“Sisters Step Up”: top women trade unionists join OPSEU picket lines
TORONTO - Top women trade unionists from across Ontario will join striking OPSEU members on picket lines Thursday, April 11 to support the contract demands of the thousands of women who work in the Ontario Public Service. At last count, “Sisters Step Up” events were confirmed for Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Sudbury,
Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Windsor.
Participants include:
- Phyllis Benedict, President, Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario;
- Irene Harris, Executive Vice-President, Ontario Federation of Labour;
- Kelly Hayes, Executive Board Member, Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario;
- Heather Kelley, Coordinator of Women’s Issues and Human Rights, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers;
- Ethel LaValley, Secretary-Treasurer of the Ontario Federation of Labour;
- Peggy Nash, Assistant to Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove;
- Evelina Pan, president, Thunder Bay Labour Council;
- Nancy Riche, Secretary-Treasurer, Canadian Labour Congress.
“April 11 is a day to demand recognition, respect, and equitable treatment for the thousands and thousands of women who make public services possible in Ontario,” said Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “We are delighted to have these wonderful sisters join us on the line.”
Sixty per cent of striking public service employees are women. Forty per cent of strikers are clerical workers in offices, courts, public health labs, detention centres, and other critical areas in the public service; of these, 84 per cent are women. Two-thirds of the workers who work in precarious temporary jobs
without benefits or job security are women.
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For more information: (Hamilton) Pat Honsberger (905) 525-5527; (London) Jean Fordyce (519) 649-7770; (Ottawa) Brian Lowry (613) 850-1253; (Sudbury) Muriel Ethier (705) 560-1502; (Thunder Bay) Jamie Tocker (807) 626-4884; (Toronto) Miriam Edelson (416) 209-9285; (Windsor) Jill Morgan (519) 977-7550.
