Our education workshops are crafted by and for unionists, ensuring we meet the specific learning needs of union members. We have a strong focus on action-oriented learning, facilitating highly relevant, quality training and education to be used in the field to help grow the power and influence of working people to win a fair deal at work and in their communities.
Whether you’re looking to enhance your organisational and industrial expertise, strengthen your leadership skills, or want to stay updated on workplace health and safety practices, our learning and development programmes are your go-to destination for building your skills and knowledge as a union organiser, workplace leader, or member.
“There’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.”
– Paulo Freire
Most of our education is facilitated kanohi ki te kanohi (in-person). Generally, we use online technologies (Teams or Zoom) to run shorter workshops or modules. We are also moving to have fully online courses made available to union people in 2024 using the iQualify learning platform.
Our core workshops are generally run three times a year in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
All courses must be booked through your union. Any queries, please contact Ross Teppet.
Click here to view the full 2025 calendar
Economics for Unionists
Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland – 26 & 27 February 2025
Facilitator: David Peetz, Centre for Future Work, Australia
This workshop is about helping trade unionists better understand major economic concepts and arguments, theories of labour in the economy and alternative approaches to economic policy.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Define key economic concepts
- Analyse and debate economic arguments
- Explain why our proposals have economic merit in policy and/or bargaining contexts
- Discuss theories of the role of labour in the economy
- Define and discuss alternative approaches to economic policy
Workshop Sessions:
- What is the economy?
- How capitalism works
- Work and production
- The global economy
- The real economy and the paper economy
- The economy and the environment
- Challenging capitalism
Education Pathways Programme
This programme covers the essential skills development work required for effective union organising and is tailored to frontline union organisers and senior workplace leaders.
These courses must be organised through your union.
Skill Development Workshops
These workshops supplement the pathways programme covering key areas like health and safety and collective agreement negotiation skills.
These courses must be organised through your union.
Note: you do not have to complete any of the core workshops to participate in these.
Organising for Healthier and Safer Workplaces
A two-day workshop designed for union organisers on learning the skills, knowledge and understanding of health and safety organising for achieving sustainable processes and practices that create good workplace H & S.
Advocacy
at the Table
A skills course for union organisers involved in negotiating collective agreements. This two-day course focuses on building participants’ confidence in collective agreements negotiations, using realistic simulated exercises.
Advanced
Training Skills
This two-day workshop aims to strengthen participants’ skills, knowledge, and understanding of adult and union learning to help build confidence and more effective practice when facilitating workers’ education.
Open workshops
These online one day workshops are open to anyone interested in strengthening their skillset. Resources will also be provided.
Fees are $75 per workshop. Please register through your union.
Handling Disciplinaries Workshop
How might a new organiser or delegate prepare for their first few disciplinary meetings? This one-day online workshop on how to deal with disciplinary situations in the workplace. There is a focus on best practice approaches to ensure that disciplinaries are handled effectively enabling the best outcomes for workers and the best use of an organiser’s time. The workshop will be run in three 90 minutes blocks, covering legal, theory topics and skill work. Resources will also be provided.
Course dates:
- 28 February 2024
- 29 May 2024
- 2 October 2024
Handling
Personal Grievances
Raising personal grievances can be an intimidating process for many organisers. This one-day online workshop for organisers and senior workplace leaders on how to best handle personal grievances (PGs). The aim is to get fair outcomes for workers and the union, and to avoid being bogged down in cases that distract people from organising. The workshop will be run in three 90-minute blocks, covering case law, best practice approaches and some skill work. Resources will also be provided.
Course dates:
- 13 March 2024
- 10 July 2024
- 15 October 2024
Handling
Mediation Workshop
It is important union organisers have a good grasp of our MBIE-run mediation system, what it is, how it works and how to use it. This one-day online workshop aims to provide a basic understanding of when and how to use mediation to resolve issues. The workshop content draws on the experience and knowledge of experienced organisers and takes a best practice approach. The workshop consists of three 90-minute blocks with associated resources.
Course dates:
- 23 April 2024
- 7 August 2024
- 20 November 2024
Preparing for Collective Bargaining
Much of the key work required for successful negotiations happens well before organisers reach the bargaining table. This one-day online workshop covers organising objectives during the pre-negotiation phase to ensure maximum effectiveness, and what needs to happen to have the building blocks in place for upcoming negotiations. The workshop consists of three 90-minute blocks with associated resources.
Course dates:
- 8 May 2024
- 18 September 2024
- 6 November 2024