December 6: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Being tasked to write this article presented me with a challenge. I wasn’t sure of the best way to approach the topic of violence against women in order to deliver a piece that was insightful to the reader and meaningful to me. In my brainstorming sessions, I kept thinking of the 14 women who were killed on December 6th, 1989 simply for the fact that they were women. Images and thoughts from that horrific day resonated so strongly within me and kept repeating like a song on a continuous loop.

A chance conversation with one of my closest and dearest friends provided me with a “eureka” moment that gave me focus and reminded me of the enormity and severity of violence against women and how some of our sisters are continually living this reality – this perpetual motion. When you think about it, everyone knows someone or about someone who has been the victim of violence. As I sat there listening and bearing witness to the experience of a domestic abuse survivor, I was reminded about that continuous loop. And I was reminded that this wasn’t the first time I’d been privy to such tales of violence and triumph. The importance of being there to listen and lend support is integral to the victim’s support network.

(Thank you, Stacy, for bringing into focus the direction I needed as inspiration for this article.)

According to Status of Women in Canada, these are the facts:

FACT: Women are 11 times more likely than men to be victims of sexual offences
FACT: Women are 4 times more likely than men to experience intimate partner violence
FACT: Women with disabilities are at 4 times greater risk of experiencing sexual assault
FACT: The RCMP reports that nearly 1,200 Aboriginal women and girls have been murdered or gone missing in Canada
FACT: Young women between the ages of 15 and 24 experience the highest rates of violence
FACT: Since 1980, the number of non-Aboriginal female victims of homicide has been declining while the number of Aboriginal female victims has remained relatively constant
FACT: 8 out of 10 victims of intimate partner violence are women
FACT: Data suggests that one quarter of female students in college or university have experienced sexual assault or attempted sexual assault; 90% of these students knew their attacker
FACT: Women are 3 times more likely than men to experience criminal harassment
FACT: Aboriginal women are 3 times more likely to report experiencing violence than non-Aboriginal women
FACT: Aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada’s murdered women; they make up 4% of the female population but represent 16% of all murdered women
FACT: Sexual offences are 8 times more likely to be committed against girls ages 12-17 than male youth
FACT: 90% of Sexual assaults against women by a non-spousal accused are never reported to police
FACT: Women know their sexual attacker in three quarters of incidents

The facts here speak for themselves – women are targets simply because of their gender. So on this National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada I strongly urge you to acknowledge without pride or prejudice, as an individual and a society, that gender-based violence is not just a women’s issue, it’s an everybody issue. Ignoring and sweeping it under the carpet is no longer an option or an alternative.

Instead, we must address the issue; face the FACTs head-on.

Together, we can root out this malignancy that has us hobbled and look towards engendering a society where respect for women is the new norm rather than the exception. It is left to us to facilitate spaces where victims feel free to express their experiences and lend support where we must to enable the healing of all those who have been affected by gender-based acts of violence.
In closing, I would like to share this poem with you…

Victim

VICTIMS, each and every one of us
In one way or another – Victim
The unknowingly conscious recipient of some or other crime against
humanity – Victim

VICTIMS, each and every one of us
Properly thrashed and subjected, to some or another of society’s ills
Dissected and Rejected, ready to occupy another space on humanity’s
landfill – Victim

VICTIMS, each and every one of us
Pillaged and Plundered, left falling, failing, floundering for – just give me
just one more chance, come on give me just one more chance, ready for
another option outside of that of – Victim

VICTIMS, each and every one of us
Desperate for movement, anywhere else but between a rock and its hardest
place
Rendered incapable, unable to gasp for breath as life holds us each
immobilized, comatose and in a state of suspended animation – Victim

VICTIMS, each and every one of us

Hayley Millington is the UNE’s National Equity Representative for Women.

2015/11/202015/12/03

Trans Day of Remembrance

This Friday is TDOR – Trans Day of Remembrance. A night we honour our dead and memorialize those we know were murdered simply because they were trans.

They were sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles….and every other combination of family that you can think of. And probably some you can’t – like family by choice. And they were friends.

