Doing Literacy
by Linda Wentzel
I ran into a former co-worker the other day and she asked me if
I was still “doing literacy.”I told
her I was currently laid off, but, yes, I was still doing it. I
don’t know how much longer I will be able to say that, but
for now, to loosely quote my friend, I’m doing literacy.
I work for the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour (NSFL) as a Workplace
Education Coordinator. Like most labour literacy activities, ours
have been funded through a series of grants from HRSDC. We all
know what happened to those this year. Our federation revised the
funding application twice only to be denied funding on May 1 this
year. It was a slow and painful death.
I have been working for the federation for 7 ½ years and
am laid off on a regular basis. I try to plan for it financially.
The harder planning is the mental or emotional reaction to the
layoff. It’s hard to accept that what you do is so undervalued
that you are dispensable on a regular basis. It’s even harder
when you are the one who administers the program and must tell
your colleagues that it’s time to lay yourself off. When
that happens you also lose the daily contact with the office that
tells you what’s happening and where and how the literacy
project could enhance those activities. Being left out of the loop,
even by chance rather than design, really sucks! I must point out
here that the federation certainly values what I do and can bring
to the organization. It seems to me that it’s society as
a whole that undervalues literacy work. If not, surely we would
be able to fund a program instead of running projects on an ad
hoc basis.
I am not telling you this to get sympathy, but to explain that
this is how you will live if you choose to become involved in literacy
work, even if you work for a labour organization. You must get
used to periods of layoff, whether you have the option to return
to your original job or choose to keep working for nothing. There
are times when the layoff will be a long one and if you can’t
go back to your original job, you must go on Employment Insurance
benefits. I’ve done both. I usually opt for the ‘working
for nothing’ scenario so that I can keep building projects
and planning strategies.
One of the ways the federation has tried to organize its literacy
project is to build on work we have already done and to write funding
applications with a clear vision of where we want to be in the
future. We have tried to make short-term project funding work for
us in the long term. We wait every year for the call for proposals.
I struggle with what to tell you about my work. The easy part
is the excitement of getting a program up and running, writing
curriculum or helping a committee integrate literacy issues and
clear language and design into their work. The hard part is the
frustration I feel when trying to write a proposal for a project
to meet a need our affiliates have identified under grant criteria
that are increasingly stringent. It’s also hard to tell unions
that I can support them until our funding runs out and then they
will have to cope on their own. Most times I tell them to call
me at home. I am a proud union member. I believe that people should
be paid a fair wage, with benefits, for the work they do. Yet I
constantly work for nothing. I work more hours than I get paid
for, when I am getting paid. Why? Because I love it! Literacy is
my great love and my great addiction. Once you have this addiction
it doesn’t let you go. I often compare myself to my father,
who was sailor, and the way he related to the sea—it’s
either in your blood or it isn’t. Literacy is in mine.
Linda Wentzel is a member of CAW 1944 and has
been on secondment to the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour since
1999. She has been a shop steward, a recording secretary and chair
of a Women’s Committee for her local. Linda lives in Lunenburg
with her husband Greg. They have two grown children, Jason and
Jora.
Linda has a diploma in fine arts (1970) and a Bachelor of Fine
Arts (Interdisciplinary) (2003) from the Nova Scotia College of
Art & Design. Currently, she is enrolled in the Master of Adult
Education program at St. Francis Xavier University. Linda says, “The
program is self-directed and is challenging me to cope with all
the issues that adults face when they decide to go back to school.
I believe the experience is having a positive effect on my daily
work.
