Educating our members: union educators give their perspectives
■ Twenty five per cent of our annual budget is allocated to workers’ education, though due to financial constraints, sometimes these funds are used to meet other pressing expenses.
Last year we organised seminars for drivers and invited expert speakers on the subject of globalisation. We have been distributing learning materials on this subject with the help of the International Labour Organisation and our national centre, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania.
We and our sister unions have the tradition of inviting each other to participate in our workshops, seminars, campaigns and in the preparation of materials. We are able to exchange views and experiences in solving problems and tackling challenges.
However our dissemination of information seems to be slow, due to limited funds in the union.
Juliana Mpanduji, union educator, Communication and Transport Workers’ Union of Tanzania
■ The challenge of globalisation and the work of Global Union Federations like the ITF is having an increasing impact on our education programmes. We are running sector courses such as “Globalisation in Logistics”, and we also recently had our first ever national officers’ seminar on international work. The ITF and IUF, ICFTU and ETUC will be involved. The T&G has now instituted a course, Winning in the Global Workplace, as part of its regular course programme, funded by the union.
John Fisher, education director, Transport and General Workers’ Union, Great Britain
■ Education activities help our members get information about the European Union’s transport policy as well as the political positions put forward by the ETF (ITF’s European region). It is almost impossible to achieve full understanding of all aspects of globalisation issues among our members. Concerning aspects of European policy, the situation now is slightly better. We do it ourselves, with the support of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and jointly with our national centre LIGA, as well as with the ETF.
György Balla, vice president, Hungarian Railway Workers’ Union
■ It’s a cliché, but important to note the contradiction between the ever shrinking funding opportunities in northern countries and the ever growing demand for education in underdeveloped countries. One of the micro-challenges is trade union education as a stimulus for organisational development, especially for unions that have merged. Education has been the sole midwife for organisational renewal in an ever-changing context. The question is: how far can it go towards fulfilling this tacit mandate?
Mojalefa Musi, national education coordinator, Satawu
■ By offering high quality education activities for works councillors and shop stewards, we have been able to engage these opinion leaders closely in trade union activities. This means high-level, well qualified support in pursuing the objectives of trade union policy.
Our education work has improved members’ understanding of key issues, but for many people it is difficult to look very far ahead due to their local problems.
Günter Slezak, head of education, Austrian Railway Workers’ Union (GdEÖ)
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