As part of our union’s commitment to learn from the experiences and celebrate the successes of Indigenous, Black and racialized CUPE members, CUPE is profiling members of the National Racial Justice Committee and National Indigenous Council. This month, meet National Racial Justice Committee member Edward Avinesh Parsotam.
“Let’s put it this way,” Edward Avinesh Parsotam says, reflecting on what his labour activism has meant to him. “I was never drawn to the union. I never thought about it, I never gave it a second thought. But what was interesting is people would always come to me for help. I believe this is because I always gave people positive advice.”
Like many people who have dedicated their careers to defending the rights of their fellow workers, Edward, a caretaker at Tamanawis Secondary School in Surrey, B.C. for the past 20 years, didn’t choose the union life, union life chose him.
Edward was tapped on the shoulder as a young worker by his local president who thought he would make a good steward. From there he started to attend national and provincial division conventions, and CUPE district council meetings.
Today, in addition to serving as a CUPE 728 steward, Edward is the CUPE BC Diversity Vice-President, Racialized Workers and a member of the CUPE BC Racialized Workers Committee and the National Racial Justice Committee, where he’s serving his second term.
Persisting in the face of racism
While he had the blessing of his local president, his entry into the union space was not without its challenges. “There was this grumpy old man who just was adamant about me not getting into that steward role,” he recounts. “After I got elected for the position, he came up and said, ‘Oh no hard feelings, but I just don’t believe that you belong here’.”
Before that experience, Edward says he had never experienced racism among his co-workers. Starting out as a nighttime caretaker at age 21, he didn’t work alongside many co-workers. But as he started to get more involved and interact with others, some of his co-workers drew his attention to the way he was being treated.
“There were people who came before me that would tell me there’s racism [among our co-workers], but I wouldn’t consider it because I didn’t see it,” he says.
“But when an executive member and co-worker pulled me to the side and said, ‘Hey, they’re being really racist to you,’ it clicked. It never clicked for me before because I thought it was just shop talk.”
Despite the hostility from members of his own local, Edward persisted. He got valuable information and skills at training provided through CUPE’s Metro Vancouver District Council, and made a point of reporting back at local meetings and sharing what he’d learned to help serve his members.
Edward says the mentorship he got from the district council was essential to his development, and something that he could not get from his own local because of the barriers that he faced when he first got involved.
By the time the president who tapped him on the shoulder left, Edward had a solid base of knowledge about how to be a steward. The incoming local president recognized his skills and made sure Edward had what he needed to represent members, whether that was open lines of communication or full training on the local’s policies and practices.
“It just started to fall into place and I was able to stand on my own,” he says.
Look in your own backyard
As Edward got deeper into his steward role, he also started to look at some of CUPE’s provincial racial justice campaigns and noticed similar issues in his own workplace and union.
“When we start to slowly uncover issues like, why is it that the janitorial department is the only one that has racialized people and all the managers are white? And then we start to look at our union a little bit and go, what’s going on here?”
This is where Edward sees the necessity of CUPE’s Anti-Racism Strategy and the spotlight it shines on existing patterns and structures. “When you’re building stronger community, you’re looking at what your own backyard looks like. And we start to notice that our own backyard doesn’t include people that look like us.”
Edward sees CUPE’s Anti-Racism Strategy fostering a union where young members like him don’t have to go outside their local to fully participate in their union. Members should get the development they need and be accepted in their own local without facing the hostility that he did.
“If I wasn’t going to CUPE Metro District Council, I wouldn’t have networked with people that were affiliated with it who let me know about things I never would have heard about in my local.”
Building equity and safety
He says racism shows up in the workplace in many ways, including jokes and everyday conversations and comments from co-workers that he’s experienced – and called out.
“It might be so tiny to them, unless we share that it’s unacceptable and let them know that it was incorrect, and tell them that times have changed.”
Edward says unions play a key role fighting racism. “We look for equity and safety in the workplace. We want to go home the same way that we came to work: in one piece, and in solid mind. If it’s a unionized workplace, there’s an avenue for support and to deal with mistreatment and correct it.”
The Anti-Racism Strategy is ultimately about building a stronger, more engaged union where anybody can feel accepted and trust their fellow members.
“In order to build engagement, we have to build trust. And in order to have trust, we have to show that there’s a way for change.”
Learn more about CUPE’s Anti-Racism Strategy including Goal 4, which focuses on highlighting the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized members and celebrating their successes, at cupe.ca/cupes-anti-racism-strategy. And check out these tips for putting the strategy into action in your local.