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Unifor MFW Local 1 has come to an agreement with the Halifax Shipyards to introduce the Women’s Advocate Program to ensure that all workers at the shipyards have a healthy and safe work environment – making them the first local to negotiate the program since the formation of Unifor.
A Women’s Advocate is a specially trained workplace representative who assists women with concerns such as workplace harassment, intimate violence and abuse. The Women’s Advocate is not a counselor but rather provides support for women accessing community and workplace resources.
“This is an excellent example of a successful joint initiative between the union and management that helps create respectful, healthy and safe workplaces, and that these efforts exist beyond just the bargaining table,” said Julie White, Director of Unifor’s Women’s Department. “We hope to one day have a Women’s Advocate in every Unifor workplace.”
The employer, the Halifax Shipyards, agreed to share the cost of training for two advocates and the continuation of the program at the workplace. Two sisters from the Shipyards, Koren Beaman and Elizabeth Cummings, completed the Women’s Advocate 40 hour basic program at Port Elgin last week.
“I’m excited to be one of the first Unifor Women’s Advocates, joining roughly 300 others negotiated before the formation of our new union,” said Koren Beaman. “We’re seeing more and more women working in ‘non-traditional’ jobs, including the skilled trades, and we need to ensure they are supported and protected at work.”
