Union Sisters: Women in the Labour Movement

Gwynneth Evans was Executive Secretary, National Library of Canada.

Union Sisters is a collection of essays arranged under six headings: background; union issues; the challenge of the unorganized; inside unions; the power of alliances; and resources. Essays within the first section set the stage for the contemporary situation by providing the framework and the historical background for Canadian women at work and in unions. Within the next two sections, the contributors, 32 in all, set out the major issues affecting women in the work force and trace the experience of different types of workers. There are pieces on the introduction of microtechnology; sexual harassment; the night to strike; the plight of domestic workers in British Columbia; the experience of women in cultural occupations; and the special problems of immigrant women. The next three sections focus on the union movement: the role that women have played and the challenges that lie ahead. In the final section, a great deal of information is gathered in one place through the compilation of a filmography on women, work and unions; a list of resources on the trade union movement; and a selected bibliography of articles, chapters of books, and full-length studies.

The collection, a record of the experience of Canadian women in unions, is based largely on the accounts of the women themselves. Many of the essays, therefore, have the vividness of a first-hand story and provide an important and lively contribution to the complex issue of labour relations in Canada. While the emphasis is on the Ontario situation, Union Sisters gathers in one volume a corpus of information and experience that deserves attention, analysis, and further examination.