Grace Hartman (née Fulcher; July 14, 1918 – December 18, 1993) was a Canadian labour union activist, whose 1975 election to the presidency of the Canadian Union of Public Employees made her the first woman in North America to lead a major labour union.
Grace Hartman | |
|---|---|
| 2nd National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees | |
| In office 1975–1983 | |
| Preceded by | Stan Little |
| Succeeded by | Jeff Rose |
| 2nd National Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees | |
| In office 1967–1975 | |
| President | Stan Little |
| Preceded by | Robert P. Rintoul |
| Succeeded by | Kealey Cummings |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Grace Fulcher July 14, 1918 Toronto, Ontario |
| Died | December 18, 1993 (aged 75) Toronto, Ontario |
| Occupation | Secretary, trade unionist, social activist |
Union activism
editPrior to 1963, Hartman was a member of one of CUPE's predecessor unions, the National Union of Public Employees. As a secretary for the Township of North York, Ontario, she was a member of NUPE Local 373. Hartman held several local executive positions and was elected president of the local in 1959, a position she held until 1967.[citation needed]
Feminist activism
editHartman was a prominent participant in the feminist movement, and a strong advocate for gender pay equity. In 1965, she chaired the Ontario Federation of Labour's Women's Committee.[1] She joined the steering committee of the Committee for the Equality of Women in Canada in 1966, which successfully lobbied the Canadian government to establish the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. In 1968, Hartman was appointed to the Advisory Council of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women.[2] In 1974–75, she became the second national president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.[citation needed]
Honours and positions
editHartman was awarded the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case in 1985.[3]
Hartman was also awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from York University and Queen's University.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Grace Hartman Norm Quan Bursary 2000 Winner by Alex Beszterda". www.cupe1975.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
- ^ "Grace Hartman :: section15.ca". section15.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
- ^ Past recipients of the Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case Archived 2008-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Grace Hartman, CUPE national president, 1975-1983". Canadian Union of Public Employees. 30 April 2003. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
Further reading
edit- Crean, Susan (1995). Grace Hartman: A Woman for Her Time. Vancouver: New Star Books. ISBN 978-0921586470.
- Montero, Gloria (1979). "Grace Hartman: Public Service Workers in the Sixties." We Stood Together: First-hand Accounts of Dramatic Events in Canada's Labour Past. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company. ISBN 0-88862-269-4.
External links
edit- Profile of Grace Hartman on the CUPE website
- Essay on Grace Hartman Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine by Alex Beszterda, winner of the Norm Quan Bursary (2000), offered by CUPE Local 1975
- Grace Hartman, The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Grace Hartman Archived 2016-04-25 at the Wayback Machine, by Ann Farrell, section15.ca
- 1976 CBC interview with Mary Lou Finlay
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