The City of Winnipeg and CUPE Local 500 Success Story

KATHY TODD AND RHONDA TONE

The City of Winnipeg and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500’s (CUPE L500) Essential Skills program has exceeded everyone’s expectations. The highly successful Essential Skills program is open to all City of Winnipeg employees who are members of CUPE L500. Our program just completed its second year of operation and had over 150 participants, double the number that participated in the first year. This program had the honour of being the recipient of two CAMA (Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators) awards, specifically for “Development of Effective and Successful Partnerships” (2002) and for “Creative Design of Workplace Education Programs” (2003).

The courses being offered in the 2003–2004 program are:

• GED Preparation — twice a week for 22 weeks

• Introduction to the GED — twice a week for 22 weeks

• Math Skills — once a week for 26 weeks

• Reading and Writing Skills — once a week for 26 weeks

• English as a Second Language — once a week for 26 weeks

• Introduction to Computers (3 levels) — once a week for 10 weeks

• Study and Test Writing Skills — once a week for 4 weeks

• Academic Essay Writing — once a week for 4 weeks

• Introduction to Accounting — once a week for 10 weeks

• Basic Skills for Public Works Spare Foremen — once a week for 8 weeks

• Oral Communication Skills — once a week for 6 weeks

• Interview Skills — once a week for 6 weeks

This success story was born on May 12, 2000 when the City of Winnipeg and CUPE L500 negotiated a $3 million Education Training and Staff Development Fund in their Collective Agreement. This resulted in a Letter of Understanding that created a joint management/union committee to administer the fund. This Joint Union/Management Committee on Education, Training and Staff Development, known as the Joint Committee, consists of six Management members and six CUPE members. The Joint Committee reports to a Senior Steering Committee made up of the Mayor of the City of Winnipeg, Glen Murray, the City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Gail Stephens and Paul Moist, the President of CUPE L500.

The Essential Skills program is coordinated by the Essential Skills Sub-Committee, which reports to the Joint Committee through its Chairperson and has a budget of $150,000 for three years. The Essential Skills Subcommittee is made up of City employees who are members of CUPE L500 and is a working committee. It is responsible for all aspects of running the program from recruitment of participants, hiring educators, determining programs, purchasing books and supplies, and monitoring the program to planning the yearly Celebration of Learning event.