District 6 Women of Steel Newsletter 2009

The District 6 Women’s Committee has experienced some changes in the last few months. We would like to take this opportunity to re-introduce our members to the sisters in our Union. The newest members of our committee are Roxanne Bond, Susan Cao and Carolle Gilgeous.

Co-Chairs: Dianne Walker and Terri Nugent
Committee Members: Norma Mohamed, Lina Brunette, Wendy Roberts, Anita Bryan, Wanda Power, Mary Lou Scott, Nicole Swift, Lynne Descary-Parker, Roxanne Bond, Cindy Rix, Carolle Gilgeous and Susan Cao

Staff Reps: Marlene Gow and Carrie Robinson

Women’s Committees:
Building Local Union Power

We are very proud of the work our committee has done in the past and this work would not have been accomplished without the support of our locals and Director Fraser. We are always looking for ways to promote women’s issues in our workplaces and the communities. Our previous accomplishments would not have been possible without the sisters on the committee and our sisters that no longer are a part of this committee.
We send out our heartfelt THANK YOU to the following sisters for their commitment to our committee and wish them luck in their future endeavors.
Kathleen Grant, Paulette Davis, Karen Trelford, Lisa Uusitalo, Nathalie Belair, Marjorie Bhola-Swami, Anne Rinneard, Janet Macdonald, and Lee Hollet.

Past Events  2008/2009

D6 Women’s Committees and their respective areas had a busy year. 

• Involved in the Toxic Toy Campaign along with Val Grace and Cheryl Craig
• Reviewed courses for women and made suggestions to the Education Department.-- The Women of Steel Course, Lobbying module, and Steel Vote module.
• Visible at conferences, display tables set-up to sell District 6 Women of Steel clothing, pins and promote the importance of Women’s committees. Volunteered to co-facilitate workshops at conferences and always promoting the WIN site.
• International Women’s Day for 2008 and 2009 saw a number of Women’s committees and their area councils celebrate the day with events which included breakfast, guest speakers, marches and silent auctions. 
• At a number of events, sisters and their committees set-up display tables and were able to promote the United Steelworkers and Women of Steel through handouts, t-shirts and pins. 
• Northeastern Ontario Sisters on July 17, organized a rally/BBQ to support the strikers at CIBC in Sudbury
• Northeastern Ontario sisters participated in the Labour Day Parade with a Women’s committee Float  
• Women of Steel Singing Group from the North participated in the “Take Back the Night” march—September 18 in Sudbury
• Eastern Ontario Area Women’s Committee adopted 4 families at Christmas– raised $1500.00 which was used to make their Christmas a joyous event.
• Northumberland Area Locals held their 2nd Labour Day BBQ with a attendance of over 500 participants
• Northumberland Area USW locals went Christmas shopping for low income families in the area.
• USW National Women's  Conference November 2-5, 2008-Vancouver, B.C.

Feedback from the Conference:
“What did delegates like best about the conference?“
Well organized, very informative, excellent speakers, liked the diversity of the panelists, workshops were participatory and great, great workshop leaders and lots of energy, enjoyed hearing stories of how and why women got involved, rally created solidarity.

“What could have been done better?”
Longer, need more time to interact, do the district meetings earlier in the week to enable sisters from the District to network earlier in the conference.

OVERALL—ONE OF THE BEST

Now Hear This!!
“DESIGNATED SCHOLARSHIPS FOR WOMEN ONLY”
Director Fraser has always recognized the importance of women in our union and has implemented a number of initiatives designed to assist women within our union. One excellent initiative was the designated scholarships available to women only.
The courses available for the scholarships are as follows:

Steelworkers Stewards in Action, Arbitration—”To Go or Not to Go?, Arbitration—”We’re Going What Now?, Arbitration- “Prepare and Present, Bargaining to Win, Bargaining Pensions, Confronting Workplace change: Continuous Bargaining Strategies.
Sisters on our District 6 webpage, you will see a link to the 2009 Education Calendar which shows all courses tentatively scheduled for the year. . If interested in any of the courses, talk with your Local Executive and see how you can become involved and be eligible for educational opportunities.

Please pass this important information on to your Local Union Executives and sisters within your local.

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