Secretary-Treasurer’s Message
Kelly Tosato
Ensuring safe workplaces & equity for all In March, I was honoured and humbled to attend the 63rd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Conference (UNCSW) in New York City on behalf of UFCW. More than 9,000 delegates from around the world registered to take part in the conference. Of those, 177 were trade union delegates representing 42 countries. The focus for this year’s session was social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. UN Secretary-General António Guterres indicated that his top priorities include eliminating all sexual exploitation and abuse by UN staff against vulnerable people in places under UN peace-keeping operations; promoting the adoption of these priorities in other countries; and ensuring gender equality and human rights are present across all aspects of life. Guterres also aims to have gender-balanced leadership at the UN by 2021. I took part in several workshops focusing on gender, violence, human trafficking, and equity. In each workshop, representatives from different countries spoke of their experiences and the work they’re doing to combat gender violence and the oppression of women. Hearing first-hand of the day-to-day struggles faced by women and girls around the world was at times shocking and often 4
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heart-wrenching. Their words and their work inspired me. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) hosted a panel on Universal Child Care with speakers who are working to achieve this on a global level. The current system in many countries – Canada included – means that parents feel lucky to find affordable accessible child care. A representative from CUPW spoke about how that Union was successful at negotiating a Child Care Benefit Program funded by both employees and the employer. This program provides eligible members with access to funds to assist with child care costs. In the years that followed, CUPW also negotiated to have this program funded entirely by the employer. Currently, the employer contributes a yearly maximum of $2.5 million to the fund and approximately 500 employees access the program. Most of the funds accessed go toward families whose children have special needs, for whom it’s even more difficult to find affordable adequate child care. During the recent Bylaw & Policy Conference, we heard from Farrah Khan, who is a leading advocate against oppression and sexual violence. We live and work in a country where one in three women, and one in six men, report being sexually assaulted ever year. These numbers are higher for trans women and women of colour. Farrah pointed out several times that this violence and oppression is happening in Canada; not
somewhere else by somebody else, but right here. It’s happening to our family, our loved ones, our friends, and our co-workers. Your Union believes in empowering women in the workplace. We work to not only negotiate agreements that include pay equity, but we bargain to include gender neutral language, paid leaves that apply to all spouses and partners, and more. We work continuously to ensure that women make up a large part of our leadership team and staff as well. We must all do our part to ensure safe workplaces and lives for women and trans women, and to make sure their voices are heard. That means protecting accessible affordable quality health care, maintaining and improving social services like Legal Aid and affordable housing, and helping those women achieve Union membership whenever possible. Your Union membership is about more than a collective agreement. Our Union family protects each other and works to ensure a healthy and safe workplace for every member. Your Union Reps and Directors, any of the Executive Assistants, myself or President Haggerty – we are all resources for you. We also have a Members Assistance Program (see the back cover of this magazine) that can put you in touch with support in your community as well. In Solidarity, Kelly Tosato treasurer@ufcw175.com
