Vancouver, BC-IAM Local 764 member Janet Andrews was awarded with the King Charles III Coronation medal in a ceremony on February 16th for exemplary service to her community and the labour movement.
The Coronation Medal commemorates the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III as King of Canada and is awarded to candidates who have made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada. There will be 30,000 medals awarded during the anniversary year.
Andrews, a 27-year member of the Machinists’ Union who started out at YVR with United Airlines in 1998 served as Senior Steward, Political Action and Women’s Committee Chairperson at her local before being acclaimed as Secretary Treasurer for the New Westminster & District Labour Council in 2017. She is currently serving her fifth consecutive term at the NWDLC which is the largest labour council in British Columbia, representing over 65,000 union members from almost 100 different union locals in fourteen cities in Metro Vancouver.
In presenting the medal, Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Kingsway Don Davies noted “Janet is a trailblazing labour leader, women’s rights advocate and social justice champion who has given decades of service to improve the lives of workers in our community.”
A tireless advocate for workers, developing future leaders and fostering solidarity, in addition to her work at the NWDLC Andrews serves on the Executive Council of the BC Federation of Labour, completed 6 years on the Board of the United Way of BC and in 2024 was elected Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Pacific Blue Cross, the number one health benefits provider in BC. She is also politically active supporting candidates for office who will stand up for workers at the local, provincial and federal levels of government.
Davies added her “commitment and efforts to support diversity and inclusion in leadership roles in the labour movement and in local government across the Metro Vancouver region are truly nation-building.”
