Presented by Barbara Byers on Friday, 9 April 2010

Hello Sisters and Brother Michel! Bonjour mes chères consoeurs et mon cher confrère Michel!

I am very pleased to be with you and to bring greetings on behalf of the Officers of the Canadian Labour Congress; President Ken Georgetti, Executive Vice-President Marie Clarke Walker, and Secretary-Treasurer Hassan Yussuff; and on behalf of the over 3 million Sisters and Brothers who are members of the CLC.

Je suis très heureuse d’être avec vous et de vous transmettre les salutations du Congrès du travail du Canada : du président Ken Georgetti, de la vice-présidente exécutive Marie Clarke Walker, et du secrétaire-trésorier Hassan Yussuff. Et des trois millions de consoeurs et confrères qui sont membres du CTC.

I also want to bring greetings on behalf of the CLC staff; members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union. You may be most familiar with the great work done by our staff in the Atlantic Region. There are many workers just like them, working in Ottawa at headquarters and across the country, working side-by-side with the labour movement and making a difference every day.

Congratulations on holding this Women’s Conference. May there be many more women’s conferences to come!

The theme of your conference “Our voices - Our future” and the goal of engaging women in the political process is very important; for indeed our voices need to be heard, and listened to, and acted upon in order to create a new and different future for all citizens.

I want to spend a few minutes today talking with you about the importance of women running for office, or volunteering in a campaign or being part of an organized campaign to question candidates on the issues important to the labour movement and especially to women.

And then I want to turn our attention to what our agenda might be if we had more women involved in the political process at all levels; federally, provincially, municipally; and yes, in the union too.

Before I go to those issues, I believe congratulations are in order. You won an important fight on New Brunswick Power! Congratulations on a job well done. Congratulations to your President, Michel Boudreau, and the New Brunswick Federation of Labour who, together with civil society, took on this fight on behalf of all citizens of your province. And I understand that it is a woman who led the struggle on behalf of our civil society allies. See what can be done when we take our place and space in politics of all kinds?

So, let’s spend a few minutes thinking about the importance of women being involved in the political process. And Sisters, when I say ‘women’ I mean ‘you’ being involved in the political process.

Let’s start with me getting to know you and what level of involvement you have in the political process.

How many of you have run for political office in your union?

Combien d’entre vous se sont déjà portées candidates à un poste de votre syndicat?

How many of you have run for a political office municipally, including school boards?

Combien d’entre vous se sont déjà portées candidates à un poste municipal, y compris au conseil scolaire?

How about provincially?
À un poste provincial?

How about federally?
Et à un poste fédéral?

Now, how many of you have been asked to run for a political office in your union and decided that you weren’t ‘qualified enough’, or had enough experience, or were concerned you could do the job?

Bon! Combien d’entre vous avez été invitées à vous porter candidate à un poste de votre syndicat et avez décidé que vous n’étiez pas assez « qualifiées ou n’aviez pas assez d’expérience pour faire le travail »?

Now, how many of you have been asked to run for political office at the municipal, provincial and federal levels and decided not to explore it because of some of the same self-doubts?

Et combien d’entre vous avez été invitées à vous porter candidate à un poste politique municipal, provincial ou fédéral et avez décidé de ne pas y penser parce que vous aviez plus ou moins les mêmes doutes.

We need to work hard together Sisters to deal with our self-doubts. I can think of many wonderful, skilled, committed, feminist trade unionists and community activists – women that decide they are not ‘qualified enough’ to take on the challenge of running for political office of some kind.

And, honestly, I can’t think of even one man who expresses those same self-doubts. When they are approached, or when they nominate themselves, they never question if they have the right mix of skills to do the job, or if they know enough about economics to take on the financial types or a whole range of other issues we question ourselves on.

So, like Rosie the Riveter, we need to say “We Can Do It” and then go out and do it!

Alors, comme Rosie la Riveteuse, nous devons dire « Nous pouvons le faire », puis prendre notre courage à deux mains et le faire!

Every woman in this room has the qualifications to run for office or run a campaign for another Sister – or Brother. You are financial wizards, you know how to manage conflict, you bring people together to find solutions, you do a ‘high-wire balancing act’ with your lives every day. And you can do any job that comes your way.