But for many of us in the trans community it is not solely about memorializing the murdered. For many TDOR has a multitude of meanings – yes, memorializing the murdered; but for me it is also about remembering and memorializing all those other brothers and sisters in the trans community who have died no matter how – whether by accident, suicide, natural causes – what have you. It is a day to remember our friends and family who no longer walk alongside us. For others it is a way of bringing into the light the bigotry and hate that impacts our lives so deeply and asking you to help us stop it. And for others still, it is a poke in the eye to those bigots, in some way saying “you may kill us, but you can never silence us and we will stand up and fight against you”.

Last year I was in Ottawa for TDOR and I attended the vigil held there. I was in Ottawa for bargaining as part of the PA group bargaining team. And coincidentally one of the things we are bargaining for is to get gender identity and expression put into the non-discrimination clauses of our collective agreements. It was a fairly cold night and the vigil was held at the Canadian Human Rights Monument on Elgin Street. A cold, yet appropriate location I thought. There was actually a fairly large crowd, and the speaker did a very nice job with the memorial. Nice enough that after the vigil I asked her if she could email me a copy of what she read because it was so incredibly touching to me.

But I have to say what made me most proud and honoured was the support from my bargaining team, my component and the national executive of the PSAC. Our National President, Robyn Benson attended and stood beside me during the entire vigil – her presence was both very comforting and very empowering. As well, National Executive Vice President Chris Aylward attended, as did REVP Ontario Sharon DeSousa, and a number of the PSAC staff. The entire PA Group bargaining team was there in support, as was my UNE President, Doug Marshall. To me their presence said “trans lives matter” and that we, as a union, care about all members; and that I – and the things that matter to me – are important. I know I am an extreme minority within the PSAC – having met only 5 other trans members over the past 8 years and the union has always been good to me, but that night it really hit home. They care. They do give a damn. And it doesn’t matter if it is 1 member or 1000 members. The union will be there for you if it can be. Thank you to all of you who came and showed your support for me and my community. I am not sure that I can adequately express what it meant to me.

That night, and every TDOR, for me personally was also remembering a friend who I did not know for that many years, but who I knew better than some of my own family. Like many in the community we met online, and over time we met in 3D. She was a lovely woman, very down to earth and we could talk for hours (and often did) about just about anything under the sun.

We had a ritual of sorts. Whenever we happened to be in the same city at the same time, we would get together for dinner and drinks and spend the evening chatting. Well actually, we would find a restaurant, order all the appetizers on the menu (except for stuff we both absolutely hated or were allergic to) and a couple of bottles (or more) of wine, and we would chat. I suspect restaurants hated us, because we were there for hours and they didn’t turn the table over. But we ate and drank and talked the night away.

There would be weeks I didn’t hear from her due to her job – and the fact that she wasn’t out to her spouse and family and sometimes had to lay low – but it wasn’t abnormal. Sad isn’t it? That “going dark” and lying low because you might be outed isn’t considered abnormal in my community. So after she finally disclosed to her spouse, I didn’t hear from her for a while. I wasn’t concerned – there had been other times she had gone quiet, so it wasn’t that unusual.

Then I got a message from a mutual friend from online. Our mutual friend knew her boyname and had seen an obituary for her. She messaged me that she was dead. I didn’t know her boyname and really didn’t care, because as far as I was concerned, she was always “Char”. Charlene – a friend and a sister by choice. When I enquired with our mutual friend, I found out that she had finally done what she always said she would do if the pain got too bad. To quote Char, when it got too bad “I would rather suck off a .45 than live like that”. Apparently it did, and then she did.

She, and the too many others like her, also need to be remembered on TDOR. Because while the statistics around TDOR are those that were murdered because they were trans (and to reiterate, those are only confirmed cases that we know about and are reported); there are many, many more that die because they can no longer suffer the pain of rejection, abuse, harassment, violence and the thousand other indignities heaped on trans people on a daily basis. And it depends on whose stats you read, and how they were reported, but the successful (wow, there’s an oxymoron!) and attempted suicide rates within the trans community are absolutely staggering. Some put the successful suicide rate at over 20 percent and the attempted rate at over 45 percent. But it is hard to get accurate readings on this as sometimes you never know what drives a person to that place; and many unsuccessful suicides are so ashamed they won’t admit why they really tried it.

