Eight days a week: How union workload blocks women's leadership in the union movement

Unions have reduced the hours workers spend on the job. Ironically, many union leaders, in particular women, find union workload heavy and debilitating. Workload is a barrier to women's union leadership. Women are underrepresented in Canadian union leadership. The demanding workload of top union jobs results from the construction of unionism as men's work. The ideal union worker is an always-available, able-bodied white male. The organization of union work excludes women (and men) with primary responsibility for home/family or who have other life priorities in addition to work. Unions' approach to workload resembles that of employers, thereby compromising union goals. Workload limits union democracy by limiting participation in decision-making. How can leadership, participation, and commitment be reconceptualized and practised to reduce union workload and include more union members? How can workload be reduced to increase women's participation? Recommendations are made to attack the problem of union overwork.