Amidst the most severe blackouts since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, as part of the Trade Union Lifeline (TUL) initiative, Labor Initiatives managed to facilitate an online session on November 20 focused on women’s leadership in the union movement. The event is part of an ongoing series of conversations and experience exchange between Ukrainian young activists and international trade union leaders.
Despite long hours of power outages all over the country, the event brought together about 20 young union activists from all over the country who actively participate in TUL and members of the Youth Council of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine.
The guest speaker was Maria Exall, a member of the Communication Workers Union National Executive Council and a member of the Trades Union Congress (TUC, a national trade union center in the UK) Executive Committee and TUC General Council, TUC President 2022-23.
Maria shared her journey from a young worker who started her career as a care worker to becoming a communications engineer at British Telecom, a large industry that is historically predominately male workers. She discussed her experiences encountering inequality, discrimination, and the need to stand up for her ideas, which led her to a more active role in the trade union organization.
Maria described the challenges she faced working in a technical sector, and her experience in fighting for a place at the negotiating table and building trust among union members, and why solidarity is not an abstraction, but everyday work that changes people’s lives.
