Queering the Canadian Labour Movement: LGBTQ2S+ Advocacy Within the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU)
Queering the Canadian Labour Movement: LGBTQ2S+ advocacy within the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) by Sarah Cibart Bachelor of Human Justice, University of Regina, 2016 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Sarah Cibart 2021 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2021 Copyright in this work is held by the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Declaration of Committee Name: Sarah Cibart Degree: Master of Arts Title: Queering the Canadian Labour Movement: LGBTQ2S+ advocacy within the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) Committee: Chair: Jen Marchbank Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Tiffany Muller Myrdahl Supervisor Senior Lecturer, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Helen Hok-Sze Leung Supervisor Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Kendra Strauss Committee Member Associate Professor, Labour Studies Andrew Stevens External Examiner Associate Professor, Industrial Relations & Human Resource Manager, University of Regina ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract This thesis presents findings and analysis drawn from semi-structured qualitative interviews with eleven members, staff, and leaders within the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) on their understandings and experiences of LGBTQ2S+ advocacy within the union. I situate this data within a critical framework that draws together concepts of social unionism and queer theory, asking how accessibility and power is understood in these literatures. The data reveals that LGBTQ2S+ specific education and training is needed within the BCGEU, that the BCGEU needs a LGBTQ2S+ advocate, and the structure of the union must become more accessible to increase more meaningful involvement from diverse workers, including LGBTQ2S+ workers.
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