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 Message from Ken Neumann, National Director for Canada
Greetings:
Today, March 8, we celebrate International Women’s Day. This gives us an opportunity to look back and celebrate women’s achievements as well as prepare our goals for the future.
In light of the current worldwide economic crisis and recent attacks on women’s rights by the federal Conservative government, our successes might be hard to identify. However, making gains for fairness, equal employment opportunity, affordable child care and a decent standard of living for all women continue to be our goals. With every step we take to advance women’s equality and justice, we are making a difference.
Our union must defeat the Stephen Harper government’s anti-equality agenda. Last month, Prime Minister Harper announced an initiative to the G8 nations to improve the health of women and children in the developing world. Meanwhile, here at home, the reality for women in Canada is:
 Women earn just 72 per cent as much as men. Half of single women over age 65 live in poverty.& tax cuts do little for the 68 per cent of women in the bottom income brackets
No new investment for child care spaces, no new strategies on poverty reduction, and no new efforts to fight violence against women.
Two-thirds of working women still cannot qualify for Employment Insurance benefits.
The national child care program has been cancelled.
The internationally acclaimed Court Challenges Program to provide federal funding for women and minorities to fight systemic inequality and discrimination has been abolished.
The Status of Women Canada has had its funding cut by 43 per cent.
In Canada, the Steelworkers stand with Stephen Lewis who correctly identified Harper’s initiatives as “…a piece of crass political opportunism…”
In our workplaces, we must continue fighting for equality for women and other equity seeking groups, using education as a key tool. Our Anti-Harassment Training Program has a new two-hour module called “Dealing with Cultural Diversity in the Workplace.”
In addition, we continue to offer educational workshops on “Preventing and Dealing with Harassment in the Workplace.” For further information about these and other workshops, please contact your District Education Coordinator.
On this International Women’s Day, let us acknowledge our past successes.
For the future, let’s make equality issues a priority at two important events in 2010 – our National Policy Conference in Toronto this April, and the International Women’s Conference in Pittsburgh in October.
In solidarity,
Ken Neumann
National Director for Canada
United Steelworkers
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WOMEN OF STEEL
