SUPERPOWER

We are women. 

We are trade union women. 

We are trade union super-women. 

Super-hero capes are nowhere to be seen but our super-powers are in plain-sight. 

Look… 

We are approachable helping, welcoming, listening. 

We are trusted confidantes. Look… 

We are kind, compassionate, empathetic, encouraging, supporting, understanding. 

We are the gentlest of rock-solid allies. 

Trust our intuition. 

Look at how we watch the expressions on faces, the flickers of a frown, the hint of a smile. Watch how we detect the subtlest of changes in the tone of a voice, 

gauge moods and motives 

until we know exactly what to do next and then do it. 

See how decades of practice and attention to detail 

mean we rarely, almost never, miss an opportunity 

to make something better. 

Our emotional intelligence is deep, powerful 

misunderstandings and misinterpretations dissolve in our wake 

Believe us, we are patient!

With the patience of saints,

we hear both sides of the story.

We get it, both versions... and we patiently paraphrase

bringing clarity amidst chaos.

Look...

See how we are level-headed, reassuring, calm

even when the fieriest of tempers blazes before us.

No emergency alarms us.

We are ice-cool in a crisis.

Watch how we handle the most turbulent of meetings,

pour oil on troubled waters

to calm the most complex of conflicts

with the deftness of seasoned diplomats.

Sometimes, overlooked, underestimated,

we are, we have to be-

the silent assassins.

Quietly aiming, and shooting, for equality...

getting away with it for years.

‘Her,’ they think, ‘she’s just a woman, just a young woman...

What would she know anyway?’

A lot. Older or younger, we know a lot.

We have heads and hearts and bones that brim

with knowledge that we just keep on gathering

as we live and learn as women.

We eat it up- learning.

About policy and power structures,

the law, campaign strategy.

We learn and learn

and build and grow our intellectual power

for our members, ourselves, the common good.

Fairness and equality are our mission- clear and simple.

In a society that others, sidelines, disables some of us,

as sisters we strive and struggle together,

finding solution after solution

to the problems that we did not create.

Some of us are deaf but we make sure that our voices are heard.

One way or another, we are good talkers!

Listen to us educate, agitate, challenge and debate.

Look at how we persuade, convince, negotiate.

See our confidence glimmer and shine as we speak.

We are women.

We are trade union women.

We are trade union super-women.

We have been built by other women super-heroes

who told us the truth when we needed to hear it

and stood beside us when we needed them most.

Watch now as we mentor

and help mould and make

hundreds and hundreds, thousands upon thousands,

more super-hero Sisters.

Look...

See how we organise-

planning, orchestrating, conducting.

We make things happen- good things,

at home, at work, in the world at large.

Watch us juggle.

We care for our kids and our cats, our parents, our partners.

We more than do our jobs

and we work and work for our members and the union.

If we drop a ball

a Sister is there to catch it.

And then we keep juggling, multi-tasking, maintaining our multidimensionality.

We are super-focussed on being super-fixers.

See how we are stamina-strong, resilient.

Day after day after day,

we persist.

We explore all options.

We stand our ground.

Firm-footed, speaking up for those who have yet to find their voice,

not yet unlocked their super-power-

standing super-strong together with those who have.

Sometimes we are fearless solo travellers.

We board trains and planes, and buses and boats

that take us to the next stop on our trade union journeys

across the world of workers, united.

We are women.

We are trade union women.

Sisterhood is our sustenance.

Solidarity is our superpower.

See it. Hear it. Feel it.

And Sisters, celebrate it!

Written by Andrea Bradley and Eireann McAuley