Union
Learning:
Canadian
Labour
Education
in
the
Twentieth
Century
Jeffery Taylor, Athabasca University
280 pages (2001)
Paper, ISBN 1-55077-117-5, $29.95 (US$23.95)
-
See also: Unions and Learning in a Global Economy (by Bruce Spencer)
Over
100,000
Canadian
workers
participate
annually
in
educational
programs
conducted
by
their
union
or
the
broader
labour
organizations
to
which
their
union
belongs.
Union-based
education
is
the
most
significant
nonvocational
education
available
to
working
people.
This
activity
has
been
going
on
for
decades,
and
Jeffery
Taylor's
Union
Learning:
Canadian
Labour
Education
in
the
Twentieth
Century
is
the
first
comprehensive
history
of
it.
Union
Learning
chronicles
the
rise
and
decline
of
the
Workers'
Educational
Association,
the
development
of
internal
union
educational
programs,
the
consolidation
of
the
Canadian
Labour
Congress's
educational
system
after
1956,
the
origin
and
growth
of
the
Labour
College
of
Canada,
and
the
patchy
history
of
university
and
college
involvement
in
labour
education.
Taylor
argues
that
a
new
emphasis
on
broad-based
and
activist
education
today
promises
to
rekindle
the
sense
of
an
educational
movement
that
was
present
in
the
labour
movement
in
the
1930s
and
1940s.
The
book
includes
a
number
of
illustrative
sidebars
and
photographs.
He
has
developed
a
website
containing
images,
video
and
other
materials
related
to
the
history
of
labour
education
in
Canada:
http://unionlearning.athabascau.ca.
Jeffery
Taylor
teaches
labour
studies
at
Athabasca
University.
Table
of
Contents
Acknowledgements
List
of
Abbreviations
1.
Introduction.
Basic
Concepts.
Historical
Background
to
1918.
2.
Building
a
Movement:
1918-1946.
The
WEA
and
Other
Activity
in
the
1920s
and
1930s.
WEA-Centred
Labour
Education:
1939-1946.
Union-Centred
and
University-Centred
Labour
Education:
1939-1946.
Conclusion.
3.
From
a
Movement
to
a
System:
1947-1955.
The
Marginalization
of
the
WEA.
The
Development
of
Unions’
Internal
Educational
Capacity.
External
Organizations.
Labour
Education
in
Canada
Report.
Conclusion.
4.
Consolidating
the
System:
1956-1972.
CLC
Structures.
Internal
Union
Structures.What
Was
Taught
and
How.
The
Promise
and
Problems
of
University-Labour
Cooperation.
The
Labour
College
of
Canada.
Conclusion.
5.
New
Issues
and
Old
Structures:
1973-1985.
Union
Education.
Paid
Educational
Leave.
The
Labour
Education
and
Studies
Centre.
The
Labour
College
of
Canada.
Community
Colleges,
Universities
and
the
Labour
Movement.
Conclusion.
6.
Rebuilding
a
Movement:
1986-2000.
Union
Education.
Workplace
Training.
Colleges
and
Universities.
Conclusion.
7.
Conclusion.
International
Context.
Looking
Forward.
Index
Place
an
order.