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Watch new video interviews from the Women 4 Change training session.
Ottawa (27 April 2012) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) launched Women 4 Change (W4C) a new feature of the All Together Now! campaign this week in Ottawa. As part of the National Union's Advisory Committee on Women's Issues (ACWI) meeting, women representatives from across the country became the first graduates of the W4C training session.
Each committee member will be taking the training module back to their home province to use with their members as well as out in the community to spread the need for income equality and tax fairness. The new module has a more dominant gender analysis written into it, highlighting the ways in which women are impacted more dramatically by cuts to public services, rising costs and lower wages.
"Women still only represent 20 per cent of elected positions, CEO positions. Decision-making positions are predominantly held by men, so until women are involved, better choices won't happen," said Dawn Ferris, Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) member on ACWI.
Anne Davis, a member of the Health Sciences Association of B.C. (HSABC/NUPGE) offered this perspective, "I look at what is going on politically in this country, and in the province, with corporations getting huge tax breaks. That money is not flowing back into the economy. It is simply making wealthy people wealthier. It's really important for us, as women, to arm ourselves with the facts and get out there and talk about them."
The All Together Now! campaign promoting tax fairness and public services has been running for almost two years now. New ways of organizing are regularly added to the campaign such as the Champions 4 Pensions and now the Women 4 Change, giving more and more people the tools and training to reach a broader audience.
"I'm very excited about this. This gives people an opportunity to voice their opinion, say what they feel is affecting them in their workplace, in their community," said Arlene Sedlickas from the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE/NUPGE). "Our union, it is made up of 75% women and they want to be heard. By giving them some tools and a bit of information, they will be able to pass it along to others. This is a great opportunity."
More information:
All Together Now! campaign: Women 4 Change
NUPGE
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