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 The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, 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 The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...

. 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 Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClean, Yolanda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Trade unionists from Ontario Activists from Toronto Canadian women trade unionists Black Canadian trade unionists Canadian Union of Public Employees people Coalition of Black Trade Unionists people