Join the Departments of History and Labour Studies for a virtual conversation about teacher unionism with Dr. Chantal Mancini. We are co-hosting a webinar directed particularly at Brock students planning to enter the K-12 classroom. Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

“Why Do Teachers Need Unions? Organizing the Education Workplace, Past and Present” will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, from 7-8:30 p.m. Q&A will follow. All are welcome.

Please register on Eventbrite here.

For generations, Canadians have gotten the message that labour unions might make sense for factory workers or tradespeople but not for educated people in professional jobs. But K-12 teachers have a long history (over 100 years!) of organizing collectively to improve pay and benefits, win job security, and make sure schools are places where educators as well as students can thrive. Today, more than 80% of education professionals in Canada belong to unions.

How and why did it happen – and what does it mean to belong to a teachers’ union today?

Whether you are studying to become a teacher or about to start your teaching career – or even if you are already working in the classroom – you won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn more from a leading expert on teacher unionism: Dr. Chantal Mancini, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University.

Dr. Mancini has extensive experience as a secondary-school teacher with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and as past president of the Hamilton-Wentworth branch of the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). She holds a Ph.D. in Labour Studies from McMaster (2023), and her doctoral dissertation on how centralized collective bargaining has affected OSSTF won the 2025 Eugene A. Forsey Prize in Canadian Labour and Working-Class History from the Canadian Committee on Labour History, affiliated with the Canadian Historical Association.