Thank you, Madam Chairman, and good afternoon, members of the committee and fellow witnesses.
Thank you for inviting the Canadian Auto Workers Union to this study on increasing the participation of women in non-traditional occupations. My name is Teresa Weymouth, and I am an electrician. I hold a construction and maintenance 309A licence. I am also the CAW national skilled trades education coordinator. This part of my job requires me not only to be aware of barriers to women entering non-traditional occupations but to influence change and retention through education.
I thought I would start with my journey as a woman to become a licensed electrician. I had worked for several years as a production sewer at one of our big three automotive plants, and while I was expected to stay in this well-paying position, as my mother had before me, I really wanted something more challenging and fulfilling. But before I could even start an apprenticeship, I needed to look at my education. I was in the same position as many women are today: I lacked the senior-level maths and sciences from high school. So in 1985 I took a leave of absence from General Motors' trim plant and upgraded. This gave me not only the requirements I needed to enter into an apprenticeship but the confidence to know I could succeed.
In 1986 I started my electrical apprenticeship, six weeks after my second daughter was born. My father-in-law reluctantly gave me an apprenticeship when I quit my job with General Motors. As an electrician the job pays well and is portable, I can work in many different sectors of industry or provinces, and I get to use my mind as well as my hands. All these are great factors for becoming an electrician. But the reality is, I was lucky. I was given the opportunity. If my father-in-law had been a carpenter, I probably would have been one too. After years of being told I couldn't, shouldn't, or would not like it, I now hold a construction and maintenance 309A licence. This was a 9,000-hour apprenticeship, requiring three intakes of schooling: basic, intermediate, and advanced. I worked in the construction field in a small non-unionized shop on residential and commercial properties. I was the only woman there, let alone female electrician.
In 1993 I was hired at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant as a maintenance electrician. This was my second opportunity. The CAW negotiated a third shift at the minivan plant, requiring several hundred new hires. At Chrysler I worked with new technology such as robotics, plcs, assembly lines, and diagnostics. Again, education was a key part, with each new application or system requiring additional training. I was one of five women in skilled trades in the plant, out of 580 men total.
My third opportunity came in 2005. I was appointed to the position of the CAW national skilled trades education coordinator. In this role I have been able to develop several initiatives directed at skilled trades and technology awareness for women. Take our CAW 40-hour women's skilled trades and technology awareness program, launched in 2001, which has been introduced to over 500 women from our automotive production lines. This course includes an overview of the apprenticeship process in Ontario, an introduction to mechanical, numerical, spatial relations, verbal comprehension, and reasoning. Throughout our workshops the woman are asked to assemble and program robots, are introduced to the basics of electrical wiring, and health and safety, are given an overview of trade classifications, and participate in mock interviews, all delivered by women journeypersons and mentors who network and share their challenges and solutions to overcoming barriers. Women are absolutely changed by this program. We begin to hear “I can do this” as they move through the program.
Suddenly women are aware that they have, or should have had, options. Choice: it is one thing to choose not to go into a particular field; it is a whole other situation not to have even been given the option. I have just arrived from our first ever Saugeen First Nations women skilled trades awareness conference, which partnered with the CAW. This three-day program was adapted from the CAW 40-hour women's skilled trades and technology awareness program, with one major difference: this was a mother and daughter conference. Through the years of delivering the CAW program, we have repeatedly heard participants state that they wished they had been aware of the career opportunities in skilled trades long ago. It was wonderful to watch mothers and daughters explore and attain new skills, options, and choices.
As you know, the economic downturn has affected the automotive industry. Even though we have negotiated numbers for apprenticeship, we have very few members actively in apprenticeship today. This has not stopped the CAW from continuing to offer different initiatives to skilled trades awareness.
There are still barriers today, and I'll name a few. There is very little structured encouragement for women working in a non-traditional occupation; the title has a negative connotation in itself. There's a lack of information that is readily available, and a lack of women mentors and networks. There's a negative attitude to skilled trades as being a dirty and labour intensive job. There's the lack of opportunity. Too many employers are not establishing apprenticeships any more, and that needs to change. There's still an attitude that women need to have a thicker skin to work in skilled trades, instead of better legislation and implementation that will allow every Canadian the right to work in a harassment-free environment.
The CAW has initiatives for all these barriers: the CAW women's skilled trades program, inclusive language, high school presentations, networking, mentors, education, harassment-free environments, equity reps, and women's advocates.
Take a moment to look around this room, this building, your home, malls, our schools. Every building has been built by skilled trades--every road and highway. Our whole infrastructure is built by skilled trades. And women are not a part of it. Why?
The question is not whether there are barriers for women trying to enter into non-traditional occupations. That question has been asked and answered many, many times. Yes, there are barriers. The real question is, how will we increase the participation of women into non-traditional occupations?
We give them opportunities and choice by providing supports. Provincially, we can make women aware, but federally we have to support them. In my career I was given opportunities and choice, and look where I stand today. We can do great things if we encourage the women around us.
What can the federal government do? We see four things that the federal government could do to increase participation of women in non-traditional occupations.
One is to fix the EI Act. The EI Act should be amended to provide income replacement benefits for the full duration of upgrading and training programs, as it used to be in the 1980s. The current EEITI and SITI EI pilot projects provide such benefits, but they are scheduled to end for claims after May 29. They have too many restrictions and provide benefits to a very limited number of so-called long-tenured workers and a small number of potential trainees. These pilots must be extended beyond May. They must be expanded for access to others, including women who are entering, upgrading, and training for non-traditional occupations, until such time as the EI Act can be amended to make this pilot project for continued EI income benefits while in training a permanent program.
Two is to set conditions for the next round of infrastructure spending. A lot of money is being allocated for infrastructure as an answer to the economic crisis and action plans. The program should make sure that provinces and employers accessing these funds meet targets for hiring and training women in non-traditional occupations.
Three is to set conditions in the labour market agreement between the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. In the coming years the federal, provincial, and territorial governments will be renegotiating the terms of the labour market development agreements for the unemployed who are eligible for EI and the labour market agreement for the non-eligible, including employed workers not in receipt of EI. The federal government should set targets and monitor the use of these EI and general revenue funds to support higher entrance and completion rates for women in non-traditional occupations.
Last, but not least, is to initiate special projects for women to enter non-traditional occupations within the first nations and aboriginal programs.
Thank you.