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“How can we provide a more inclusive gender perspective to the work of unions? By bringing more women into unions, including more women in all levels of union work and by having them at the bargaining table”, with these words the Head of UNI Equal Opportunities Department, Veronica Fernandez Mendez, began her presentation at the UNI Finance Conference that took place in Antalaya, Turkey on October 21st, 2015.

On the second day of the conference, during the discussion on Better Industrial Relations, Collective Bargaining and Global Framework Agreements, Veronica Fernandez Mendez was able to present to the audience a general panorama of the work carried out by the UNI Equal Opportunities Department, focusing on the importance of including women in union work.

“Women need to be a true part of unions and to do so, we need room to grow, to become leaders, negotiators, organizers…” said Fernandez Mendez as she presented the UNI EOD campaigns and programs that have been designed to provide a gender perspective to the work of unions in order to help increase the number of women, particularly young women, in union work, and to prepare them to adopt leadership positions within their unions.

“Change is inevitable and we cannot close our eyes to the fact that we, the women, are here to stay and together we can transform the unions, we can make them stronger”, concluded Fernandez Mendez.

At the end of the meeting, the election of a new women president for UNI Finance sector and the election of an executive committee with 41% of women representation, showed that women are on the way of becoming the heart of unions.