Member unions of the Labour International Development Program, including CUPE, met in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 23-26, to learn about project preparation and reporting methods, develop new projects and exchange views.
The Canadian Labour Congress-coordinated LIDP gets funding through the Canadian International Development Agency for projects with unions and civil society organizations in Southern Africa and around the world.
CUPE has an LIDP-funded project to work with the South African Municipal Workers’ Union on organization women workers in both the public and private sectors. The project involves a national workshop to build the union’s capacity to organize and to provide service to new female members.
Staff members of CUPE, the CLC, the Canadian Postal Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers joined those from SAMWU, the South African Communications Workers’ Union, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, the Nigerian Labour Congress and two groups that work closely with unions, StreetNet and the African Labour Research Network.
The group also participated in a study tour of Soweto Township, visited the Apartheid Museum and the Hector Pederson Memorial. The latter includes a museum that depicts the Soweto student uprisings of 1976 when police killed students protesting the teaching of Afrikaans.