Chaque femme ici présente a les compétences nécessaires pour être candidate à un poste ou pour mener une campagne pour une autre consoeur. Vous êtes des magiciennes des chiffres. Vous savez comment gérer un conflit – ou confrère. Vous rassemblez les gens pour trouver des solutions. Vous vous livrez à des exercices d’équilibre de haute voltige dans votre vie de tous les jours. Vous pouvez accomplir toutes les tâches qui se présentent à vous.

I want to use the words of a man to challenge you for those opportunities ahead. A quote from a man at a women’s conference is somewhat unusual for me however, I read this quote in the April 6th edition of the New Brunswick Women’s News from the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women. They quoted from a submission by Jean-Marie Nadeau in the Telegraph Journal on March 13th. Many of you are familiar with Jean-Marie Nadeau who is a former journalist and community activist and current president of the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick. He said :

“Maintaining relationships of inequality between the sexes is an enormous loss for our society... from a social, economic and peace perspective... We’re constantly being told about the lack of pay equity, the increase in violence against women and greater poverty among women, particularly single mothers. And yet, nobody is born without, at least, a biological mother... humanity is born of woman! ...Why do men continue to keep women in a situation of inferiority and inequality, if not for reasons of power and economics, built on the backs of women? ...Without my mother, without the extraordinary woman with whom I live, without the daughters I had with her, without my sisters and without most of my friends who are women, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. That’s why I’ll continue to live the rest of the time I have to live as a feminist man, because I am deeply convinced that it’s only through true real equality between men and women that our humanity will finally reach harmony and well-being.

Women of the world, sweep into the political sphere as quickly as possible, in order to transform our society into one that is saner, more sensitive and sensible, generous and balanced... in keeping with who you are!”

Are you feeling challenged now, and ready to say “I can do it” to the opportunities that are in front of you and in front of all of us?

Je vous ai lancé un défi! Et prêtes à dire « Je peux le faire » devant les possibilités qui s’offrent à vous, et à toutes et chacune d’entre nous?

What would society look like if all you wonderful Sisters were involved, and active, and elected to positions in governments of all levels and in our labour movement?

Imaginez notre société si vous, merveilleuses consoeurs, participiez toutes activement et occupiez des postes à tous les niveaux de gouvernement et du mouvement syndical.

What is our agenda to, as Jean-Marie Nadeau says, “transform our society into one that is saner, more sensitive and sensible, generous and balanced?”.

Quel est notre programme pour, comme le dit Jean-Marie Nadeau, « transformer notre société en une société plus saine, sensible, généreuse et équilibrée? »

I can’t give you the whole list, but I can give you a good start on it and I know you will add to it, based on your knowledge and skills and the needs of women and their families in New Brunswick.

Pay equity

I am convinced that if all governments and all other political representatives in municipal councils and provincial legislatures and the federal Parliament, and unions had at least 50% representation by women, we would have pay equity by now for all women in all workplaces and we would be working on the next step toward closing the economic gap between the genders.

We also know that the economic discrimination continues through our lives. If we earn less as working women we will have smaller pensions as retired women and we are much more likely to live in poverty.

Women know about pay discrimination. We see it every time we take home a pay cheque. In this province, when income from all sources is considered, not just employment, the pay gap between men and women has improved slightly since 2000. Now before you start ‘dancing in the streets’, you need to know that women’s average income in New Brunswick is $22,900. That’s 67% of men’s average income of $34,000. And Aboriginal women have an average income of $17,650. Seems to me we need women and men taking action in our unions and in all levels of government to close that gap!

By the way, the notes I prepared for today contained an immediate action to support pay equity. Yesterday I received an email Action Call from the New Brunswick Advisory Council and the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity. The Coalition was worried about the 2 month delay in receiving a response for its 2010-13 project proposal and they asked people to contact their Member of Parliament to get some speedy action on this.

Michel Boudreau has just told the Conference that the Coalition received an answer today, and the answer is “No” to any funding. This is a continuation of the starving of advocacy organizations by the Harper Government. We need to take action now. Seems to me those MPs should still be receiving phone calls and emails calling on them to advocate for a change in this decision. This is a place that women and men who are concerned about gender wage discrimination can take political action right away. There is a computer in the lobby. Let’s keep it very busy. And let’s stick with the pressure until we have achieved success.

Retirement Security

You know about the labour movement’s campaign to achieve retirement security for all Canadians. Our campaign would be fully reinforced if we had more women’s voices in politics.

We want to raise the Guaranteed Income Supplement immediately to the poverty line. We want to double the Canada Pension Plan benefit over the next 7 to 10 years. And we want to provide pension insurance so that those Canadians who do have a private pension plan will also have some financial security with their investments. Millions of women and men would benefit from these proposals.

There are some hard and cruel realities to retirement today. — It’s absolutely inexcusable that 1.6 million seniors – about 35% of those receiving public pensions — live on less than $15,000 per year. The poverty rate for retired women is double the rate of retired men. Things are much worse for what is known as ‘unattached’ women — single, divorced, and widowed. A study in 2004 found that 45.6% of them lived in poverty.

Those statistics and numbers are about people’s lives and about heartbreaking stories.

Last month, at a CLC pension forum in Windsor Ontario, we heard from a woman who lost her house, her car and her life savings. In what should be her golden years, she is living in a small geared-to-income apartment, on social assistance and using food banks to survive.

Earlier this year, at another meeting here in the Atlantic we heard from a woman who had worked 16 years for the same company and contributed to the company pension plan. The company went broke, the junk-bond dealers moved in and of course, retirees are low-down on the list of creditors. Do you know what that woman’s pension is after 16 years of contribution? It is $400. Not $400 a month. Not even $400 a year. It is $400 total after 16 years of contribution! We need pension insurance to protect women and men who find themselves out of work from a bankrupt company and their pension plan robbed of its assets.

With so many Canadians living their retirement years in poverty or close to the poverty line, it is long past the time for these changes to happen. I know that women’s voices would provide the financial sanity that if the choice was retirement security for all or cuts in taxes to corporations and the rich, women would choose retirement security for all.

Childcare

There are women in this room and women across the country that advocated for quality, accessible, affordable, community-based and not-for-profit childcare when their children were young. Those same women continue to advocate for childcare now – except now it is for their grandchildren.

When we know that every dollar invested in childcare increases the economy’s output by about $2.50 – one of the highest impacts of all sectors – we have to question why we are still without the childcare that working families need. Why is it that Quebec has $7 a day quality childcare for working families and yet the rest of Canada hasn’t come anywhere close to a program like that. And by the way, before the Quebec childcare plan was introduced, the participation rate of Quebec women in the workplace was the worst in Canada. Ten years after introducing the childcare program, the workforce participation rate of Quebec women is the best in Canada.

During the Second World War when women were needed in the factories and by the men who ran the industrial engine of the country, there was childcare. When the war was over and women were sent back to the home, the childcare disappeared. With more women in political office, the debate would be much shorter and much clearer and working families would have the quality childcare that they need.

Unemployment Insurance

Successive federal governments robbed the UI fund of $57 billion. The last federal budget made it official and wiped out the amount the federal government owed to workers in the UI fund that workers contributed to.

Our UI/EI fund needed to be used to modernize the program and to ensure that those who contributed to it actually could access it and receive a reasonable level of income while they were in between jobs.

The labour movement supported the change to contributing to UI, no matter how many hours you worked. We saw this as a way of including women who work less than full-time or less than full-year. We knew that many employers were keeping part-time workers at less than 15 hours a week as a way to avoid paying UI premiums for those workers. We wanted to remove that financial advantage to them. What we didn’t count on, was that successive federal Liberal and Conservative governments would set the hours threshold so high that those workers who contributed would never have the chance to collect UI when they needed it — or if they were fortunate enough to collect — the benefits would be so low and for such a brief time, they would be further penalized from the program that they contributed to.

Most of those workers who are excluded from UI are women and young workers. If we had more of your voices in governments at all levels, I think we would have solved this problem by now.

Violence against women

Sisters, we need your voices to take up the continuous struggle to end violence against women; and indeed to end violence in our communities, homes and workplaces.

I know many of you have been involved in this struggle and that the issue of violence has touched many women and their families. According to the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women, “between 1975 and 2004, 52 women and 7 men were killed by a current or ex-spouse. That number would be significantly higher if all intimate relationships and secondary victims were included. More Aboriginal people than other New Brunswickers say they are very concerned about violence against women, elder abuse and child abuse”.

