By Jim Selby, AFL Staff

Sister Yvonne Schmitz of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is the recipient of this year’s AFL International Women’s Day Award.

Yvonne has been a social worker and AUPE Local 6 member since 1977. In her job, Yvonne acts as an advocate for persons with disabilities – a task that has become more and more difficult in the face of government cutbacks in both staffing levels and financial resources.

Sister Schmitz became a union activist during the province-wide mobilization of social workers against the cutbacks that ultimately resulted in the Local 6 strike of 1990. During the strike and ever since, Yvonne has been a union leader in her workplace, in her local chapter, in her union and in the labour movement.

She has been a member of AUPE’s governing Provincial Executive. A chapter chairperson, negotiating committee member, union steward, and organizer. Yvonne is a member of AUPE’s Political Action Committee and Anti-privatization Committee. She is an AUPE delegate to the Calgary & District Labour Council (CDLC).

At the CDLC, Sister Schmitz has been Co-chair of the Women’s Committee since 1994. She was elected 2nd Vice-president of the Council in 1995, and currently Co-chairs its Political Action Committee. She drafted the Council’s brief to the Federal Social Security Review, and represented the CDLC on the City of Calgary Task Force on Social Policy.

Yvonne is also active in her community and the political arena. She is a member of many progressive organizations, including Amnesty International, Green-peace, the National Anti-Poverty Association, The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Parkland Institute, the Common Front, and the Calgary Poverty Focus Group. She is an active member of the NDP and a founding member of the Calgary Voters’ Association.

Sister Schmitz has walked every picket line in the Calgary area and most others in the province. She is a dedicated, active unionists who has earned the IWD award many times over.