Thursday April 5 2018
April 11, 2018 marks the International DAY OF PINK – a day where communities across the country and the world unite to celebrate diversity and bring an end to homophobia, transphobia, transmisogyny, and all forms of bullying.
The International DAY OF PINK was started in Nova Scotia in 2007 when a male student wearing a pink shirt was bullied. Two students intervened but wanted to do more to prevent homophobic and transphobic bullying. They mobilized the other students and two weeks later, most of the student body wore pink to school, standing in solidarity with the bullied student and all the other victims of bullying. Their message was clear: anyone can bully, anyone can be victimized by bullying, but together we can stop it.
CUPW has a proud tradition of standing up against discrimination. We negotiate clauses into our collective agreements that prohibit discrimination, promote employment equity and create safe, harassment-free workplaces. We also have a strong tradition of political advocacy. We must continue working in coalition with community partners to end discrimination and harassment in our schools and throughout our communities.
The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) created a poster to remind workers that they do not need to suffer in silence; that there is help. We encourage workers who have, or are experiencing any type of bullying or harassment to reach out to their shop stewards or social stewards.
There is a worldwide community stepping up and speaking out against bullying. We will no longer be quiet. We will stand up to bullies and we will celebrate diversity in all our communities.
On April 11, join us in wearing PINK — recommit to end all bullying and discrimination — and continuing to build strong unions who advocate for us all.
Let’s stand together to put a stop to bullying and harassment.
In Solidarity,
Jan Simpson
1st National Vice-President