Presented by Ken Georgetti on Monday, 17 May 2010

(Check Against Delivery)

Sisters and brothers – it is truly a great pleasure today to celebrate the graduation of the first class of our new Labour College of Canada!

On behalf of the Canadian Labour Congress and its 3.2 million members, congratulations to each and every one of this year’s graduates!

Well done, sisters and brothers, well done!

This is an historic day for all of us – for those graduating it is an accomplishment you can be proud of the rest of your life.

You have made a strong commitment to furthering your education in order to help your fellow workers – and that underlines the whole reason we have unions – to help each other have a better life.

The skills you have learned will help you make your workplace, your community, your country and perhaps even the world, a better place.  So we salute you – for your dedication.

This is also an historic day for the CLC and its affiliates.

This is the first class to graduate from the new Labour College of Canada after extensive consultations with our affiliates to improve the program and curriculum.

The CLC was determined to make the Labour College reflective of what our affiliates need for their members who attend.

The Labour College of Canada has played a pivotal role since it was founded in 1962 – now it has been revitalized to meet a new set of challenges facing workers and their unions today.

I am very pleased to have been able to successfully get this exhaustive review underway and completed.

The only downside is that because of the amount of work involved with this project, the CLC staff now privately refers to the Labour College as “Ken’s School of Hard Knocks!”

Many people and organizations are responsible for this achievement and I want to take a moment to personally thank them.

I want to thank our key CLC staff member Joel Harden for stepping in as the Associate Registrar of the Labour College and working so hard to make it all come together – thank you Joel!

And the CLC’s Executive Vice-President Barb Byers is our officer responsible for the Labour College – thank you Barb for safely steering this project home!

Thank you to our affiliates – the unions which make up the Canadian Labour Congress made a serious commitment to change the Labour College.  Without that, nothing would have happened.

With that affiliate support, we have a new, vital Labour College that will be an absolutely essential part of the future of our union movement.

I want to thank Brother Ken Lewenza, President of the CAW, and also Brother Paul Moist, President of CUPE, for being here with us tonight – I think their presence shows the commitment they have made to the College.

Our CLC affiliates have not only made a significant contribution to the Labour College simply in helping us with this review – they have also made a commitment to a secure future for the College for years to come.

That’s because sending students to the Labour College is a substantial investment in our next generation of union leadership.

The total cost per student – including administration, room, board and lost wages – is approximately $12,000.

That’s no small amount – but it is an extremely worthwhile investment in the future of our labour movement.

It’s also important to note that as part of the review taken to ensure the new Labour College structure was going to meet the needs of all affiliates, we determined that the best and most accessible way to offer courses was by splitting up the term.

Instead of four consecutive weeks of classes – which made it difficult or impossible for some sisters and brothers to attend – we have split the term into two sessions – of two weeks each.

In between those two sessions is a three-month inter-session learning period – where the students work on projects that allows them to give something back to their unions, which have sponsored their attendance.

I also want to thank our affiliates for sending us many of their best and brightest staff members to work on the review and implementation with the CLC, and to help out with this first session.

Their energy and commitment were critical to our success – thank you!

But there is one more person who must be both thanked ...and remembered.

Rich Montague from the CAW was a very good student in our first term who was demonstrating true leadership abilities – until a sudden illness tragically took his life this spring.

Rich was a young man dedicated, not only to his union and his brothers and sisters, but also to his family, including two wonderful children.

Losing Rich is a terrible blow to his family and to our movement – but he will not be forgotten at the Labour College of Canada – his memory will always be honoured here.

The Labour College of Canada is determined to make a difference in the lives of workers by offering the best possible training provided by highly experienced teachers from our movement and well beyond.

Already in its first year there have been many highlights to remember.

Former federal Health Minister Monique Bégin joined with Barb Byers to put on an amazing plenary discussion on lobbying and advocacy.

And talk about some tough courses for you folks to take – Political Economy, Workers in a Global World, Theory and Practice of Unionism, Labour History, Corporate Campaigning – it’s a long list!

What’s more, these courses have been taught by some of the most progressive and experienced academics in the country – we thank them very much for their assistance.

So in conclusion, we have a new Labour College of Canada to celebrate today – with a revitalized structure, the strong support of the CLC and its affiliates and a first class of graduates ready to go out on behalf of their fellow workers and change the world! What better reason to celebrate?

Congratulations again to our graduates and thank you again to everyone responsible for this great success!

School’s out!