IATSE-2nd2018_web

tinct plans of the larger Locals, by having access to volume discounts
achieved through cooperation and pooled purchasing
power.
Today, the IATSE Canada Health Plan includes more than
20 Local plans, along with staff plans, covering approximately
15,000 members and another 10,000 dependents, and annual
premiums totaling over $35 million CDN.
IATSE YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE
One of President Loeb’s primary member empowerment
goals has been to identify and train the next generation of IATSE
leaders and activists. That’s why the IATSE Young Workers Committee
was formed in 2012.
On the Committee’s major responsibilities was to run Young
Worker Conferences focusing on the participation of members
age 35 and under, and addressing educational training with classes
focusing on developing practical leadership and activism skills.
The first two Young Worker Conferences were held in Philadelphia
in 2012, with 180 total attendees from the U.S. and Canada.
Those who attended were sponsored by their local union’s
Executive Board and represented numerous crafts and different
levels of union leadership.
The third Young Workers Conference was held in 2014 in
Portland, Oregon. Like the 2012 conferences, it had a full house
with one-hundred attendees representing sixty Locals from the
U.S. and Canada, and from a wide variety of crafts. Attendees
were strongly encouraged to get active within their local unions,
politically, in their community, or in their workplace. Instructors
and guest speakers, including AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth
Shuler and Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain,
focused on the idea of activism.
The 2016 IATSE Young Workers Conference was held in
Atlanta and was larger still, with approximately eighty-five percent
first-time attendees. It also focused on activism. The Young
Workers Committee hosted a successful networking event for
young delegates during the 2017 IATSE Convention, and the
2018 Young Workers Conference is planned for September 2018
in Silver Spring, MD.
EMPOWERING WOMEN MEMBERS
As part of IATSE’s longstanding commitment to equity,
inclusion, non-discrimination and justice, President Loeb established
the IATSE’s Women’s Committee (IWC) in 2015 and
appointed Local 700 Western Region Executive Director Cathy
Repola to serve as chair.
The IWC was divided into Subcommittees on Steering,
Community Outreach and Activism, Dinner and Networking,
and Education and Training.
Since then, the IWC’s efforts have strengthened the voice
of women in IATSE, improved working conditions for women
members, reduced incidents of discrimination and harassment,
and led to training improvements for women.
The Committee hosted women’s networking events at all
IA District Conventions in 2016. And the IWC’s 2017 Convention
kick-off event, “Celebrating the Unlimited Potential
of IATSE Women,” drew more than 600 attendees. There,
the Committee unveiled historical and current stories about
women from various crafts within the Alliance, and those in
attendance commented on how inspirational the event was
and how proud they were to see women of the IATSE be profiled
in such a way.
In 2018, the IWC is continuing to hold and expand women’s
networking opportunities at all district conventions.
The Committee is compiling and circulating information
on how women can start their own local union’s Women’s
Committees. All of these efforts, and much more, are laying
the groundwork for the first-ever IATSE Women’s Institute,
which will take place in 2020.
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