NUPGE's Advisory Committee on Women's Issues members become Women 4 Change activists in the ATN campaign

NUPGE’s ACWI members become Women 4 Change activists as part of the All Together Now! campaign on April 23-24, 2012.

Ottawa (16 April 2012) - The “war on women” in the U.S. is placing a focus on government policies that affect women. The Republicans are viewed as waging a “war on women” with a budget plan that would lower taxes for the rich while cutting programs that polls indicate are particularly important to women.

Although much of the media focus has been on the attack on women’s reproductive rights, the Republican platform also includes cuts to funding programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare and welfare. These cuts would directly affect the lives of U.S. women, in particular those living in poverty.

Women have been fighting back on the issues and the result has been an 18 per cent point lead for Obama over U.S. Republican Mitt Romney. In the middle of February less than half of women under 50 supported the president. Now more than six in 10 support the president and Romney has lost 14 percentage points with this group.

Here in Canada, we face similar issues. Both federal and provincial governments are implementing austerity measures including cuts to public services as a way to balance their budgets. Many of these measures are having a greater impact on women as they need to access these services more often and as services are taken away, it is predominately women who assume more caretaking responsibilities for family members who have lost the services.

“Women in the U.S. have been speaking up and speaking loudly and their voices are being heard. We want Canadian women to do the same. This is why we have created Women 4 Change. We want to empower women to stand up and talk about these issues. We want to zero in on Canadian governments policies affecting Canadian women and to ensure that by the next federal election these issues are a focus of politicians’ platforms,” states James Clancy, National President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).

Women 4 Change is the latest initiative in the National Union’s All Together Now! (ATN) campaign to defend public services and fight for tax fairness in Canada. Members of the National Union’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues (ACWI) will meet in Ottawa on April 23 —24, 2012 with a key focus of the meeting on training members to become Women 4 Change activists. Women 4 Change will be working hard to move the message forward that public policies such as health care, child care, education and social services must become a priority for all levels of government.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE