FOCUS □ TRADEUNIONEDUCATION Workers education: diversity and convergence In around how recent to the support years, world many the have development trade been union ina dilemma of educators training of aroundtheworldhavebeen ina dilemma of how to support thedevelopment of training programmes for tougher,smarter,centrallyplannedandmorestrategically focusedorganisation ,yetmaintain itstraditions ofcollective and participatory education forrank-and-file activists. Somehaveworried that there wouldbe attempts to marginalise orundermine tradeunioneducationin favour of a narrow, skills-based training agenda. Trade union priorities have necessarily changed, affecting policyand priorities foreducation .IURreaders willnotneed reminding that theworldwide attacks on tradeunionrights and theassociateddeclinein tradeunionmembershipand poweroverthelasttwenty yearshas forced a rethink ofstrategy and approach.Very fewunionscannowrelyon theautomatic deliveryoftrade unionmembership through collective agreements in major workplaces.Employers, supported bystatelegislation, havebeen on the offensive, and the workplaceitselfhas been splintered, out-sourced andmechanised: the'hollow corporation', as William Street explainedin thelastissue(IUR18.3,pp3-4). As SharonGraham from Unitedescribed using theexampleof themeatindustry, unionshave had to rethink their organising strategies, recognising thatsocialand economicjusticedepends on démocratisation of decision-makingand powerto theworkplace(IUR 18.3,pp6-7).Yet strategic organising also requiresconcentrated and centralised(albeit democratically determined )decisions on priorities and resources In common withsubstantial numbers ofunions around theworld, Unite's original 'strategic organising agenda'was strongly influenced bythetechniquesandmethods developedintheUSA.Some unions suchas theService Employees International Union(SEIU) developeda blueprint fortrade unionrenewal: concentrated heavyinvestment in organising, corporate research, strategic targeting of employers, time-limited campaigns, building sector-wide power- basedon well-trained teams oforganisers andactivists. The SEIU training agenda sat uncomfortably withthe traditions of democratic participatory workers' education. On theone hand,sincethe 1970s, unionsthroughout theworldhadadopted education methods rootedin'learning from your own experience' student-centred learning,a 'negotiated curriculum' - influenced bytheideas ofPauloFreire, theSwedish study circle tradition, theold TUC 'RedBook' etc- focusedon educationas thedriver ofgrass-roots democratic union processes, culture andrenewal. On theotherhand,strategic organising totally depended on organisersand activistsbeing trained in specific skillsand approachesforpredetermined priority targets, usingverydifferent training techniques, methods and language. Perhaps there has always been a tension betweenthedemocratic, self-directed andparticipatorytraditions of the workers'education movement, andtheneedfortradeunionstoprovide trainingto achieve centrally-determined strategic objectives, butinthelasttenyearsthere havebeen fearsthatthistension wouldbecome institutionalisedbetween union organising departments and education departments. Strategicorganisingmeets criticalpedagogy? Therearesignshoweverthattheorganising and workers' educationagendas are converging. As unionsadopta strategic organising approachat thecoreoftheir work, thetechniques, approaches andlanguagearebeingadaptedandreshaped to meetlocal or sectoralcircumstances and the need for the democraticinvolvement of the activists attheworkplace. A keydriving force is recognition that the'classic ' strategic organising approach only works when resources are time-limited, prioritised and concentrated in certain places,sectors or companies .AsMichael Crosby, SEIURegional Organizing Director explained: "When ourorganising resources areso limited ,we havetobe honest withworkers and letthem knowthat we havea limited time and thenwe mustmoveon to therestof theirindustry. That will mean thatwhen potential members ring witha problem, we might havetosaythat nowe can'thelpthem organise justyet.Thatwe haveto concentrate ourresources in quiteanother partof theindustry. We willgettothem later".1 In themeantime, inwhatcouldbe a verylong wait,activists and shopstewards need education opportunities to develop theirown organising strategy - withoutthe benefitof substantial resourcesor teams of professional organisers. This requireslearningand adaptingfromthe organising techniques,integrated in a broader education framework. Unite, for example, isdeveloping neworganising coursesforshop stewards in specific sectorsto support thedevelopment ofnational and internationalindustrial combinesthatintegrate some of thestrategic organising methods withtradeunion traditions ofcritical pedagogy. Inother wordspracticalskillsin developing unionpowercombined withan understanding ofsomeoftherootcauses andcontext ofthekeyissuesfacing workers. Inthe global south education programmeshave been replaced by organisertraining - sometimes at the request of OECD country unions seeking to gain 'leverage' overtransnational employers DAVE SPOONER isCo-Director of the Global Labour Institute (UK) in Manchester www.global-labour.net Page 3Volume 19Issue 1201 2 INTERNATIONAL union rights There is a growingdemand forworkers' education to debate and question what are,and what should be,the politicsofthe international trade unionmovement For further discussion and information, see: Global Labour Institute (Geneva) www.giobai-iabour.org International Federation of Workers' Education Associations (IFWEA) www.ifwea.org New Unionism Network www.newunionism.net In additionto the skillsneeded to map the workplace,develop workplaceleaders,identify thecampaignissues,buildmembership communication , and so on,thisrequires an understandingofthebroaderindustrial , economicand corporatecontext - 'getting insidethehead ofthe Corporation' as JennieFormby, UniteNational Officer describes it: "It'sabsolutely essential for ourstewards and activists tobe fully engagedinallaspectsof organising rather thansomething done by separate Organising Units. To do thismeaningfully theyhaveto understand whycompaniesdo whatthey do andhowglobalcapitaloperates . Ifwe maintain an insular, reactiveapproachwe willconsistently lose.We...