Mail and Female: Women and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Lin Good, a consultant, was Associate Librarian at Queen’s University.

Women were not readily accepted into the brotherhood of the Canadian
Union of Postal Workers. And, as White shows, once within the union they
faced barriers similar to those in society in general.

In the 1950s, women were hired by the Post Office, as elsewhere, in
low-paid, part-time jobs. Not until the 1980s did cupw negotiate a
contract significantly improving the status of its women members, mostly
still part-time workers. The change came when union executives, who at
first excluded women from cupw membership, realized that if they did not
sign up the women, other unions would. Even so, women got what amounted
to second-class membership.

Once they had a foot in the door, women became a force in cupw.
Naturally they were concerned with women’s issues, such as sexual
harassment and paid maternity leave. But they also took an active part
in trying to improve working conditions for all postal employees, which
entailed participating in union activity. Progress was slow: the first
female national officer was elected in 1983.

In January of 1989, cupw won the right to represent letter carriers as
well as inside workers. As a result, women, who had risen to make up 42
percent of the old cupw, fell back to being 29 percent. It is still too
soon to assess the effect of this change on the role of women.

Indeed as White says, much research is still needed on the women’s
experience in the union movement. With this work, she has made a useful
contribution to the subject; her book is readable and supported by
well-chosen case studies, quotations, and statistics. Moreover, her text
is set against the background of continuous conflict and poor labor
relations, usually blamed on the union, but, as she shows here, also
caused by poor management. The book’s main shortfall is its lack of an
index.