On Friday 12 and Saturday 13 July 200 union women from 18 different unions are coming together in Wellington for the Council of Trade Unions biennial conference ‘Wāhine Toa: Organising for change’.
Rachel Mackintosh, CTU Vice President is excited about what the two days have in store, “Union women are a force for change. At this conference we have working women from across Aotearoa. Cleaners, teachers, doctors, locomotive drivers, dairy workers, nurses, seafarers, senior public servants, retail workers, mental health workers, wood processing, actors, midwives, are just some of the occupations represented in the room.”
“We have achieved so much together as working women in the last two years; the passing of law to provide for paid domestic violence leave, increasing of paid parental leave to 26 weeks (from July 2020), there have been significant equal pay claims and cases, and internationally the passing of an international convention on the elimination of gender based violence at work.”
Tonight the CTU Women Council Awards acknowledge the work, commitment and leadership of either individuals or a group on issues that are critical to advancing better working conditions for working women.
The awardees in 2019 are:
Union women activists and leaders:
- Paula Scholes – PSA
- Stella Te Ariki – PSA and Komiti Pasefika
- Caroline Mareko NZEI and
- Carol Beaumont – E tū
- NZEI support worker leaders who led the first successful pay equity claim in education:
Kathy Power
Denise Tetzlaff
Mary Jones
Jacoline Brink
