Once a year, in October, a unique group of about 50 OPSEU members gets together at a Toronto hotel.

Hang around long enough and you might bump into a firefighter from Dryden, a lab technologist from Kingston, or a social worker from Toronto. Some are local presidents; some are stewards. Some are on the OPSEU Executive Board; some don’t hold any elected position in the union.

These people have one thing in common: they’re all committed communicators who publish local union newsletters. And that’s why they’ve come to the Editors’ Weekend.

For about $35,000 a year, OPSEU brings member editors together for two days of intensive training on how to make better local newsletters. For some reason, a lot of people who go there think it’s the best event OPSEU sponsors.

There’s something about the Editors’ Weekend.

"It seems to draw a group of people who are very active and willing to work," says Charles Faust, president of Local 728 in Red Lake (in northwestern Ontario, just a 45-minute plane ride from Winnipeg). "You have a tremendous amount of work that’s done."

That makes the Editors’ Weekend a different kind of event, says Faust.

"I like to go a full eight hours in a day," he says. "The worst thing that can happen is when you come to a meeting and say, ‘I think we can skip over a bunch of stuff and get out early.’ That didn’t happen. We didn’t have enough time."

The weekend offers 15 different three-hour workshops in everything from writing to editing to design to desktop publishing; Internet communication is a recent addition. Each participant can take three courses.

Over the years, the workshops have been taught by OPSEU communications officers and outside experts ("second to none," says Faust). This year was the first year for member teachers: Local 460 president Gavin Anderson, of Kingston, and Local 323 President Laurie Chapman, from Orillia.

Chapman has been involved with the Editors’ Weekend since the first one, in 1992.

"Generally, people who work on newsletters are not necessarily presidents or members of the [local] executive," says Chapman. "They’re people who really believe in communications. They don’t have a lot of political aspirations, so there’s not a lot of competition between editors. They all know what it’s like to be putting a newsletter out.

"The editors’ weekend is specifically tailored to what they need."

Members who leave the Editors’ Weekend go home energized, inspired, and ready to do better newsletters. It’s a strong stimulant, says Charlie Faust.

"I went in with enough understanding of the entry level of a newsletter that I can now focus on how to make it a lot better," he says.

"I’ve come to the profound realization that communication is where it’s at," says Charles Faust, "whether we’re talking about bargaining, or work-related issues, or negotiating with the kids on their allowance rate.

"I’m right now in the position of focusing on a newsletter as a better means of communication than a local meeting," he says. "You reach more people. People are so busy that if you only get 12 people out to a meeting, then that’s as far as it goes. But if you crank out 60 newsletters, 100 newsletters, 150, then you have the potential to reach a lot more people."