CRIAW-ICREF stands in solidarity with CUPW

Sent to President Jan Simpson on November 29, 2024, on behalf of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women / Institut canadien de recherches sur les femmes (CRIAW-ICREF)

Subject: CRIAW-ICREF Letter in Support of CUPW

Dear Sister Jan Simpson,

On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff and members of the Canadian Research Institute of the Advancement of Women (CRIAW-ICREF) please accept this letter as our full support for you during this time as you strike and continue the collective bargaining process with Canada Post. We stand in solidarity with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and we firmly support the right of workers to organize. To achieve women’s equality, we must ensure that all women have access to a fair wage, benefits, job security and the right to organize in their unions.

We stand in solidarity with your fight against the neoliberal reforms that have fundamentally reorganized the public sector in Canada and created more precarious working conditions and services. Throughout our 5-year research project on Changing Public Services, we learned firsthand how precarious work creates poor working conditions for women and reduces the quality of services. We found far-reaching consequences of job precarity, including an increase in health and safety issues; an increase of discrimination, violence and harassment; negative impacts on families, and communities; and overall reductions in workers’ rights.

Without labour protections afforded by unions, the conditions and consequences of precarity are likely to be expanded and exaggerated. We appreciate the impact your collective action will have on women workers and all workers in Canada now and in the future. The collective actions of unions have made significant differences in the lives of all workers in Canada. CRIAW-ICREF supports you in negotiating a strong settlement on behalf of all your members.

In solidarity,

Jacqueline Neapole
Executive Director