Sad to say, but I do not personally know a trans person who doesn’t have an “exit strategy”. Nice euphemism isn’t it? “Exit strategy” I may as well say it as it is – suicide plan. And those plans are as wide and varied as the people. What does it say about our society that an entire subgroup of our population looks at suicide as a viable daily option? A subgroup that is already a part of an already marginalized community.

And I have to admit, I often wonder how many of those suicides are in fact murders in their own right. Pushing people until they finally snap and “rid the world of freaks like you”. And yes, I have had comments like that directed at me, and I suspect most trans people have as well, at one time or another.

So in memory of my friend Char, after the vigil, I took a couple of friends to a restaurant where we ordered a whole lot of appetizers, had some drinks and chatted the rest of the evening away. Something I have done every year on TDOR since she died. And I ate too much, and I definitely drank too much – to say I got a bit “squiffy” would be an extreme understatement – something I rarely do, and remembered my friend. And in her own way she was there that night because I remembered her, and told my friends a bit about her. And as long as someone remembers you, one never truly dies.

So on this day, remember ALL of those in the community who have left us, no matter how. They deserve to be remembered. And celebrated for the lives they lived.

Kate Hart is the UNE’s National Equity Representative for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People

2015/11/19

No significant movement from Senate administration in negotiations on Monday

On Monday November 16^th our Bargaining Team met with Senate Administration to continue negotiations for a new collective agreement.

In negotiations we again re-iterated that we seeking the same protections and rights that already exist for other workers on Parliament Hill, and that the PSAC has successfully negotiated with other federal employers.

This includes fair access to training and career advancement opportunities, family-related responsibility leave, access of union representatives to the workplace, provision of clothing and uniforms.

In our session last week, the Senate indicated that “there have been no problems” with respect to clothing provision at the Senate, and instead proposed to remove certain items from the collective agreement.

On Monday, we saw no movement on any of the issues outstanding between the parties, with the exception of family-related responsibility leave, where the Senate continues to insist that we agree to less than what the PSAC has negotiated for tens of thousands of other federal workers. We will not agree to less.

We are scheduled to meet again in December. Our hope is that the Senate will return to finally bargain with our team. If you have any questions or concerns, contact a member of our Bargaining Team. We’ll be sure to update as things progress.

Source: PSAC

2015/10/202015/12/03

Harper Stopped

After ten years of cuts to government services, lies about security and climate change, disrespect to indigenous people and deception to Canadians on so many other levels, voters stormed the polls and finally put a stop to Stephen Harper and his conservative regime. Canada has voted to stop the cuts.

“It has been obvious to our members and it became obvious to Canadians during this election that parliament was broken, ruled by a secretive and dishonest government,” said UNE national president Doug Marshall. “We hope to work with the incoming government to establish positive labour relations and hold the Liberals to the promises they outlined in their party’s platform.”

Some of those promises we will watch closely include:

Restoring a public service where employees are respected and valued
Increasing taxes for our country’s highest earners
Increasing the funding for needed infrastructure projects
Establishing an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women
Repealing various anti-worker and anti-union laws

The Union of National Employees is prepared to work with the new government in order to achieve positive change for Canadians and a strong and effective public service.

2015/10/202015/10/28

Canadians voted for change

PSACPostElection

PSAC calls on new Parliament to restore public services and repair relations with federal public service employees

OTTAWA –Canadians rejected the Harper Conservatives and voted for change on October 19 and that is good news for Canada, says the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

“The new Liberal government has a strong mandate for change,” said PSAC National President Robyn Benson. “That change needs to include restoring public services and building a positive relationship with the federal public service. We call on the Liberals to practice a new kind of politics and to work collaboratively with the NDP and other progressives in Parliament to put Canada back together again.”

Before and during the election, the PSAC carried out a public information campaign to convince Canadians to vote to stop the cuts made by the previous Conservative government. A poll carried out just before polling day found that a large percentage of Canadians believed the cuts would affect the election outcome.

