Maryanna has more than two decades of experience in the union movement, as a member of both private and public sector unions.
Her first participation as a union member was due to the union drive at the Toronto Sun editorial department, which resulted in union certification in 2003. At the time of the union drive, Maryanna had held a variety of journalism roles, including consumer advocate, business writer and associate business editor.
Maryanna was elected to the bargaining team for the first collective agreement at the Toronto Sun, and later became the Bargaining Unit Chair of the Toronto Sun Editorial Unit, a member of the Executive of the Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild, Local 87-M (now Unifor Local 87-M) and a delegate to the Toronto and York Region Labour Council.
Maryanna’s experience with the Toronto Sun union drive taught her that you can sometimes find progressive voices in unlikely places (given the Sun’s historical anti-union tone).
When Maryanna’s Toronto Sun job was eliminated in 2007 during one of the many rounds of media layoffs, she chose to take a severance package rather than try to bump another worker. She later landed a communications job in the Ontario government, becoming an OPSEU member.
She then transitioned to an AMAPCEO program delivery role, was elected an AMAPCEO Chapter Chair and then an AMAPCEO Board member for nearly eight years.
Maryanna has twice been the recipient of an AMAPCEO Outstanding Member Services Award (in 2017 and 2023).