Union News - October 2022
EO stands for equal opportunity, you may have noticed on job posters the employer uses EE or employment equity. These two terms are similar but not the same. Employment equity is a term used to include women, Indigenous employees, racially visible employees, and employees with disabilities. The employer “commits” to ensuring the four groups are represented when staffing positions. They do this by using data supplied to them by the Government of Canada to show where there are “gaps” in the different groups and position being staffed.
Equal Opportunity includes those four groups as well as 2SLGBTQI+. The EO Committee’s main responsibility is planning and hosting equal opportunity conferences for the members. Through the conferences, the committee educates the members on the struggles and successes of the groups. We do this by providing real life speakers and interactive sessions to bring awareness of what is happening in our world today and what has happened in our world in the past. Through these conferences we can show how we have come full circle by cultivating changes.
The committee is formed or changed every three years. The committee is comprised of a Chair and Co-Chair who are Regional Vice Presidents. There is a representative for each group and these positions are filled by a call out to all members, so everyone can apply. The final seat is held by a member who represents the presidents, this position is also open to all members and is selected by a vote of the presidents. The committee serves a three-year term and plans and hosts three regional and one national EO conference during their term. This term has been challenging for the committee as we have had to meet, plan, and host three regional conferences virtually. We are looking forward to getting together face to face to host the national conference in Ottawa in October.
So, this leads me to why this committee is so important. You have probably heard or possibly felt “I’m not racist” or “those things don’t happen in Canada” but I assure you those things do happen in Canada and quite often all around us. I had the privilege of attending the national EO conference in 2019 and I can honestly say it was one of the best things I have done during my career at CRA. Over the two and a half days I shed a lot of tears (both happy and sad). The amount of learning and understanding you gain in those two and half days is amazing. I feel I left that conference a much better person and I realized just how privileged I am. It really ignited a passion in me, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it so when the email came, I took the time to apply, and I am a much better human for it.
You can join the UTE mailing list and access your current EO committee by visiting the website https://www.ute-sei.org/en
Jackie Robertson, Women’s Representative EO committee
President, Local 20028 Victoria