“We know from our own campaign work that voters were fed up with the Harper Conservatives’ attacks on the public service. As the largest public service union, we look forward to sitting down with the new government as soon as possible to discuss how to repair the damage done including how to improve labour relations in the federal public service,” said Benson.

The Harper Conservative government passed successive omnibus bills in its last four years fundamentally changing collective bargaining laws, as well as health and safety protections for federal workers. During the campaign the Liberal Party of Canada promised to restore the bargaining rights of federal government employees and to repeal the anti-union legislation passed by the Conservatives.

“We call on the new government to act on these promises without delay,” concluded Benson.

PSAC is calling on the new Parliament to:

Restore and strengthen federal public services, including the re-opening of Veterans Affairs offices closed by the Conservatives in 2014.
Repeal the parts of budget implementation bills (C-4, C-10, C-59) that changed labour laws, imposed wage reductions, took away pay equity rights, weakened workplace health and safety protections, and gave the Government the unilateral right to remove the sick leave provisions in negotiated collective agreements.
Restore the right of unions to represent members with respect to pay equity claims.
Repeal Bill C-525, which makes it harder for workers in the federal sector to organize, and Bill C-377, which is both unconstitutional and a violation of privacy rights.

Source: www.psacunion.ca

2015/10/082015/10/28

Vote for a government that will protect health and safety

YVYF-VoteHealthSafety

Six years ago, PSAC and UNE commissioned the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) to prepare a thorough report on health and safety in the federal jurisdiction. At the UNE Health and safety conference held in the fall of that year, we invited additional health and safety officers so that that they could be interviewed by the CCPA. In 2010, the CCPA published a devastating report on the poor state of health and safety and the problems and pressures faced by the shrinking number of health and safety officers.

So, this year, one year after the recent changes to the law, PSAC and UNE again asked the CCPA to produce a report that would update its 2010 report. That report was released in late September. And what were the findings?

In 10 years, the number of health and safety inspectors on the job has dropped by over 50%.
From 151 inspectors in 2005, the numbers show no more than 67 working as of April, 2015. This far lower than the number claimed by the government.
Between 2002 and 2013, 684 employees died as a result of workplace injury.
There were nearly 21,000 disabling injuries in the federally regulated sector in 2012 alone.

John Anderson, the researcher who conducted the study, summarized things this way:

“The overall situation is a recipe for both potential dangerous occupational health and safety issues and injuries. Inspection is absent or so highly limited it cannot create the safe workplace environment that is surely everybody’s goal and wish.”

The study also included several recommendations, including:

Repealing the 2013 changes to the Canada Labour Code and increasing staffing levels for health and safety officers;
Conducting regular field inspections, particularly in high-risk workplaces;
Improving data collecting and making it more transparent;
Developing a strategy for workplace safety on First Nations reserves;
Reinstating fire inspectors, whose jobs had been eliminated from the federal Labour Program just a couple of years ago; and
Covering all Parliament Hill employees under federal health and safety regulation.

We will continue the fight for health and safety. Keeping workers safe has a direct impact on the safety of the Canadian public. The services we provide need to be health and safety regulated.

With just days to go before the federal election, we want to remind you to

Vote for a government that will protect health and safety.
Vote for a government that will protect labour and human rights.
Vote for a government that will support public services – not self-service or no-service.
Vote for a government that will respect Canadians.

2015/10/02

Liberal youth job creation‎ will lead to unfair working conditions

LibUnfair

The Liberal party’s promise to promote and protect Canada’s national parks falls short of what is needed particularly because it encompasses a proposal to create 5,000 youth jobs at the expense of secure and stable employment at Parks Canada.

The Liberals have indicated that they will address staff shortages by hiring young workers as guides, interpreters and in other positions at Parks Canada instead of creating regular employment opportunities.

“We are concerned that this approach will lead to unfair working conditions for younger workers, and it does not constitute real and meaningful reinvestment in our national parks,” said Doug Marshall, president of the Union of National Employees, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Students who are employed by Parks Canada are paid separate and inferior wages under the Federal Student Work Experience Program. In the name of gaining work experience they are paid less than the workers they replace yet they perform the same work as regular employees.

Job creation is not about trading one type of job for another. Good jobs for young workers should not be created at the expense of workers already employed.

