Duration: 10 minutes
Materials: A computer with the “USW Game Show” PowerPoint file, data projector, screen, paper and pens for all, and prizes for the winners
How it’s done before the event:
- Decide who will be the game show host and who will run the PowerPoint slides. Both should practice running the game show a few times until they feel comfortable.
- Decide if you would like to add more questions, or replace some in the prepared PowerPoint file with your own.
- Set up the equipment well ahead of time and check to make sure it’s working.
How it’s done at the event:
- Explain that you will be hosting a game show to test our knowledge of fun facts about USW and workers’ rights. There will be a series of multiple-choice questions. You can work on your own or in a group, as you wish. Write your answers down on the paper provided. We’ll use the honour system to keep track of how we do, because there will be prizes!
- Show the PowerPoint presentation, in a lively manner and at a fairly quick pace.
- Ask participants to total up their correct answers. Ask everyone who got at least 7 correct answers to raise their hands.
- Congratulate everyone on their knowledge. Distribute prizes to loud applause.
Questions and answers:
- The first time workers in Canada organized against unfair treatment by the boss was in: a) 1671 in Quebec City; b) 1919 and the Winnipeg General Strike; c) 1992 and the NHL strike
- The United Steelworkers got its start in: a) 2001; b) 1936; c) 1672
- When the union and the employer sit down to bargain a contract, what percentage of the time does it end up in a strike: a) 3%; b) 50%; c) 84%
- If you are 15-29 years old and in a unionized job, how much more do you earn each hour on average than a young worker who isn’t unionized: a) 15¢ b) $2.99 c) $4.63 [Source: Statistics Canada Table: 14-10-0065-01 (formerly CANSIM 282-0073)]
- If you are a woman in a unionized job, how much more do you earn each hour on average than a woman who isn’t unionized: a) $1.25; b) $6.63; c) 35¢ [Source: Statistics Canada Table: 14-10-0065-01 (formerly CANSIM 282-0073)]
- Which of the following things were NOT won by unions: a) weekends off; b) the 8-hour work day; c) paid maternity leave; d) mandatory drug testing
- In the United Steelworkers, the biggest single group of workers we represent is: a) steel-mill workers in Calgary, Alberta; b) aluminium-smelter workers in Alma, Quebec; c) University support staff in Toronto, Ontario
- Who decides if a group of workers go out on strike: a) the union president; b) a majority of the workers voting by secret ballot; c) the union’s negotiating committee
- In 1990 the average Canadian Chief Executive Officer made 25 times what the average worker earned. By 2018, Canada’s top 100 CEOs made: a) 7 times; b) 27 times; c) 227 times (Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Fail Safe: CEO compensation in Canada]
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