With much excitement I am pleased to introduce the Teamsters Ontario Women’s Caucus.
In the past year, we have been busy with restructuring our Caucus to better meet our objectives and goals – the first change that has been made is a change in the name of our Caucus. We are now known as the Teamsters Ontario Women’s Caucus (“TOWC”) formerly the Teamsters Canada Ontario Women’s Caucus.
There are only two Women’s Caucus Executive Boards in existence in Canada, and I feel we are fortunate to be a part of one of them. There are a grand total of 22,813 women that are Teamster members in Canada. The national average of women members is sitting around 18.3%. 6041 of those Teamster women members reside in the jurisdiction of Joint Council 52. Women make up approximately 20% of our membership in Ontario. We are the second largest province of women members, second to Joint Council 91 out of Quebec, which has 33% women.
As Teamsters, the Women’s Caucus can serve as an added benefit of service to the Locals in Ontario, and to promote the name of our great Teamsters Union. To the members, the TOWC has the ability to provide the resources to connect, network and provide assistance. It is a unique gateway to unite and encourage the Ontario Women of our Union to get involved in social and community based projects and it will form a solid base for women to get more involved in their Union.
We are exploring additional ways to which we can provide access. We have hosted a successful Meet N Greet this past summer at Local 419. It was an informational and enjoyable gathering. We will continue to hold such events semi-annually with plans to circulate to each local. We also publish the TOWC Newsletter twice a year (June and December), so please keep an eye out for it. Ask your Local Union for a copy, or alternatively, contact us at our offices on Airport Road, in Mississauga, Ontario and ask for a copy. We ask our members to get involved – write an article of your life as a Teamster, at your job or doing some other activity that benefits others in your community. In addition to this Website we are also delving into such networking tools as Facebook and Twitter in the hopes of opening the doors to communication and participation.