PSAC calls on the Liberal Party to create good jobs for young workers that are stable, paid a fair rate and provide career opportunities but not at the expense of the current workforce at Parks Canada.

2015/10/012015/10/06

October 4th Sisters in Spirit Vigils: A movement for social change

SistersInSpiritVigils

This is an invitation to celebrate, honour and support Indigenous women, girls and their families on October 4^thby attending or holding a Sisters in Spirit Vigil.

A Sisters in Spirit Vigil can take many forms – from a moment of silence to a rally to a community feast. All that is important is that you take some time on or around October 4^th to mark the day.

Look for Sisters in Spirit vigils on-line at nwac.ca. The Native Women’s Association of Canada asks us to read the Public Statement, found on their website, to supporters at each vigil.

Several labour unions and the aboriginal community have combined their efforts to hold a Sisters in Spirit Vigil at 5:00-6:30 pm, at city hall in Vancouver. See our Facebook event for more details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/922030871180085/

We demand a national inquiry into the violence faced by Indigenous women and girls. Please stand with us.

For other event locations, please visit http://www.nwac.ca/policy-areas/violence-prevention-and-safety/sisters-in-spirit/october-4th-vigils/

All our relations,

Genevieve, Sandra & Ruby

Supporters of UNE Aboriginal Equity

2015/09/302015/10/01

CCPA Study Tells Canadians What the Union Has Been Saying All Along About Health & Safety

CCPAStudy

A new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives entitled Waiting to Happen: Why we need major changes to the health and safety regime in federally regulated workplaces reveals that the health and safety of over a million workers in the federal government and other federally-regulated workplaces is at risk.

“This study confirms that our members – and the Canadians to whom they provide services – are at risk,” said UNE President Doug Marshall. “There are several recommendations, including repealing the 2013 changes to the Canadian Labour Code that the government snuck into their omnibus bill C-4. These are changes that need to happen and on October 19^th, we need to make sure the government we elect will follow the recommendations in order to improve the health and safety of workers and the well-being of Canadians.”

The study reveals some disturbing numbers about health and safety in workplaces:

In 10 years the number of health and safety inspectors on the job has dropped by over 50 per cent.
From 151 inspectors in 2005, figures obtained by PSAC show no more than 67 working as of April, 2015.
Between 2002 and 2013, 684 employees died as a result of workplace injury.
There were nearly 21,000 disabling injuries in the federally regulated sector in 2012 alone.

The study concludes with several recommendations to restore and improve the health and safety regulation of businesses and employers under federal jurisdiction, including:

Repealing the 2013 changes to the Canada Labour Code and increasing inspector staffing levels;
Conducting regular field inspections, particularly in high-risk workplaces;
Improving data collecting and making it more transparent;
Developing a strategy for workplace safety on First Nations reserves;
Reinstating fire inspectors; and
Covering all Parliament Hill employees under federal health and safety regulation.

Click here to download and share a copy of the full CCPA report: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/waiting-happen

With files from www.psacunion.ca

2015/09/292015/10/01

Honouring our heroes

Last Sunday, hundreds gathered on Parliament Hill to pay their respect to the men and women of law enforcement who lost their lives during the course of duty.

The memorial serves as an opportunity to say thanks to the countless police and peace officers who regularly put their lives at risk in the name of public safety.

In our national parks, that responsibility falls on park wardens.

“Our national parks are breathtaking places,” said Eddie Kennedy, national advisor on Parks Canada. “But they come with their share of hazards. Our visitors owe a great debt to the wardens who keep our parks safe.”

Kennedy was in Ottawa last Sunday to represent our union during the ceremony and was accompanied by UNE national president Doug Marshall and national vice-president Kevin King.

Each year, the Union of National Employees and the Parks Canada Enforcement Branch collaborate to send park wardens to represent their comrades during the memorial. This year, the participants were David Pemberton, Jay Leopkey, Jonathan Jansen, Lucas Burnside, Michael Misskey, Nathan Byington, Patrick Latreille and Sharon Woods.

The Union of National Employees wishes to recognize all our brave park wardens for their important public service.