Educate to Empower

Education can empower union members to make their mark in the world. UFCW Local 401 members and their families are offered opportunities to advance their knowledge of workplace rights (and more!) through courses offered online and in the classroom. Every year, union members and their families are also offered scholarship opportunities to help make the realization of their goals more affordable.

Announcing 2018 Grant Notley Scholarship Winners

Post-secondary education can be expensive. To improve access to education, UFCW Local 401 members are eligible for scholarships through the UFCW Canada (National Office) as well as UFCW International.

UFCW Local 401 members – and their family members – are also eligible for scholarships offered exclusively to them. This year, the following students were the recipients of a UFCW Local 401 Grant Notley Memorial Scholarship, which ranges in value from $500 to $2,000 each:

Chaltu Abdulrhman
Faith Belarmino
Joseph Chandiyangana
Navjot Kaur Dhanoa
Nisreen Fares
Jacob Ryan Gandecki
Saqlain Aslam Khan
Veronika Krisandova
Dylan Maclan Tambour Kuate
Vidhi Patel
Beverly Waege
Bahaaldeen Zahlan
Zeng Zeng

Recipients are studying in a range of fields, from economics and public policy to respiratory therapy and the caring professions. Many of the recipients sought to use their education to the benefit of their communities.

“We congratulate this year’s scholarship winners,” said UFCW Local 401 President, Douglas O’Halloran. “We sincerely wish them all the very best as they pursue their educational goals and work to make the world a better place.”

Scholarship details are available here.

In-class union education opportunities

The UFCW Local 401 education department provides dozens of courses each year throughout the province. These courses are free for UFCW Local 401 members. Many who take these courses are booked off work on union leave and are paid as if they were at work.

Covering topics and skills related to workplace rights, health and safety, organizing, and leadership, UFCW Local 401 courses often count towards a Shop Steward Certification. But they don’t need to be about that. Some take courses to simply explore the ways in which they can make a difference in their workplace and in their communities.

Online education for union members and their families

Sometimes life is too busy to study on a fixed schedule. To meet the needs of our members, UFCW Canada offers webCampus, a one-of-a-kind educational tool exclusively for UFCW members and their families, at no cost.

WebCampus offers dozens of courses with new course offering coming available all the time. Many of these courses can be counted towards course requirements at degree-granting educational institutions, including Athabasca University in Alberta.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 is Alberta’s largest private sector union, representing more than 32,000 working Albertans in sectors as diverse as food and beverage processing, retail, warehousing, hospitality, entertainment, and education.