{"id":1103,"date":"2023-10-24T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T19:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2023-10-24T12:05:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T19:05:17","slug":"iamaw-leads-program-empowering-women-in-our-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/?p=1103","title":{"rendered":"IAMAW LEADS Program – Empowering women in our union"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2021 the IAMAW created the Leadership Excellence Assembly of Dedicated Sisters (LEADS)<\/a> program. The purpose of this program is to encourage and prepare more IAM sisters for roles as Business Representatives, Directing Business Representatives, President\/Directing General Chairs and other union leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 10 district leaders and 25 women members, representing every territory of the IAM, attended the\u00a0William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center<\/a>\u00a0to plan curriculum for upcoming classes. The meeting began with motivating and sometimes emotional stories from General Secretary-Treasurer Dora Cervantes about obstacles she has had to overcome in her rise to the second highest position of the union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe value of gender diversity \u2013 particularly in the workplace \u2013 cannot be overstated,\u201d said Cervantes. \u201cIt starts with our union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving more female leaders in positions of influence is not only critical to the overall advancement of our IAM sisters, but to our entire union as a whole,\u201d said Cervantes. \u201cWe can\u2019t talk change in the workplace without female voices at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LEADS program is being developed in the field, for the field and is a joint venture between the Women\u2019s and Human Rights Department and the Winpisinger Center in Hollywood, Md.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI personally felt honored to see the commitment and engagement from these members and leaders to develop a program that will grow our union by building a deeper bench of strong leaders that reflect our membership long into the future,\u201d said Carla M. Siegel, IAM Women\u2019s and Human Rights Department Director and General Counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants identified obstacles, brainstormed solutions and dealt with the painful realities many IAM women members face in their quest to excel, as well as new obstacles that so often present themselves once a woman does achieve a higher position. They also discussed how to build a program that works with districts of all sizes and independent lodges. Accessibility was another important topic of discussion, including affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTogether, you are going to be the driving force behind creating pathways for countless more women to take their rightful place in leadership roles in the IAM,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cLet me be crystal clear; that means our IAM Sisters must be in leadership positions at every level of our union. Not just at the local lodge level, but at the district lodge and Grand Lodge levels as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe LEADS Program is about ensuring that our organization is relevant in the future; workforce demographics have changed dramatically \u2013 women now make up 57% of the workforce,\u201d said Winpisinger Center Director Chris Wagoner.  \u201cThe LEADS Program ensures that our leadership ranks reflect our future membership.  LEADS positions the IAM for success in the future. LEADS opens doors and creates opportunities for sisters to lead.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LEADS program is still in its planning stages, but organizers hope to roll it out in the next few months. For more information, please contact your local president or DBR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2021 the IAMAW created the Leadership Excellence Assembly of Dedicated Sisters (LEADS) program. The purpose of this program is to encourage and prepare more IAM sisters for roles as Business Representatives, Directing Business Representatives, President\/Directing General Chairs and other union leaders. More than 10 district leaders and 25 women members, representing every territory of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grand-lodge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1105,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions\/1105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw692.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}