Leading Together

Women now make up 53 percent of union members in Canada, a proportion that has steadily grown over recent decades (Statistics Canada 2025). Yet numerical representation does not automatically translate into leadership power. Women, particularly racialized, Indigenous, disabled, and immigrant women, remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions. This raises a broader question: how are women reshaping leadership within the labour movement, and what might their experiences tell us about the future of democratic organizing in Canada?

One idea surfaced repeatedly throughout my conversation with Patti Dalton: democracy is strongest when leadership is shared. Whether discussing unions, community organizing, protests, or mentoring new activists, Dalton, who is the President of the London and District Council Labour Council, consistently returned to the importance of distributing leadership, creating opportunities for others, and building collective capacity. Leadership, in her view, succeeds not when one person exercises authority effectively, but when many people are empowered to lead together.

The Gendered Terrain of Union Politics

Unionization has measurable benefits for women. Unionized women earn more than their non-unionized counterparts, are more likely to have extended benefits, and experience a narrower gender pay gap. However, as Patti emphasizes, the political terrain in which women work is increasingly hostile: “Education, caring professions are often dominated by women and all public sector jobs really are under attack, and the push… is massive privatization.”

Her observation highlights an important dynamic: the sectors most targeted by austerity and privatization are feminized. Cuts to public education, health care, and social services disproportionately affect women workers. The attack on unions is therefore not gender neutral. It is embedded in broader ideological battles over public goods, democratic governance, and equity.

Patti situates the current moment within what she describes as a resurgence of far-right politics. She recounts far-right groups infiltrating online meetings, spreading disinformation, and targeting labour leaders with harassment. In response, labour councils have mobilized community networks, organized counter-rallies, and prioritized safety and solidarity. This is not merely defensive unionism. It reflects what scholars call social movement unionism, a model in which unions operate not only as workplace negotiators but as civic actors engaged in broader struggles for democracy and human rights (Ross and Savage, 2023).

In Canada, this role is constitutionally significant. The right to collective bargaining and the right to strike have been recognized by the Supreme Court as protected under Section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. When governments attempt to curtail union political activity or impose back-to-work legislation, they are not simply adjusting labour policy; they are contesting fundamental democratic freedoms.

Patti captures this democratic function succinctly:

We have unions to defend members… against bosses, administrators, and people with more authority and power. Unions are in place to protect their members and the labour movement.

Unions, in this framing, are counterweights to concentrated power. And women are increasingly central to how that counterweight is exercised.

Shared Power as Democratic Leadership

“I think it's still very hierarchical. And I don't think that is the most effective model… I like to think of it as shared power”

Traditional union leadership is often described in transactional terms: negotiating contracts, managing grievances, coordinating strikes. This model is hierarchical, procedural, and authority-driven (Briskin 2011, see also Kark, et.al. 2023).

Patti’s account suggests something different. Her leadership philosophy aligns more closely with transformational leadership theory (Kark, et.al. 2023), which emphasizes collective vision, empowerment, and relational influence rather than command-and-control authority. Instead of concentrating power at the top, Patti describes a “hub” model like a snowflake where leadership responsibilities are distributed across small groups working collaboratively.

Importantly, this is not abstract theory. It manifests in her practice:

Passing the bullhorn at rallies so others can lead chants

Inviting first-time participants into organizing roles

Investing in shared training and facilitation

Publicly thanking officers and delegates for their work

These practices redistribute symbolic and practical authority. They cultivate leadership capacity rather than simply exercising it.

Women’s representation matters here because leadership style is not incidental. It shapes organizational culture (Briskin 2011). Patti explicitly rejects the idea that leadership must be solitary or centralized. Instead, she emphasizes mentoring and relational trust, and the importance of women mentors who shaped her early career in union equity work. Her trajectory from joining a Status of Women committee to becoming the first woman president of her labour council illustrates not just upward mobility, but institutional transformation.

Community & Collective Capacity

A recurring theme in the interview is community. Patti repeatedly refers to networks, solidarity, and what her vice president calls the labour council’s “extended family”

Leadership is not framed as individual heroism but as collective capacity (Briskin 2011). This emphasis is especially visible in moments of conflict. When facing far-right mobilization in London, the response was not simply to issue statements. It involved coordinated rallies, strategic spatial positioning, music, food, and visible solidarity.

