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International Women’s Day, March 8, is an opportunity for us all to reflect on the advances of women’s rights in Ontario and around the world, and also to consider how we may, as individuals and as a union, advance the cause of equality.
Fifty years ago our Union was formed because of the inequality faced by public-sector workers. For many years, women’s equality has been at the core of CUPE Ontario’s values.
With women’s organizations and the labour movement together, we have started to address the many barriers that have existed for decades—included are the passing of pay equity legislation and the implementation and ongoing improvement to parental leave. It was through collective bargaining that unions were able to make changes for all women in our province.
But we have a long way to go. In Ontario, women still earn an average of $3.33 an hour less than men. Since the recession, women have filled the majority of new jobs created in the province, but the wage gap remains. This difference has a larger impact on younger women, immigrant women, Aboriginal women and women with disabilities; overall, women are disproportionately affected as they are the ones who fill part-time, casual and precarious jobs.
Right now, CUPE members from across the province are gathering in Toronto for our biennial Women’s Conference. The theme this year is Decent Work, Decent Lives for Women. The CUPE Ontario Women’s Committee leads this conference, which is an important venue for member education and campaign development.
Collectively, the more than 160,000 women who are members of CUPE Ontario have a tremendous political voice. This voice will have a loud impact if we each use our own voices to talk to our families, neighbours, colleagues and our communities about the contributions that we have made through our unions to make sure women’s voices are heard.
We encourage you attend the 2014 Women’s Conference if you were unable to participate this year. Talk with your sisters and brothers about how we use collective bargaining rights to advance women’s issues, and stand strong and proud in defence of equality.
We have a collective responsibility to ensure the continued advancement of women in our communities and our province. We must use our voices and our votes. This is a time for us all to challenge governments to champion women’s rights. We encourage you to write to Ontario’s first woman Premier and tell her you want a government that will build health care, support education programs and invest in secure pensions that women need. We can accomplish this by ensuring our government invests in stable, transparent public services. You can send the Premier a quick message using messageyourmpp.ca.
In Solidarity,
Fred Hah, President
Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer
