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In an Online Event on March 8, 2022, women members of Unifor from across Canada gathered virtually to celebrate the union’s work toward equality over the past year.
“Today we celebrate the activists, the agitators, the negotiators, the believers, the challengers, the leaders – because together, we are unstoppable,” said Lana Payne, National Secretary-Treasurer in her welcoming address to the nearly 200 participants.
Led by Payne and the new Women’s Department Director Tracey Ramsey, the evening event provided an opportunity for activists to share their successes and address challenges in their workplaces, communities and regions. The theme of the event was “Women are Unstoppable: There is no limit to what we can do together”.
“When we talk about unstoppable women, I think of members on the picket lines, at bargaining tables, and at every level of our union, protecting the rights and health and safety of all members,” said Naureen Rizvi, Ontario Regional Director. Rizvi took a moment to send support to the Lennox and Addington Interval House women’s shelter workers who have been on the picket line in Napanee, Ontario since October 29, 2021.
Rizvi also outlined the union’s determination to secure affordable, accessible, quality child care for Ontario families and to over-turn Bill 124 that supresses wages for public sector workers in sectors dominated by women.
Atlantic Regional Director Linda MacNeil was delighted to share a victory for long-term care workers in Nova Scotia, who are predominantly women.
“For years, we told Premier Stephen McNeil the government must increase funding for long-term care in order to address recruitment and retention issues that left our members overworked and underpaid,” said MacNeil. “Well, this past year, we were finally rid of McNeil and on February 10, the new premier Tim Houston made a surprise announcement that Continuing Care Assistants would get an immediate raise of nearly 23%.”
In a report from the Western region, British Columbia Chairperson Leanne Marsh praised the hard-working women leaders within the union.
“We are so lucky in this union that we have so many women in local and national leadership who don’t pull the ladder up behind them as they climb,” said Marsh. “We have sisters who lead, who encourage, who inspire, who are amazing femtors, and who help form the leaders of tomorrow.”
Many speakers mentioned the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on women, particularly because they are over-represented in many service, front-line retail, and health care professions. Unifor sisters committed to building back better and not returning to the way things were.
“A coalition of progressive groups in Quebec have chosen a theme for March 8 this year: The Future is Feminist! What we mean by this theme is that going ‘back’, going back to ‘normal’ and the status quo cannot be considered,” said Véronique Figliuzzi, Unifor National Representative in Quebec. “What we want is a society that unites our voices and our horizons and that recognizes the intersectionality of oppressions; a society that finally responds to our needs and respects the rights and dignity of all women.”
