Labour studies faculty and students enjoy a collaborative approach to studies within the program
Labour of love
Labour studies students attend major conference for ninth year running
For the ninth consecutive year, senior labour studies students participated in the most important annual labour event. Seventeen labour studies students attended the 16th Annual Mel Myers Labour Conference, where they rubbed shoulders with Manitoba labour activists, human rights practitioners, and legal counsel. Workshops brought them up-to-date on the most discussed issues being bargained, legislated and struggled over in Manitoba, including medical marijuana, drug testing, psychological illness, respectful workplace policies, recent changes to Manitoba labour law, and human rights. This level of participation reflects the close relationship the labour studies program has built over many years with the labour community. Thanks to the generosity of Myers Weinberg LLP, the law firm that hosts the event, and the faculty of arts endowment fund, seventeen students and two faculty members were able to attend this year’s event.
Students and faculty in the labour studies program are engaged in wide ranging outreach and research actives like this conference and community events which provide advancement opportunities beyond the classroom and the university.
Says one student of their experience at the conference, “As a labour studies student who hopes to pursue an education in law, the [conference] offered an invaluable opportunity to not only learn what issues are currently facing the labour movement in Manitoba and Canada but to engage in those conversations. These are the same concerns we will face upon graduation.”
The labour studies program has a long-standing commitment to community-building. In addition to the exceptional benefits to labour studies students, the program’s close ties to the community advance the University’s goals as articulated in its strategic plan, Taking Our Place. By forging these connections and fostering positive and sustained relationships with the wider community, labour studies contributes in a significant way to the high impact community engagement to which the University community aspires.