She began her career in 1984 as a library technician in the Toronto District School Board.
A month later, McClean was elected Third Vice-president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
[3] In August 2022, McClean called on organized labour to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
[4] In January 2023, rabble.ca noted that McClean was leading the union's Anti-Racism Organizational Action Plan Committee.
[5] A month later in February 2023, she appeared rabble.ca's podcast where she discussed "ways of achieving gender and racial equity inside and outside of Canada’s labour movement.