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Greetings on International Women’s Day 2009,

International Women’s Day, March 8, gives us an opportunity to look back and celebrate women’s achievements as well as set our goals for the future. Together we can make a difference.

In light of the current worldwide economic crisis and recent attacks on women by the federal Conservative government here in Canada, our successes might be hard to identify. But that is our challenge – in spite of setbacks and opposition, we continue to make gains for fairness, affordability, equal opportunity, and a decent standard of living.

With every step we take to advance women’s equality and justice, we are making a difference. Maybe you campaigned for a $10 minimum wage, or negotiated anti-harassment workplace training, or signed a petition to stop violence against women, or talked to your Member of Parliament (MP) about increasing access to Employment Insurance, or supported a delegate to our USW National Women’s Conference, or volunteered your time in last year’s federal election. All of it adds up.

The challenge we have before us is to organize to defeat the anti-equality agenda we’re seeing coming from Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in Ottawa and supported by the Liberals. Not only did the government’s recent budget fail to correct inequities in Employment Insurance, but they also included a bill that will radically reform the law on pay equity and undermine women’s equality.

We know that women suffer disproportionately in tough times. Already, they earn just 72 per cent as much as men. Fully half of single women over 65 live in poverty. Yet Harper’s budget targets no help to women.

•    Harper’s tax cuts do little for the 68% of women in the bottom two income brackets.
•    There’s no new investment for child care spaces, strategies on poverty-reduction or violence-against-women.
•    Two-thirds of working women still can’t qualify for Employment Insurance benefits.

On this International Women’s Day, let us celebrate our successes and take action to educate and mobilize others about the increased pressure women are facing in Canada and around the world. Let’s work together to make positive changes for women and other vulnerable workers in these tough economic times.

In solidarity,

 

Ken Neumann
National Director for Canada
United Steelworkers