Fight For the Living - a case study

What happened

The instructor introduced the materials in late March. Since the Day of Mourning takes place on April 28, the timing was appropriate. The instructor handed out the set of materials and the participants carried out some of the activities. The discussions were lively and the group took various actions as a result. These actions were not planned in advance by the instructor but one action just seemed to lead naturally to another, as the group engaged in a variety of interactions with others in their workplace and community. The instructor facilitated this process by responding positively to the group's impulses toward action and by providing practical and technical support as necessary.

The sequence of activities emerged, as follows:

1. When the group investigated and found out that there were no local activities planned for April 28, they decided to take the initiative and write a letter to the company requesting that they lower the flag to commemorate the Day of Mourning.
2. The company responded positively to the request and they, in turn, asked that the group make posters to let their fellow workers know about the Day of Mourning and the lowering of the flag. The group created posters which were displayed on bulletin boards and walls throughout the workplace.
3. The group invited the local union health and safety rep to attend a class to discuss health and safety. During this discussion, participants learned about the joint health and safety committee and how it worked. With the rep, participants engaged in a discussion about the workplace and identified health and safety issues in the departments where they currently worked.
4. As a follow-up to the discussion with the rep, the group wrote letters outlining the problems they had identified and sent these letters to the rep so that he could present them at the next meeting of the joint health and safety committee. As a result of this meeting, a company memo was distributed describing action to be taken on one of the issues identified by the group.
5. Next, the group wrote an article about the Day of Mourning and the lowering of the flag for the union newsletter.
6. The group also wrote a letter to the local newspaper to inform members of the wider community about the Day of Mourning and the activities taking place at the plant. As a follow-up to this letter, a reporter from the newspaper published an article on April 26 about the activities that would be taking place at the plant on April 28 to commemorate the Day of Mourning.