In 1998, the Communications, Energy and Paper workers Union of Canada (CEP) and the Pulp, Paper and Wood workers of Canada (PPWC) launched the Learning and Education Assisted by Peers (LEAP) program at four sites in British Columbia. LEAP is a project of the Joint Union Management Program (JUMP), a program funded by the B.C. Forest Renewal Program. Forest Renewal receives its funding from a tax levy on stumpage fees paid by employers.
Employers initially believed that LEAP would not work because Grade 12 is the requirement for hiring in the forest industry. The training is largely done on the worker's own time. Workers can pursue other goals at the community college level after going through the program.
Robert Wedel -an Adult Basic Education Instructor from Capilano College and member of the College Institute Educators' Association (CIEA) who works with the LEAP program - has this to say:
After much planning, we began recruiting and selecting peer tutors (workers from the industry who are trained to be instructors), conducting information sessions throughout the site, and waiting with tremendous anxiety to see if participants would sign up for the program. We quickly found we were over subscribed at every site.
Peer tutors and the JUMP provincial coordinators were trained by Capilano College, a community college in Vancouver. Each group of six to eight students has two peer tutors. The tutors get on going training and support from community college instructors.
Groups began to meet for two hours twice a week at Can for: Taylor Division, Caribou Pulp And Paper Co. (Quesnel), Macmillan Bathurst Industries (New Westminster), and Skeena Cellulose Inc. (Prince Rupert).
LEAP gathered surveys of work place basic skills programs which show positive results:
| For participants | For the union | For employers |
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SOLIDARITY |
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