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The
Butler Rienzi Labour College (The
School is registered with the Ministry of Education)
The O.W.T.U., through its commitment to assisting with the education of the nation's youth and workers, established the Butler Rienzi Labour College in 1994. It is led by the Principal whose major responsibilities are establishing and maintaining the standards of tuition and discipline that are congruent with any good educational institution. He his also responsible for the Planning and Introduction of new programs. The College is celebrating its tenth (10th)anniversary this year. Keep Checking our Calendar of Events for Anniversary Activities. The College operates out of three centres:
The Butler Rienzi Scholarship Trust The Union's University Scholarship programme began in 1990 and has continued steadfastly in assisting the children of its members in obtaining tertiary education. Each year 2 persons are chosen as OWTU Scholars based on an independent evaluation process utilising criteria of academic excellence and quality of character. Winners receive $5,000 per year for 3 years of undergraduate study or $6,000 per year for 2 years of postgraduate study. Only children of financial members and members themselves are eligible. Applications open in mid May. The cost of university tuition has been constantly rising over the last few years due to the adoption of policies of "market forces" in the sphere of education. The OWTU is indeed proud of the fact that in the eleven years since the programme's inception it has seen some thirteen young people graduating from the University of the West Indies, whilst another five are at various stages of their studies. Some of our applicants have done so well in their A'level exams that they became ineligible for our award because they received National Scholarships. In our ongoing thrust to inform and educate the public on key issues affecting industry, the working class and by extension, the society, the Union hosts Public Policy Forums Breakfast Briefing Sessions throughout the year. The public as well as civil society organisations are invited to attend. These forums are organised so as to encourage public debate and intervention in the decision making process and to lobby on key national issues. These Forums/Sessions are often organised in conjunction with other Trade Unions and several other Special Interest Groups. They feature panelists and speakers from various walks of life and include leading economists, lecturers, Union and NGO leaders, business leaders and professionals. Seminars and Internal Training for Officers The Union has an active program of Education and Training. The programme is designed to cater for the differing requirements - from the workplace discussion sessions, to orientation and training on the basis of trade unionism for new shop stewards and branch officers, to specialist training in pensions, to leadership training and cadre building. We also organise seminars to regularly update both the first and second rank leaders on key national and regional issues (globalisation, proposed legislation etc.) Resource persons and facilitators are drawn from both within the OWTU and from the University and a pool of Professionals. Tobago Seminars are also held from time to time for our members and Shop Stewards based in Tobago. Support Training Sessions are carried out in supporting other Trade Unions and labour organisations in achieving their training and education objectives. These sessions usually cover topics as follows:
This Schools Career Guidance Day is an annual event organised by the OWTU Butler Rienzi College around mid March and is now on its fourth year. It is held at the Union's Palms Club and has had an attendance of over 20 schools with more than 500 students participating. There is widespread participation from the private sector as well as government agencies all of whom mount displays, provide useful literature and advice to students in terms of the various jobs they can pursue and the prerequisites for different careers. Based on the conclusions of a statistical survey done via questionnaire at our 2000 Career Day, we will introduce several improvements for 2001.We are also considering initiating similar activities for Port of Spain and Tobago. This is also an annual event which involves the participation of schools. It normally commences in late May and is part of the June 19th Labour Day Celebrations. It attracts on average between fifty to fifty-five primary schools from the counties of St. Patrick and Victoria. Each Year themes are selected for the Poster and the Quiz competition. Schools are provided with material on the quiz competition as well as the theme for the poster so that they can prepare well in advance of the competition. Prizes and trophies are awarded to the winning schools and students as well as all the other participants. The semi-finals, finals and prize giving are televised for broadcast. The Union's Quintin O'Connor Library is housed at Paramount Building (OWTU Headquarters) and offers its services to officers, members of the Union, their children and the general public. It is the only fully developed library organised by a Trade Union in the English speaking Caribbean! The library was named in honor of Quintin O'Connor, one of the founders of the modern trade union movement. He was the first General Secretary of the Federated Workers Trade Union, formed in 1937 in the aftermath of June 1937 General Strike and anti-colonial revolt. The library houses an extensive collection of newspaper clippings, Labour, Economic, Political and Social Titles, Periodicals, Caribbean Magazines, ILO Publications and such. It also carries all past editions of the Unions' Vanguard and other Union Publications. The library is the repository of valuable and rare papers and literature on the Butler Riots and the Birth of the Labour Movement in the 1930's and the early pioneers and labour leaders in Trinidad and Tobago (Cipriani, Rienzi, Rojas, E.R Blades and Weekes to name a few). Our library also houses some special collections, including part of the CLR James collection, the Lennox Pierre collection and the George Weekes collection. New book titles are often added so as to provide users with useful and to updated material. Users of the Library are as follows:
Research at the O.W.T.U. occurs at several levels:
The O.W.T.U. therefore, is not only an end user but also a provider of research material. At present we are developing our own electronic databases which would supplement our library and simultaneously meet our specific data needs on :
Our next project immediately following the completion of the above listed, would be our very own economic and labour market databases. |