CEP Local 911 joins workers everywhere in celebrating International Women’s Day, March 8, 2009.

This day of recognition is steeped in the history of workers’ struggle.

 

 

“Those strikes and demonstrations led by the women gave us International Women’s Day, a special day to commemorate the women in our lives...,” says Wanda Bartlett, Recording Secretary of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL).

 

CEP Local 911 joins workers everywhere in celebrating International Women’s Day, March 8, 2009.

This day of recognition is steeped in the history of workers’ struggle.

•        In 1857 female garment workers in New York City, struck repeatedly in order to get their work day reduced to 12 hours, to have child labour abolished and to get fair pay.

•        50 years later, the women’s labour movement had turned its attention to women’s “suffrage”—the right of women to be declared “persons” with the right to vote and hold public office.

•        A 1911 industrial fire killed 147 women, employed at a New York sweatshop. In order to make sure that the women were not taking breaks, fire escape doors had been locked. Nearly 100,000 people showed up for the mass funeral.

•        In 1910, 14,000 textile workers went on strike for three months.

 

“Those strikes and demonstrations led by the women gave us International Women’s Day, a special day to commemorate the women in our lives.  It is a tribute to the hard work of women every day who continue the struggle for better pay and safe working conditions.  We are proud to say that in our labour movement, women are at the forefront of the struggle: representing members, sitting on health and safety committees, bargaining contracts, and standing up for our rights,” says Wanda Bartlett, Recording Secretary of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL).

Larry Hubich, President of the SFL said this recently: ““The challenges from a century ago are still with us, in part because we have two levels of government who are rolling back women’s rights.  The Saskatchewan Party government has passed two bills which make it more difficult to organize unions and to collectively bargain.  An attack on union rights hurts women because unions make a huge difference in bringing up women’s earnings and giving access to health benefits.  Unions also take a lead role in fighting for social programs that women need, such as affordable childcare and an employment insurance that doesn’t discriminate against women,”

95,000 unionized workers from 37 affiliated unions in Saskatchewan, including CEP local 911, are represented by the SFL. The SFL has condemned the Harper government’s attack on pay equity in its recent budget.  The Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act will effectively eliminate women’s ability to pursue pay equity complaints by forcing them to file complaints as individuals. The bill imposes a $50,000 fine on any union that encourages or assists their own members in filing a pay equity complaint, leaving women to fight the system unaided. “This kind of attack on women’s human rights is completely unjustified, and certainly has no place in any legislation, let alone the budget,” says Hubich.

“Women need economic independence in order to support their families, but also to ensure that they have the means to free themselves from abusive relationships.  The problem of violence against women is still with us.  And while women from all socioeconomic backgrounds are at risk of violence, we know that poverty is an aggravating factor.  The SFL renews its commitment to struggling for a society where women achieve economic equality and security,” adds Bartlett.

For more information on the Conservative government’s changes to pay equity, go to www.canadianlabour.ca

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