On behalf of the women and men of the Union of Health and Environment Workers we want to wish you a Happy International Women’s Day!!

As the first female National President of the Union of Health and Environment Workers I have made it my mission to encourage more women to be involved in our union. And to not just be involved and active, but to undertake leadership roles with the union at every level. We need those voices to be at the table when decisions are made and when priorities are being established for today and for tomorrow.

As the PSAC Gender Equity Task Force noted, women are the largest demographic of members within PSAC. Women represent about 60 per cent of the membership and yet they continue to be underrepresented in the leadership of PSAC and within the Components and Regions. The Task Force made many recommendations to improve that situation including making training and union education easier and more accessible for the many of us that have multiple responsibilities.

Another area that is near and dear to my heart is to encourage more women and girls to enter the technical and scientific fields and occupations. It is one area where women have not yet taken their full and rightful role, but that, too, is changing. More and more women are becoming members of the PSAC Technical Services Group that provides specialized technical support and expertise to various government departments and with our encouragement and support many more will join them. In another sign of progress, this year, for the first time ever, one of the elected bargaining team members is a female from the Union of Health and Environment Workers.

I encourage all of you to join me and the Union of Health and Environment Workers in continuing to push for more girls and women to be involved in science and technology. And for the women members of our union to take their leadership places within our union. All of us, regardless how we identify, can help support these two goals. Our union and all of Canadian society will be better off if we do.

As always, we’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at the e-mail below.

Help us build UHEW together!!

In solidarity

Shimen Fayad
shimen.fayad@uhew-stse.ca