Yolanda McClean is a Canadian library technician and trade unionist. Since 2021, She has been the Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Ontario, which is the largest union in the province. She is also the Executive Vice-president at the Ontario Federation of Labour. She is the first Black Canadian to hold either position. She began her career in 1984 as a library technician in the Toronto District School Board.
In 2018, she was named one of the top 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women.
In April 2022, she was elected vice-president of CUPE Ontario, becoming the first Black and racialized officer of CUPE Ontario. A month later, McClean was elected Third Vice-president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
In August 2022, McClean called on organized labour to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
In January 2023, rabble.ca noted that McClean was leading the union's Anti-Racism Organizational Action Plan Committee. A month later in February 2023, she appeared rabble.ca's podcast where she discussed "ways of achieving gender and racial equity inside and outside of Canada’s labour movement."
References
- ""We Made History": CUPE Ontario Re-elects President Fred Hahn and Elects Secretary-Treasurer Yolanda McClean". www.businesswire.com. 28 April 2022.
- "Yolanda McClean". 100abcwomen.ca. 100ABCWomen. 8 November 2018.
- "Yolanda McClean acclaimed Third Vice-President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists". Canadian Union of Public Employees. 7 June 2022.
- "I can't work if I can't breathe: why Labour must support Black Lives Matter - Spring". springmag.ca. 9 August 2022.
- Calugay-Casuga, Gabriela (20 January 2023). "Pushing equity forward within the labour movement". rabble.ca.
- "CUPE Ontario's Yolanda McClean on empowering BIPOC women workers". rabble.ca. 3 February 2023.