Penny Paulley, Local 1000A
Heidi’s Your Independent Grocer
Petrolia, Ontario
Penny Paulley’s life is a mix of fun, work, and volunteerism. And she’d pack even more into her days, “but there just aren’t enough hours in the day.”
“It’s thrilling that I’ve been asked to do the things I do, but I’d also be happy to never leave my little square of land. I like to dig in the garden. I’m a homebody. I like to walk my dog,” says Paulley on the phone from her home in Petrolia, a town of 5,200 people near Sarnia. A favorite pastime is to play cards and drink iced cappuccinos with a friend.
The single mother of a teenaged daughter, Alyssa, Paulley has until recently kept up two jobs – one as a hair stylist, and the other as an assistant produce manager at Heidi’s Your Independent Grocer. She bought a home on her own, one of many successes that she credits to her union involvement. The purchase came on the heels of a seminar on finances organized through the UFCW Local 1000A’s Women’s Issues Network.
“I would never be where I am in my life if not for the union,” says Paulley. “The training and the opportunities offered to me have given me self confidence and empowered me to be happy, be myself, and live my life.”
Brian Reid met Paulley about eight years ago when he was a staff representative servicing Paulley’s store. He says, “Penny is a very sharp individual, very bright. She’s a quick learner. She absorbs information quickly.” Reid is now director for the union’s YIG and Valumart Sector.
It’s not just the knowledge and the know-how that make her such a valuable asset to the union members, according to Reid. It’s also the heart she brings to her volunteerism and activism.
“She’s very friendly, and very popular,” he says. “She really does believe in the labour movement. She always puts her hand up anytime there’s anything that needs to be done. She’s go-go-go.”
Describing herself as “not churchy, but spiritual,” Paulley says, “I believe that what you put out to the universe is what you’ll get back. If you’re putting out positive energy, you’ll get positive things back. There’s no sense in just complaining.
“You might as well get involved. Change is made from within.”
So, involved she is. She’s been a steward at Heidi’s Your Independent Grocer since she started working in the store nine years ago. She had been a steward for UFCW Local 206 at Swiss Chalet in Sarnia. She’s served one four-year term as the part-time representative for Local 1000A’s Southwest Franchise Division, and is in her second term as president.
She believes fervently in education, and takes every union course she can fit into her timetable. She is a union instructor and served as the trained workplace health and safety representative for Local 206. When doing a seven-month stint as an organizer for Local 1000A, she went into high schools as a speaker for UFCW Canada’s Talking Union program. For several years, she has organized her store’s participation in the annual Labour Day Parade in Toronto. And she’s planning to get going with UFCW Canada’s online education program, webCampus.
Despite all of the busyness – or perhaps because of it -- it’s important to Paulley to keep her weekly commitment to yoga classes. It’s a grounding and meditative activity that seems to be a natural fit for someone who seems grateful for the good things in life and who spends lots of her own energy to help others get a crack at the good stuff too.