El Hansen, Dalhousie TA
I had the opportunity to attend the CUPE Nova Scotia Women’s Conference this year. The experience was largely enjoyable, and I was able to converse with several fellow workers while enjoying some structured motivational speakers and educationals.
While I enjoyed the event, I overall found it lacking in political activism. Much of the conference focused on ways by which we as women might face adversary and continue to struggle despite that, which was well articulated, but the overall lack of politically oriented collective action stemming from this analysis gave me pause.
In the agenda of the conference there was in fact no political action items specifically listed.
It was only because of a member from the floor who interrupted the proceedings to recommend the attendees sign a petition to the provincial government condemning the recent austerity budget cuts that political action was made an important facet of the conference. This I felt was a well-done element of our conference if a bit haphazard. But it was a shame that this was something that needed to be brought from the floor and not a core part of the conference’s political aims from the start.
This was especially true because the mood amongst the women in the room was one of justifiable anger and frustration at the provincial government and their recent attack on workers and our jobs as women. There was a recognition that something had to be done and the failure to utilize that righteous anger and channel it into political activism and education was a missed opportunity.
I hope that the future women’s conference may continue to allow for inter-local fraternization but with a greater focus on militant union action. In doing so we will continue to build a mass movement of women workers and workers generally who might advance the progressive cause.