Service, Office and Retail Workers of Canada (SORWUC)

Instelling

Service, Office and Retail Workers of Canada (SORWUC)

1971-1986

The SORWUC began in 1971 with the Working Women’s Association of Vancouver and involved mainly unorganized women themselves. The group was also involved with public education about day care, job security, and equal pay. The union became formally organized and born from the Working Women’s Association of Vancouver in 1972 by a founding convention of 24 women, having the intention of creating SORWUC to represent organized occupations that were not yet included in the traditional trade unions at that time in Canada. The union aimed to overcome adversities faced by working women within these occupations by negotiating and bargaining for what they aimed to publicly educate their members on such as improve working conditions and provide job security. The union was able to branch out in three years’ time to include bank workers, and individuals from the finance industry. Having a presence primarily in British Columbia where the headquarters was located, SORWUC had a national presence in Canada due to Local sections of sisters and members in various cities. Local 7 was chartered in June 1982 for the region of Ontario and was based in Ottawa. After a decade of organized events and national presence, SORWUC ended operations in 1986.