International Women's Day labour.

Recent years have seen massive gains for diversity and equity in labour leadership. Last year, Lana Payne became the first woman to be elected National President of Unifor. As well, JP Hornick, a longtime leader in her union and an avid women’s rights, equity, LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist, became the first openly queer person to be president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). 

Before that, waves were made when Jan Simpson from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) became the first Black woman to lead a national union in 2019. In 2021, Yolanda McClean became the first Black woman to be elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario (CUPE Ontario). 

READ MORE: Pushing equity forward within the labour movement

While these high profile and historic milestones are important to know, there are other passionate women in the labour movement who may have slipped under your radar. 

Here are five more women in the labour movement you should know about.

1. Jennifer Scott 

Photo by Eli Stange.

Jennifer  Scott is the president of Gig Workers United, a community union in a labour partnership with CUPW. Scott started as an organizer with Foodsters United, a union of delivery drivers who worked for the app Foodora. This organization filed for certification with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Thanks to Foodsters United’s work, the Ontario Labour Relations Board’s ruled that couriers are dependent contractors and have the right to unionize. This set a precedent for other gig economy and app based workers to be able to get organized. 

Foodsters United ended when Foodora, the employer, left the Canadian market. However, the union persists as Gig Workers United with Scott as their leader. 

Since the union’s creation, Scott and Gig Workers United have openly called out the loopholes in Doug Ford’s minimum wage changes through Bill 88. Bill 88 only compensates gig workers for time on assignment and not for all hours worked. Scott and Gig Workers United continue to fight against this “second class minimum wage” legislation. 

As well, Gig Workers United remains committed to the fight against the misclassification of gig workers as independent contractors. This misclassification continues to let gig employers abdicate their responsibility to their employees. 

Allies of gig workers are encouraged to stay updated on the union’s work and participate in “Order-in Days” where customers talk with their delivery drivers about their working conditions, the Gig Workers United Union and the importance of uniting with other workers in the struggle. 

Gig Workers United, as a relatively new union, continues to grow under Scott’s leadership. 

2. Brenda Edel 

Photo courtesy of Brenda Edel.

Brenda Edel is the Prairie Region Council chair of Unifor Workers With Disabilities (UWWD) Edel says she was introduced to advocacy work in elementary school when she lost her eyesight due to a brain tumor. While she was pressured to leave the public school system, she wanted to stay with her friends and brother for her educational experience. In high school, Edel faced similar pressure again. 

“This time I was at the table advocating for why I should stay in the school system with my

friends and brother,” Edel said in an email to rabble.ca. “This was the beginning of my entry into advocacy. Now, more than 40 years later, I am actively working to help others ensure that they know their rights and are afforded those rights.”

In her position with UWWD, Edel brings together workers with disabilities from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The UWWD began holding monthly “radical conversations” during the pandemic. These sessions help the UWWD prairie region members brainstorm how unions can help break down workplace barriers for disabled people. 

Edel has also led workshops with the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour to help union members become better allies to their disabled peers. 

Edel also is a founding member of Barrier Free Saskatchewan, an organization fighting for a more accessible province. As well, she is the president of the Saskatchewan NDP’s disability wing. 

3. Jhoey Cruz 

Image courtesy of Jhoey Cruz.

Jhoey Cruz is an organizer with the Migrant Workers’ Alliance for Change (MWAC). Cruz is a former migrant care worker. Cruz works with MWAC to fight against Canada’s two-tiered immigration system that leaves many migrant workers vulnerable. 

In February, organizing by migrant care workers had achieved a victory when Sean Fraser, the minister of  Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the reduction of the amount of experience needed for a migrant care worker to qualify for permanent residence. Care workers now need 12 months of experience rather than 24. 

MWAC applauded this announcement but will continue to organize to address the continued barriers to permanent residence for care workers. 

“Migrant care workers like me have been speaking up and fighting for landed status now; reducing the work requirement to one year is a step forward but that still means exploitation for one year,” Cruz said in a statement. “We don’t want half of the exploitation, we want equal rights and that means permanent resident status for all.” 

