Record Week Underway at WWW Center
October 26, 2010
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| Nearly 150 IAM activists from local and district lodges across North America filled the William W. Winpisinger Education & Technology Center to capacity this week. |
Every classroom, computer lab and break-out room at the William W. Winpisinger Center is filled to capacity this week as IAM members from across North America take advantage of one of the labor movement’s most unique educational opportunities.
Nearly 150 participants from 21 U.S. states and seven Canadian Provinces are on hand for an intensive week of classroom and workshop activities all focused on developing more effective and informed union leaders.
“We’ve made a number of changes to our curriculum that make us more relevant than ever to what’s happening at the District and Local Lodge level,” said WWW Center Director Chris Wagoner. “Although we have three different programs running concurrently this week, the emphasis is on organizing. We have four Districts – two from the US (District 160 and District 725) and two from Canada (District 78 and District 181) and an unaffiliated local from Canada – Local 905, participating in the Organizing Prep Program. The Organizing Prep Program is designed to help Districts develop a plan to grow their membership in a sustained and measurable way.”
Among the other programs this week at the WWW Center is Leadership II, where members who completed the initial Leadership I course are provided with real-world skills to be more successful Shop Stewards, as well as training that allows them to lobby effectively on behalf of their members and their union.
Also being offered at the WWW Center this week is the IAM High Performance Work Organization (HPWO) program, in which labor and management create a workplace where front-line employees have an unprecedented involvement in decision making.
The week’s largest program, with 91 members is the new Organizing Prep Program.
“It’s an exciting and dynamic atmosphere, with so many IAM members, officers, and activists here at one time,” said Wagoner. “The participants, staff, and instructors all come away with something special from weeks like this one.”
