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If your union committee or your CUPE local are making changes that encourage more women members to get involved in the union, we want to hear from you.

The National Women’s Task Force is consulting widely across our union, listening to members about the barriers and potential solutions to increasing women’s participation and representation in CUPE. We know CUPE locals small and large are finding creative solutions, ways to help women members participate and take on more leadership roles in our union.

We want women to be able to be involved at all levels of the union because this will strengthen our union,” said NWTF co-chair Barb Moore speaking about the Task Force logo: Women in CUPE – Strengthening our Union.

While women are often activists at the local level, they are absent at the provincial and national leadership levels. Presently, women hold only three of the 23 seats on the national executive board of CUPE – or 13 per cent of the seats.

When women are involved in the union, it is easier for us to take on the battles to improve wages, to fight privatization, to tackle workplace issues,” said Moore. “How can we, as a union, defend collective bargaining rights, women’s equality and decent working conditions without the full support and involvement of all our members?”

So send us your stories about how your committee or CUPE local is working to improve women’s representation. E-mail us at women@cupe.ca and we’ll share your ideas here with other members and locals.