWA Canada website.