Food, she notes, is a powerful organizing tool. Soup and hot drinks at rallies create warmth both literally and symbolically. Drumming and chanting generate energy and cohesion. These details are not trivial. They reflect an understanding that mobilization is relational and embodied.

Such practices resonate with communal leadership models, often associated with feminist organizing traditions, which foreground inclusion, accessibility, and shared responsibility (Tan and DeFrank-Cole 2023).

Dalton's commitment to shared power also appears in the seemingly small practices through which she builds community. Throughout the interview, she returned repeatedly to the importance of recognizing the contributions of others. She makes a point of thanking officers, delegates, and first-time organizers for their work, noting that some have told her, "Nobody's ever thanked me before." These moments reveal that leadership is sustained not only through strategy and organization but through recognition. Emotional labour becomes democratic labour when leaders create environments in which people feel valued, confident, and willing to participate again.

Emotional & Creative Sustenance

One of the most analytically rich dimensions of this interview is Patti’s discussion of emotional sustainability. Activism, she explains, cannot be relentless. “We’re more effective when we are grounded, calm, and centered.” Burnout is real. Leaders must know when to rest. This perspective challenges masculinized norms of perpetual combativeness. Instead, Patti emphasizes art, music, yoga, community conversation, and joy as essential to political endurance.

For Dalton, self-care is not separate from political work but one of its preconditions. Leaders who are exhausted cannot sustain movements over the long term. Rest, joy, creativity, friendship, and reflection therefore become practices that make democratic participation possible rather than distractions from it.

“I do retain hope because hope is powerful”

Hope here is not naïve optimism. It is strategic resilience. The rally name “Hope Not Hate” was chosen deliberately. In a political climate marked by backlash and misogyny, sustaining morale becomes a form of resistance.

This dimension of leadership is frequently feminized and undervalued. Yet it is central to movement survival. The emotional labour, most often performed by women, stabilizes organizations during prolonged conflict. By naming and legitimizing this labour, Patti reframes it as strategic rather than incidental.

Resistance as Identity

“Activism is core to who I am”

This statement reflects Patti’s integration of labour activism and identity over decades of participation — from the 1995 Days of Action to Occupy to contemporary anti-fascist organizing. Leadership, in this context, is not episodic. It is cumulative. Yet Patti also acknowledges regression. Feminist gains are not linear. “Two steps forward and two steps back” remains a familiar refrain. The rise of online misogyny and the so-called manosphere complicates women’s advancement into leadership roles.

Representation alone cannot counteract structural backlash. But it can reshape institutional norms. Women leaders who practice shared power, communal engagement, and emotional sustainability model alternative forms of authority.

Conclusion: Leading Together

Throughout our conversation, Patti Dalton returned repeatedly to one central conviction: democracy is strongest when leadership is shared. Whether mentoring new activists, passing the bullhorn to first-time organizers, creating welcoming spaces through music and food, or reminding activists to rest before burnout takes hold, she understands leadership less as directing others than as creating the conditions under which others can participate. Leadership is measured not by how much authority one accumulates, but by how many people become capable of leading alongside you.

This philosophy challenges conventional understandings of both unions and political leadership. Rather than reproducing hierarchy, Dalton imagines organizations built around collaboration, mutual support, and collective responsibility. Her emphasis on shared power, democratic participation, and emotional sustainability reflects a broader tradition of feminist and democratic leadership that values relationships, mentoring, and community-building as essential political practices.

In a period marked by privatization, democratic backsliding, and ideological polarization, these practices are more than organizational preferences. They are democratic strategies. Patti Dalton reminds us that lasting political change depends not only on strong leaders, but on leaders willing to share power, cultivate hope, and help others discover their own capacity to lead.

Get Involved

If you want to learn more about how to take action and support workers in your community, check out LDLC. Their site features resources, campaigns, and upcoming events, including ways to engage with local policymakers. https://londonlabour.ca/campaigns/tell-your-mpp-community-services-are-worth-fighting-for/