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DATE:    Feb 12, 2010   

TO:         Local Union Presidents and Recording Secretaries

RE:        Norma Berti Education Scholarship

We are inviting submissions again this year for our Norma Berti scholarship.  Norma Berti was a very strong “Woman of Steel”.  For those of you who may not know about her, here are a few facts.  In 1976, Norma Berti was the first Steelworker woman in Canada to be elected to her local union executive.  She was a member of local 1005 (Stelco) and served as their financial secretary.  This was extraordinary as it was during a time that few women worked in the plant, and those that did were limited to work in the tin plate department only. 

Norma was hired at Stelco in 1950 and became an early supporter of the labour movement.  She believed in equal pay for equal work, which caused many mixed emotions within her male dominated workplace.  Norma became a shop steward for women in the tin mill and then in 1970 she was elected Secretary of the Grievance Committee.  In 1976, she was elected local union Financial Secretary and re-elected until she retired in 1984.  A remarkable political story, because at that time the men that were running for election refused to put her on any of their election slates.  Despite that, Norma ran undefeated until she retired. 

Norma was active in many charities in the Hamilton region and was involved in the founding of the New Democratic Party.  She was also an officer of SOAR and was recognized as Hamilton’s Woman of the Year in 1976.  

“The more I learn, the more I want to learn”, she once said about her role on the executive of Local 1005. 

Norma died in Hamilton on October 9th, 2001, after a battle with cancer. Norma’s legacy is an inspiration for us all; she was a most remarkable person.  Please share the enclosed information about this new scholarship with all our Steelworker members.