Course reading and research materials for curriculum development can be found in journals, union papers, secondary sources and oral history collections. Resources for Feminist Research produced an issue on working women and unions that reviews source materials. B.C. Studies, Labour/Le Travailleur and Feminist Studies provide valuable case studies and theory on women and unionism.

There are many articles, in anthologies such as Women At Work in Ontario or Not for Pin Money, and a number of monographs focus on general studies about or including working women. Examples are The Long Distance Feeling, by Elaine Bernard The Eaton Drive by Eileen Sufrin, Women and Work: Inequality in the Labour Market, by Paul and Erin Phillips, Labour Pains, by Pat Armstrong and de la poele a frire a la ligne de feu: la vie quotidienne des québécois pendant la guerre '39-'45, by Genevieve Auger and Raymonde Lamonthe, among others. I have prepared a bibliography, Women's Labour History in British Columbia: 1929- 1955, which provides an overview of union research materials and primary source materials available in B.C.

My teaching approach includes a strong reliance on audio-visual resources. There are some excellent American films such as Union Maids, With Babies and Banners and Rosie the Rivetter, which look at parallel issues to those in Canadian union organization. Canadian works centre on recent or current issues. Of note are Good Monday Morning and Yes We Can (public sector work), A Wife's Tale (support for the Steelworkers' strike in Sudbury), The Michelin Bill (organizing in Nova Scotia) and TWU Tel and Union Rights Equals Mothers' Rights (strikes involving B.C. women). Women's Voices: the Video documents a community based women's history project and subsequent theatre production. Slide presentations will require original research -- the National Archives in Ottawa has a rich collection of photographs of working women as do many provincial archives.

In preparing curriculum it is important to acknowledge the central role of oral history as a research base. Whenever possible oral records should be used with primary documents. Personal testimony is an invaluable means of providing information on the development of union consciousness and on women's role in specific unions, an area often excluded from the written record.

You might encourage students to interview older or retired women in their own union or community, and to publish the edited article in their union or community newspaper. Assigning students to review their own union's records (minute books for example) to uncover women's activity around a specific issue or role in the union at a particular point in time will develop research skills. This approach can emphasize a critical approach to the historical record: one which asks what was excluded as well as examining what was documented.

Community based educational projects outside of the classroom context can be very successful. This year -- 1986 -- was Vancouver's Centennial. A committee comprised of labour representatives, historians and artists organized a series of events and publications. These included a comprehensive labour calendar, a post card series, an artists' poster series on labour issues, labour history highlights, an insert for labour papers, a guided walking tour and a labour day picnic with historic games and displays. These efforts raised union and community consciousness about the role of working people in building Vancouver.

Women's labour history provides a rich resource about the lives of large numbers of women. It informs us about fundamental areas of conflict women have confronted in attaining equality. It offers unquestionable proof of women's enduring efforts to improve the lot of all working people and to raise the position of their own gender.

Sara Diamond lives in Vancouver, B.C. She teaches labour history and women's labour history in the labour Studies Program at Capilano College. She has prepared a bibliography on research sources for working women's history in B.C. and is currently completing an oral history book about the province's trade union women. As well as her work as a labour historian, she produces video documentary and art and writes cultural criticism for a variety of Canadian and American arts publications.

SOURCES

1. UNION MAIDS, WITH BABIES AND BANNERS, ROSSIE THE RIVETTER. THE MICHELIN BILL, A WIFE'S TALE, TWU TEL, UNION RIGHTS-MOTHERS' RIGHTS are available through Development Education Committee (D.E.C) 299 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1R4 (416)579-0524. Films also are available through IDERA, 2524 Cypress St., Vancouver, B.C. (604)7388815. GOOD MONDAY MORNING is available through the Canadian labour Congress (CLC) in Ottawa or through your provincial government employees' union. YES WE CAN is available through the CLC or through your regional office of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.