Women’s conference delegates report to 1.W.A. national officers he fifty-five delegates to the first I.W.A. Women’s Conference split into work- shops to discuss and debate three major topics. They were: barriers to women’s articipa- tion in unions, on the Bont harass- ment, and how to set-up women’s committees in the union. The barriers workshop was facili- tated by Carolyn Chalifoux of the New Westminster and District Labour Council and Joy Langan of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union. ‘he on-the-job harassment ses- sion was conducted by Liz Wilson, BCGEU member and coordinator at the Douglas College Women’s Cen- tre, while the setting up committees workshop was facilitated by Terri Van Steinberg of Kwantlan Univer- sity College. At a plenary session representa- tives of the workshop outlined their recommendations where union’s national executive board sat in to listen. BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION Three workshop representatives, Sister Laura Robbins of Local 500, Rejeanne Beger of 1-2995 and Bev Gauthier of 1000 gave a brief synop- sis of their day long session. Sister Robbins said that there is an overwhelming need for knowl- edge amongst rank-and-file women in the union. “Women need education to grow within the I.W.A. and to give and gain support and advice on the new emerging issues resulting from diver- sification of the union,” she said. Workshop participants spoke of the need to increase the representa- tion of women at the sub-local, local and national union level. The women called for education on the structure of the I.W.A. “Education is what empowers us as trade union activists in order to help us become ambassadors for our union,” she added. Sister Beger spoke on the need to diversify the representation of dele- gates to I.W.A. conferences and sem- inars and to CLC provincial educa- tion courses. She said the I.W.A. is extending itself into other work places and that the union is “not just wood any- more.” Beger said that education courses are needed in the following areas. ¢ parliamentary procedure. ° assertiveness training. ¢ public speaking. : e workers compensation regulations. ° political action. steward training. ° employee and family assistance programs. © union counselling. “We need to learn how to articu- late important positions for the I.W.A. in a variety of forums,” she said. “We learn from networking with others in the labour movement and we will also learn where to get important information to our mem- bers from outside our union.” Sister Gauthier said that the union has to communicate better with women. “We need to get information rele- vant to women from (the) national and local unions,” she said. “We need to better understand our structure so we know where to go for informa- - tion and which body is responsible.” She mentioned that the I.W.A. should widely distribute policies and Positions on discrimination in the workplace, government initiatives on women’s issues and how to get access to the union’s leadership. WORKPLACE HARASSMENT Sister Marian Peterman, Third Vice President from Local 324 in The Pas, Manitoba, told the plenary session that harassment, as defined in I.W.A. CANA- DA’s national pol- icy, is not limited to sexual harass- ment. She outlined \) that the policy’s definition in- | cludes any un- welcomed com- .j ment or actions 4) concerning a per- - son’s race, colour ¢ Marian Peterman and place of ori- gin, political beliefs, religion, marital or family status, physical or mental disability, age, sex, or sexual orientation. “A lot of what we do in daily life is inappropriate and it’s time we became aware of that,” said Peter- man. The workshop participants agreed that the members need to know how to effectively deal with harassment policy at the sub-local and local level. The issue of harassment not only confronts women, it faces all of us,” she said. “It may be more prevalent to the female membership. Not every- one is speaking out against it and that has to change.” To empower women, Peterman said the workshop pointed to some basic skills that need to be acquired. These are as follows. ° Training in assertiveness and self- esteem building. e Anger management. Reporting on barriers to women’s participation workshop were (I. to r.) Laura Robbins (Local 500), Rejeanne Bejer (Local 1-2995), and Local 1000 member Bev Gauthier. ¢ Improvement of communication skills. ¢ Instruction in grass roots union- ism. Péterman that that many I.W.A. women do not have background in the basis tenets of unionism. “Because it’s assumed that we have some of the basic knowledge of unions, a lot of us don’t speak up,” she said. “We are in the dark on a lot of issues and a lot of us don’t want to stand up and say we don’t know.” Peterman said that the national union newspaper should dedicate a regular section on women’s issues. SETTING UP COMMITTEES Mary Lou Scott of Local 500 said that “we have a lot of differences within the I.W.A., between local unions across the country” and that there is a need to set up women’s committees. “We have some Sis- ters that are real- ly committed to this (labour) movement and are really keen to do something,” she added. “We