Under the current system, migrant care workers are required to secure an English language level higher than needed in the citizenship test. 

Workers must also  have their education accredited as equivalent to one-year of Canadian post secondary education. This is not required of these care workers when they first apply, which means many workers end up not getting this requirement fulfilled and become permanently temporary or undocumented. 

Even those who meet these requirements face difficulties. The number of care workers who receive status under the caregiver program is limited despite their being an unlimited number of work permits issued. 

“We need an end to caps, unfair language and education requirements and an end to the backlog,” Cruz said. 

Care workers join many other migrant workers in the ongoing struggle for status for all. Cruz has played an important role in organizing caregivers to support this work. MWAC will be mobilizing again on March 19, the International Day for Elimination of Racism, to continue to fight for status for all. 

4. Pamela Charron 

Photo from WSN website.

Pamela Charron is the Interim Executive Director of the Workers Solidarity Network (WSN) in B.C. Formerly known as the Retail Action Network, this group consists of non-unionized and precarious workers engaged in the fight for better labour standards for all. 

Charron has been working in the restaurant industry for more than 10 years. According to her bio on the WSN website, this experience has given her intimate knowledge of the unfair working conditions people in this sector face. Her bio specifically highlights the lack of sexual harassment policies, wage theft, lack of a living wage and lack of tip protections.

Charron has been a part of WSN for three years and previously worked at WSN as a campaign organizer.

WSN has been working tirelessly on their Justice Denied Campaign, which has been pressuring the B.C. provincial government to uphold its commitment to increase funding for the Employment Standards Branch. 

Without the funding needed, the branch has been unable to properly enforce the Employment Standards Act, according to a report by the B.C. Employment Standards Coalition. 

On February 23, the B.C. government announced more money to the employment standard branch over the next three years, a victory for WSN. 

“WSN knows, when we fight, we win!” Charron said in an email to rabble. “We are celebrating this first important step to ensuring workers get the justice they deserve. But the fight doesn’t end here. Now with WSN membership, and my colleagues, we are calling for accountability procedures that further entrench worker justice, including proper investigations of workplaces with multiple complaints, specifying deadlines for the resolution of complaints, and transparency in budget allocations.”

Charron has been fiercely dedicated to workers rights and has stepped into the Executive Director role while Kaitlyn Matulewicz is on leave. 

In the wake of this recent victory, Charron and WSN continue to address workers issues such as mental health in the workplace.  

5. Jelena Vermilion 

Photo courtesy of Jelena Vermilion.

Jelena Vermilion is a sex workers’ rights advocate and the executive director at the Sex Worker’s Action Program (SWAP) Hamilton. 

In 2022, Vermilion organized a vigil for a woman who suffered a violent sexual assault. Vermilion said to the CBC that the woman was a “known sex worker” and that the vigil would be a chance for the community to show up for these workers. 

With SWAP Hamilton, Vermilion has committed herself to the three lines of work for the organization, education, advocacy and outreach. 

Vermilion has guest lectured on behalf of SWAP at ​​Guelph University, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University (school of Labour Studies, and Social Work), and University of Toronto.

Vermilion has helped further educational work by helping SWAP create the Sex Worker Media Library Archive which includes more than 650 books, over 80 zines, and more than 200 videos, podcasts and news articles. The Hamilton Public Library has agreed to take on and catalogue the physical collection of this archive. 

Vermillion is committed to ending stigma around sex workers and continues to work with SWAP to build a community where sex workers are recognized as valuable members of society, where their voices are heard and where they can access respectful resources that provide safety and support. 

These women are just five of the many women who have dedicated themselves to advancing workers rights and supporting those who suffer under capitalism. As the struggle continues, it is important to recognize, uplift and support the women who push for decent work for all.

Gabriela Calugay-Casuga

Gabriela “Gabby” Calugay-Casuga (she/they) is a writer and activist based in so-called “Ottawa.” They began writing for Migrante Ottawa’s radio show, Talakayang Bayan, in 2017. Since then, she...