We're in early discussions with the longshore union, obviously. We have our Pacific region staff working with the union. As well, once we have hired a new director for our women and human rights department, that person will obviously be engaged.
But I want to say that there is a tremendous amount of information available to any union, whether it's the longshore union or others, in terms of what has been developed, both by the CLC and by other unions. Earlier, reference was made to the changes in the Auto Workers. I remember early on when Carol Phillips was in a video about racism and sexism in the auto industry; that was used to educate their own members. It was a very powerful video and it's probably just as powerful today.
I was part of the group on the women's committee at the CLC that--too many years ago--brought a policy to the congress that said every CLC convention, conference, or educational session would begin with an anti-harassment statement. That spread through unions, through labour councils, and through federations of labour. It's just as much part of the agenda as anything else. A host of information and educational programs are available, developed both by the CLC and by our affiliates and federations, and they would be fully available for the longshore union.
As Susan O'Donnell has said, I think it's a matter of sitting down and asking, “What's our plan?” Because there will be the plan with the employer, but then there will also be the plan that the union wants to do with its own members--both women and men.
So there is a full range. As well, by the way, this committee may be interested to know that the CLC, along with the Canadian manufacturers' employers association, is ready to launch a women in non-traditional work website. I don't think it's quite up on the web yet. It includes sites for employers on the advantages of this and why they would want to do it, and for unions, and how both can work together to make sure it happens. It will be going up shortly; last week was our last conference call on whether the site was where we wanted it to be.
So there is that whole range, and I don't know if that fully answers your question, but there is a long list of tools and processes available. It's a matter of sitting down with the women in longshore and asking them where and how we want to start and what it is that they want most now. Is it about running for office? Is it about how to deal with complaints of harassment?