WHY SHOULD WOMENJOIN UNIONS?

ORGANIZING & LEADING WITH

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

MATERIAL PREPARED BY

BRIGID O’FARRELL

MILLS COLLEGEUAW Local 1981

BASED ON

SHE WAS ONE OF US:

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AND THE AMERICAN WOKER

Cornell University Press 2010

PROJECT FUNDED BY

BERGER-MARKS FOUNDATION

1. INTRODUCTION

ARE YOU REACHING OUT TO NEW WOMEN WORKERS

TO INTEREST THEM IN JOINING THE UNION?

1. INTRODUCTION

ARE YOU REACHING OUT TO WOMEN WORKERS

TO INTEREST THEM IN JOINING THE UNION?

YES!

Union organizer, officer, member-it’s your job.

• Unions win with organizing by members

• Successful strategies develop women leaders

WORKSHOP GOALS

USING HISTORY TO HELP

• Organize women workers

• Energize women members

• Develop women leaders

SELECTED STRATEGIES FOR

ORGANIZING & LEADERSHIP

1. Highlight the importance of women’s contributions-past & present

2. Address women’s true priorities

3. Create and support formal mentoring programs

4. Provide opportunities for women to strategize together

5. Put women in leadership positions

6. Provide flexible options for involvement

7. Provide training on mobilizing women

Eleanor Roosevelt, fourteen years old, 1898

2. WHY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT?

The Roosevelt Family, 1919

WHY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT?

BECAUSE AS ONE OF THE MOST ADMIRED, VILIFIED, & INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY ER

WAS A:

Worker, Newspaper columnist and author

Union Member, The Newspaper Guild 1936-1962

Member, National Women’s Trade Union League

Advocate, for working women, unions, & civil rights

SHE BROUGHT LABOR TO HER ROLES AS:

• First Lady of the United States & the World

• Political Leader of the Democratic Party

• Delegate to the United Nations

Chair, Commission on Human Rights

• Chair, Commission on the Status of Women

• Wife, mother, daughter-in-law, grandmother, friend

CONSEQUENCES

• Death Threats

• Church Bombing

Ku Klux Klan

Texas White Citizen Council

• Column Cancelled

WHY SHOULD WOMEN JOIN UNIONS?

QUESTION

“Mrs. Roosevelt asked many questions but she was particularly interested in why I thought women should join unions...”

What do you think Rose Schneiderman told Mrs. Roosevelt in 1922?

Answer

Craft Unionism

• Poor wages

• Long hours

Social Unionism

• Health care

• Housing

• Financial assistance

• Cultural activities

• Who Was Rose Schneiderman?

STRATEGIES

• MENTORS

• COALITIONS

• LEADERS

• PRIORITIES

• COMMUNICATION

MENTOR:Rose Schneiderman, early twenties, ca. 1908

COALITIONS

National Farm Labor Committee, 1959

AFL-CIO News, 1961

Martin Luther King & Rosa Parks

NEW LEADERS

FRANCES PERKINS

Frances Perkins@1911

LEADERSHIP QUALITY AND SKILLS

• Frances Perkins

Wrote & Administered the legislation

• Rose Schneiderman

Joined the NIRA to implement the law

• Eleanor Roosevelt

Gathered Information & Educated the public

Frances Perkins, WTUL, 1936

Maida Springer, White House, 1945

International Labor Exchange, 1945

WOMEN LEADERS

Maid Springer, 1910-2004

Jessie De La Cruz, 1919-

United Farm Workers Union

Ah Quan McElrath, 1915-2004

Int. Longshore Workers Union

WOMEN’S PRIORITIES

Learn about the underlying problems

•Listen to workers

•Visit work locations

•Ask questions

•Observe conditions

• World War II

Equal pay, factory jobs, child care, meals

• The United Nations

Equal pay, discrimination

Commission on Women

• Commission on the Status of Women

Union Women & the Equal Rights Amendment

ORT Training Program, Paris, 1948

PRESIDENT’S COMMISSIONON THE STATUS

OF WOMEN

• Role of Union Women

• First Report on Minority

Women

• Gathering information

Esther Peterson, 1906-1997

OLD MEDIA

• My Day Syndicated Newspaper Column: Over 8,000

• Magazine articles: Average of 50 per year

• Speeches: Average of 50 per year

• Books: 27

• Letters: Thousands and thousands per year

• Testimony before Congress

• Speeches to Union Conventions

• Commissions & Committees

COMMUNICATION*Unions must tell their stories to the public

CIO Convention Floor, 1944

NEW MEDIA

Radio Shows,

Television Show

Web page, Facebook, Tweet, Blog

AFL-CIO Merger Convention, 1955

4. OUTREACH

WORKERS’ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Democracy in the workplace as a model for the country

Democracy in the workplace as a model for the world

DELEGATE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Chair, Commission on Human Rights

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF

HUMAN RIGHTS*

ARTICLE 23

1. Everyone has the right to work

2. Everyone, without discrimination, has the right to

equal pay for equal work

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and

favourable remuneration

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

WHO IS YOUR ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

TODAY?

WHO IS YOUR ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

TODAY?

Liz Shuler, IBEW

Sec.Treas., AFL-CIO

Hilda Solis,

US Sec. of Labor

Michelle Obama

First Lady of the US Hillary Clinton,

US Sec. of State

Arlene Holt Baker,

AFSCME. Exec. VP, AFL-CIORose Ann DeMoro, Ex. Dir.

National Nurses United

6. CLOSE TO HOME

• MENTORS

• LEADERS

• COALITIONS

• WOMEN’S PRIORITIES

• COMMUNICATION

• HUMAN RIGHTS

AFL-CIO Memorial Poster, 1963