With your involvement I believe we could really take on the social and economic conditions that contribute to violence and together we would make the changes in our communities and our workplaces that would make a real difference in women’s, men’s and children’s lives.

You can take action now on something we really need your help with. You know about December 6th and the murders of 14 women who were gunned down at the École Polytechnique on December 6th 1989.

After those murders, people across Canada organized for gun control legislation. Most of those leading the struggle were women.

It took a long time, but finally by 1995 we had the legislation and we had the registry.

I know there have been problems with the financing and the administration. I also know that the registry has saved lives.

Then on November 4th, just a month before the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal murders, the Conservatives introduced a Private Members' Bill, C-391, to wipe out the long-gun registry and all the records that are part of the registry.

The Conservative caucus all voted for the Bill. The Bloc Québécois all voted against the Bill. Eight Liberals voted for the Bill; and sadly twelve New Democrats voted for the Bill.

Sisters, we need you to organize with us politically to deliver a message to all politicians. We need to keep the long-gun registry and we need to work even harder to end violence in our homes and in our communities.

We have an Activist Guide here for you. We dedicated our International Women’s Day message on March 8th to keeping the registry and ending violence against women.

We need you to read the information in the Activist Guide and then pick up the phone and start up your computers and send a message to MPs. Let those who voted for the Bill, like Liberal Jean-Claude D’Amours, know that you want them to change their vote. Let those who voted against the Bill, like the NDP’s Yvon Godin, know that you support their stand. And let the Opposition Party Leaders know you want a unified caucus standing against the Bill when it comes back to the House for Third Reading.

I know this can be a contentious issue. Some of you may support doing away with the Registry. I ask you to read the information from the CLC. Call me if you would like to discuss it further. Or contact Michel from the Federation or Paulette from our Atlantic Region. I believe you will come to the understanding of why it is so important that this Conservative Bill is defeated; and we go forward together to create safe homes and communities and workplaces.

Reality Check

Every March at the United Nations there is a major meeting of governments and civil society regarding the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Each year there is a different focus; and every five years there is a check-in with governments regarding what they have done to advance the situation of women arising from the goals set in 1995 by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

This year was the 15th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration. If you read the Canadian government report you wouldn’t know which country they were talking about! They concentrated on how much we have advanced and did not talk about the reality of women’s lives.

Trade unions and civil society organizations developed our own response to the Beijing Declaration. We have it here for you, and it is available on the CLC website.

Reality Check has very good information about the reality of the lives of women in Canada. It also is a call for political action to each of us and for all of our organizations. It is also a ‘work in progress’ as there are some issues we just didn’t get done, given the time frame we were dealing with. There is a long list of organizations that have endorsed the report and it is not too late for your organization to endorse it. We will keep adding names of organizations as groups discuss the report and endorse it.

Today I have only been able to ‘skim the surface’ of issues that could change things dramatically if you brought your voices, your skills, your knowledge to change our futures. The list is very long. And it is all achievable. But it does need you to make it happen.

Ce ne sont que quelques domaines qui pourraient changer de façon spectaculaire grâce à votre voix, à vos compétences et à vos connaissances, pour un meilleur avenir. La liste est longue. Et elle est entièrement réalisable. Mais nous avons besoin de vous pour y arriver.

Finally, let me be clear that this is not about electing women just for the sake of having our gender elected.

We need strong women, feminists, activists, trade unionists who will bring voices of change to politics in this country.

Nous avons besoin de femmes, de féministes, de militantes et de syndicalistes fortes, qui seront la voix du changement dans la politique de ce pays.

It is not easy, but then I believe you have taken on other difficult tasks in your lives.

I leave you with the words of Eleanor Roosevelt who offered timeless advice in 1936 to women working in politics.

“You cannot take anything personally.

You cannot bear grudges.

You must finish the day’s work when the day’s work is done.

You cannot get discouraged too easily.

You have to take defeat over and over again, and pick up and go on.

Be sure of your facts.

Argue the other side with a friend until you have found the answer to every point which might be brought up against you.

Women who are willing to be leaders must stand out and be shot at. More and more they are going to do it, and more and more they should do it.”

Above all Eleanor Roosevelt insisted: “Every political women needs to develop skin as tough a rhinoceros hide!”

Thank you for this time this afternoon. I will look forward to contributing to your political campaigns. Sisters and brothers,