Evelyn (Sy) Elago: Woman of colour empowerment

by Levy Abad

One of the early union leaders in the Filipino community is Evelyn Elago. Almost every unionist I interviewed mentioned her name and many people in the community asked me if I had already interviewed her. After some research, I finally found Evelyn on Facebook and sent her questions for this article on the history of Filipino union leaders of Winnipeg from the 70s to the 90s. Evelyn told me that she was thirteen years old when she arrived in Winnipeg in 1979 from Makati, the financial centre of the Philippines.

Based on the book Manggagawa Noon at Ngayon, the year 1979 in Philippine history was marred by unfortunate events on the labour front. About 56,000 workers lost their jobs in 1979. Around 1.3 million people looked for jobs abroad. Prior to this, in 1978, a massive noise barrage protest was successfully launched after the 1978 elections. On May 1, 1980, the Kilusang Mayo Uno or the May First Movement was founded to carry on the fight of workers in a comprehensive way – nationalist, democratic, and anti-imperialist. Such was the context of the time when Evelyn left the Philippines for Canada.

Evelyn recalled that she worked with Boeing and became a union president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 2169 (now UNIFOR) for two three-year terms. Boeing Winnipeg is one of the largest aerospace composite manufacturers in Canada. The company employs more than 1000 people in the 800,000 square feet of space in two locations in the city. Under her leadership, Evelyn reckons handling two or three collective bargaining negotiations with management. She also shared that one of the persons who influenced her to attend conferences on unionism was Neri Dimacali. Neri was a union officer of Boeing Union Local 2169 and a leading community activist back in the day. Another person who influenced her to be active in the union was Bob Luna.

Evelyn proudly narrated that she attended several courses or training from the union, such as workers of colour workshops and human rights. She continued that she was part of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) National Executive Board and CAW Women delegation to Brazil and Guatemala. Evelyn also shared, “I was Boeing’s United Way Campaign Co-chair for four campaign years. In the 2003 United Way campaign, I was a sponsored executive for United Way representing the Boeing company. It was the first time Boeing sent a representative from the local union.”

Mohamed Alli, a long-time union leader in Winnipeg, has this to say about Evelyn, “I did attend union courses with her. We served on the Human Rights Committee and the Workers of Colour Committee. I also attended CAW constitutional conferences with her in attendance.”

Chris Santos, the current President of Unifor Local 2169 and who has also held an executive position since 2007 shared his thoughts on Evelyn, “She helped me gain enough confidence to sit on the executive where she served as president of my union. She guided my training and introduced me to good people.”

In my conversation with Evelyn, I told her that a number of Filipino labour leaders remember her as a pioneer woman of colour leader. Evelyn commented that she made history as the first woman of colour elected as local union president. Boeing is one of the strategic industries in Winnipeg employing a lot of workers from the Filipino community. Usually, people in the community become envious when they know someone is working at Boeing. Boeing is known as a good-paying employer.

It was a great opportunity to interview Evelyn on Facebook, one of the Filipinos from Winnipeg who became a union leader. It is not easy to research the involvement of Filipinos in the labour movement of Manitoba from 1970s to the present. More Filipinos should be part of and appreciate the history of the labour movement in our province.

Levy Abad is the author of Rhythms and Resistance: Narrative of Filipino Musicians and Activists (1972-1994). He is also a singer-songwriter, poet, and migrant rights activist who has released four albums centred on the life and struggles of migrants.