Co-Chair- Terri Rinta (far right)
Recording Secretary –
Anna Iati (far left)
Jennifer Skiffington (right, middle)
Andrea Heacock (left, Middle)
Women Of Steel General Membership Meeting
A couple of times a year in the past, the Local 2020 Steering Committee held a “Women of Steel General Meeting”. These meetings are great opportunities to hear interesting guest speakers, meet your Women’s Committee and socialize with women from many different workplaces. Our next women’s general meeting will be announced in early 2025. We normally hold these events at our Office at 66 Brady Street.
USW LOCAL 2020’s Events:
Vendor show:
Our 2024 joint vendor show was another success. This year our charities were Anti-human trafficking coalition and Childhood Enfrance. We raised just over $1700 for these amazing groups. Thank you goes out to our members who participated and all those who attended and donated
YWCA Women of Distinction Award Gala
On October 5th the WOS committee attended the Women of Distinction Award Gala where the YWCA recognized women in the city for their dedication and activism in the community. The YWCA had also presented for the first time the Cecil Gibson Memorial Award and the winner was Lise Armstrong from the YWCA. Congratulations to Lise on this award.
Annual Tampon Tuesday:
2025 Event
We will have more information coming soon.
Join Women of Steel
We are continually adding to our list of contact people. If you are interested in receiving updates and information about the Women’s Committee activities and events or if you have any questions or comments or suggestions about Women of Steel, please feel free to contact the Women of Steel committee chair sgunson@uswlocal2020.ca or any of the Steering Committee Members with your e-mail address and we will keep you posted!
Women of Steel Linda Boyd Award
In 2019, the Women of Steel Committee had decided to present an award to a sister who shows leadership, unionism and activism within our Local. The first recipient of the award in 2019 was Karen Clancy who came out of the Glencore Unit. Karen has since retired and we wish her all the best. We will list below the award presented each year.
Each year the Women of Steel Committee would like to present an award to a sister who shows these qualities in our workplaces. If you have a sister you would like to nominate please send those nominations to Stephanie Gunson at sgunson@uswlocal2020.ca by October 1st 2025.
2020: Sherri Hawkes, Vale
2023: Stephanie Gunson, Garda
2024: Women of Steel Committee, Terri Rinta, Anna Iati, Andrea Heacock, Jennifer Skiffington, Patti Wells
International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents come together to celebrate Women’s Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development. Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women.
The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries- old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. It was on March 8, 1909 that a group of women garment workers in New York took to the streets to protest their terrible working conditions.
The slogan they chanted was “We want bread and roses too” – bread symbolizing economic security and roses for a better quality of life. These words formed the basis of the James Oppenheimer song “Bread & Roses” which has become the song of the Women’s movement, especially on International Women’s Day. .