The award is presented to a female CUPE member or CUPE Local who through their actions and accomplishments embody the qualities of CUPE’s first female President.
McGovern currently is CUPE 4400’s Recording and Corresponding Secretary, and has been a community and union activist for over 40 years. In 2011, she was awarded CUPE Ontario’s Sisters in Solidarity Award in recognition of her many years of activism.
McGovern was unable to attend convention for the first time since the 1980s. Diversity Vice-President Yolanda McLean, a fellow member of CUPE 4400, accepted the award on her behalf.
In a written statement McGovern urged delegates to “take joy in the struggle” and advance “an agenda for all of us.”
“There are no saviours or magic bullets - only us, together,” the statement read. “We will keep pushing the agenda for all of us, whether the government du jour wants us to or not.”