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We are pleased to announce an upcoming labor forum, “Does Labor Have a CLUW?: Unions and the Feminist Agenda.” This forum, whose title is inspired by the Coalition of Labor Union Women, will be held on Friday, January 25 at 8:30 a.m. on the 18th floor of 25 West 43rd street. It is co-sponsored by the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies and Cornell University’s Institute for Women and Work.
Women make up 46% of the labor force. And while there are still more men in unions than women, the gap is quickly narrowing. In fact, women today account for the majority of new workers organizing into unions, and among black women union density is actually increasing. Why then has the labor movement failed to fully integrate women—especially women of color—into its leadership; and why has it been slow to address the full range of women’s concerns? How effectively is organized labor dealing with gender inequality? To what extent does collective bargaining address feminist concerns, including pay equity, maternity leave, flexible work schedules, and rights and protections for lesbian and gay workers?
To address these questions, we have invited three prominent feminist thinkers.
Alice Kessler-Harris, a professor at Columbia University and a pioneering historian on women, work and the U.S. labor movement, is the author of several books on women workers; her most recent is In Pursuit of Equity: How Gender Shaped American Economic Citizenship. Niki T. Dickerson, an assistant professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, studies race and gender stratification in the labor market and has written on the issue of black and Latino women leadership in the contemporary labor movement. Heidi Hartmann is the President of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)—a research and advocacy organization that has done extensive work on the economic impact of public policies affecting women and their families. Their most recent publication is, “I Knew I Could Do This Work: Seven Strategies That Promote Women’s Activism and Leadership in Unions.”
As you can see, our speakers are uniquely suited to address the issue of women and leadership in the labor movement. This forum builds on our recent jointly-sponsored national conference, “Sisters On The Frontline: Organizing Women and Building Power.”
We hope you will join us for what promises to be a stimulating discussion. Please be sure to RSVP to Eloiza Morales by January 21st at (212) 642-2029 or eloiza.morales@mail.cuny.edu.
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