What do unions have to do with literacy? While the connection may not be readily apparent for some, the truth is that unions have a long history of creating learning opportunities for workers and their families.

Union involvement in literacy carries on this tradition. Literacy is a way for unions to not only reach out to members wanting to improve their skills, but to look at how we can make our activities and communications more accessible and inclusive.

A Worker-Centred Approach
Unions believe that workplace literacy programs should be about more than the narrow kind of training required for a worker’s current job. A union approach is worker-centred, striving to address the needs of the worker as a whole person who has many roles in life within and beyond the workplace. A worker-centred approach means developing the kind of programs that empower workers to have more control over all aspects of their lives. While developing their literacy skills, workers also have the chance to learn about how to participate more effectively in their communities as active and informed citizens.

Enlightened employers realize that having the union take the lead on workplace literacy makes sense. Generally, workers feel more comfortable talking to their peers, knowing that the union is there to represent their interests and that confidentiality around a sensitive issue will be ensured.

Learning Empowers Workers
Workers who participate in worker-centred literacy programs often develop increased confidence and skills. They usually communicate better with co-workers, supervisors, the public and customers. They understand written instructions better, deal with new material more easily and work more independently. They are more likely to participate in further training and education. They may feel more valued as employees and make a more significant contribution to their organization.

At the same time, they will probably feel more confident about helping their children with their homework. They will have a better sense of their rights as workers and citizens. They may become more involved in their union and in other aspects of their community. The workplace, the union and the worker all have much to gain.

The Role of the Union
Unions are part of the workplace, and sit across the table from management on a wide range of issues. Many unions have had the vision to bring workplace literacy to the bargaining table, and are doing so in various ways. They are bargaining for quality workplace education programs, for resources, for paid time for learning and for at least an equal role in the decision-making about how programs are run. They are working to ensure that training is offered to workers equitably at every level of the workplace, not just to those who already have an education.

Increasingly, unions are seeing the potential of their involvement in literacy. Through the Literacy Working Group of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), representatives from various unions network, share information and learn from each other, and many affiliates have their own literacy initiatives underway. The CLC launched its Workplace Literacy Project in 1996, with an emphasis on co-ordination, communications, technical support and the development of resources. It publishes the CLC bilingual newsletter Learning Together: Solidarity at Work and has produced several resources through the Learning in Solidarity series. The National Literacy Secretariat has been a key partner in these efforts.

Learning for the Future
There is still a long way to go. Within the labour movement, we need to continue to hone our vision of literacy and support how the vision is realized in practice. Unions need to move literacy up on their bargaining agendas, knowing that the gains we are able to make often spill over into other areas of the community. We need to work with literacy and other social justice organizations to push for public policy that, for example, minimally ensures all adults of any age the right to complete their high school education at no cost anywhere in Canada. Literacy is one of the key building blocks of a Canadian society of engaged and active citizens. We all have a responsibility to participate in creating that foundation. We all have so much to learn.