Visions: Developing New ETFO Leaders (Equity And Women's Services)
ETFO statistics for the 2011-2012 school year show that 20 percent of our members are in their first five years. While not all are youth, these members are still “new” – new to ETFO. (In fact, about 50 percent of members have belonged for less than 10 years.) This also means that 80 percent of our membership is beyond five years. Long-time members make up much of our union leadership – our local and provincial executive members, committee members, and stewards. Year after year though, these members retire or move on in other ways, and filling those leadership positions becomes very important.
ETFO recognizes that strong union renewal is a necessary component to building a healthy collective future. Many efforts have been made to welcome new members into our union and our programs, including the new members’ standing committee, the Visions conference, local training programs, and designated positions on local executives. ETFO resources for new members include The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning and the related website heartandart.ca, the new member web page etfo.ca/beingamember/newmembers, and a dedicated column in this magazine.
The large majority of these new members are women. (Just over 80 percent of all ETFO members are women.) This makes gender an ever-present dimension of union revitalization. The active inclusion of women and other equality-seeking groups has been proven over several decades to be a cornerstone of union renewal. Building women’s spaces and education unions has been instrumental over time in ensuring women's voices are heard. This is evident when we look at the positive impact that women's committees, programs, and designated positions have had not only on ETFO, but on the labour movement as a whole.
Organized women's constituencies help keep the pressure on both women and men to lead in a way that addresses the particular concerns of union members in the workplace, as well as in the union. Organized women's constituencies can also provide an on-going base of support that is inclusive of other equality-seeking groups, which inevitably will include large numbers of women. In "Union Women Leadership: What's the Difference?" Morna Ballantyne writes: "... building and developing women's leadership should be embraced as a way forward for unions that want to grow in size and strength, and build power through membership involvement and the active inclusion of women and other equality-seeking groups." (available at unionleadership.cajdiversityjgender.html)
ETFO's new Visions program for women members in their first five years takes the concepts of inclusion and renewal and offers them as an ongoing program. For the past several years Visions has been a stand-alone women 's conference that included workshops on a variety of topics. This year, ETFO is piloting a new Visions program that takes place over five months. It brings new members together for face-to-face meetings and engages participants in ongoing local project work. This could mean participating in local committee work , shadowing a workplace steward , or getting involved with the local labour council.
During the face-to-face meetings participants will have the opportunity to learn more about how ETFO works, to meet local and provincial union leaders, to understand the many opportunities for involvement in ETFO, and to discuss our connection to global movements. The Visions program is one way of giving the newest members of our federation an opportunity to develop leadership skills. It gives them an opportunity to get to know the federation and figure out how they can contribute and make their voices heard.
