CWLU Herstory Blog

This is a guest posting from Saul Schniderman, president of AFSCME Local 2910 at the Library of Congress and the secretary of the Labor Heritage Foundation. .

If you ever visited Adelphi, Maryland you probably have noticed the historic marker on Powder Mill Rd. in front of the Hillandale Baptist Church, near the intersection with Riggs Rd. The marker was erected in December, 2000 by the Maryland Historic Trust and it reads as follows: "Mary Harris 'Mother" Jones', the legendary labor organizer, spent a lifetime fighting for unions and the rights of workers. She died at the Burgess Farm near here on November 30, 1930, aged 100 years."

Read More...

We received this communication from the National Women's Law Center about the efforts to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. In it Lilly Ledbetter tells her story and urges other women to do the same.

If you have been a victim of pay discrimination based on your gender, share your story of pay discrimination here and help get the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed.

A message from Lilly Ledbetter

For months now, I have been traveling the country, speaking about the importance of passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I never dreamed I'd see a bill in Congress with my name on it — but sometimes in life the totally unexpected happens. After all, I also never imagined that I would be paid less than my co-workers — just because I'm a woman.

Read More...

Join sex worker organizer Pussy Willow and writer Kari Lydersen as they discuss issues that affect the lives and livelihood of sex workers - in particular the current controversy surrounding trafficking victim legislation - and the moralistic and dangerous crusade against prostitution.

June 26, Thursday, 7 PM
Sex Workers, Criminalization and Human Rights
Organized by Open University of the Left
Lincoln Park Public Library
1150 W. Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Info: www.openuniversityoftheleft.org

Read More...

Veronica over at Viva La Feminista posted an excellent piece about her fear and loathing of economics classes. Like many of us who have tried to understand the "dismal science", she was repulsed by the one economics class she took. Imagine what it must feel like to be a feminist economics major and have to take dozens of the things?

It's not surprising that econ classes have such a bad name among people who have even a shred of human feeling. Academic economics is dominated by the infamous Chicago School popularized by Milton Friedman and by corporate shills bent on corporate world domination. I know the latter sounds like a joke, but the Third World isn't laughing. As for Milton Friedman, his brand of economics as practiced by such luminaries as Margaret Thatcher , Ronald Reagan and Augusto Pinochet has grown a helluva lot more poverty than wealth.

Read More...

What do you do if you need to take time off work to care for a sick child or parent? Does having children hurt your career? Unequal pay. Maternity leave. Spiraling health care costs. Family and children plus a full-time career.

Working people face these issues every day. But all too often, women especially don’t have the resources or support to help meet these challenges.

Working America and the AFL-CIO are conducting a nationwide survey on what it's like to be a working woman. If you’re a working woman, your opinion matters greatly. Please take a moment to complete the Ask a Working Woman survey and share your thoughts and experiences.

 

Read More...

Ellen Bravo wrote this article which was posted on the AFL-CIO blog. She is former director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women and author of Taking on the Big Boys: Or Why Feminism Is Good for Families, Business and the Nation.

Congratulations, working women! As of today, your salary since January 1, 2007, has finally reached the total earned by your male colleagues in 2007 alone. What’s more, this pay gap is all your fault!

According to the media, the problem is that women just don’t ask. If we learned to speak up in salary negotiations, pay equity would be a hard fact.

An ABC News segment called the negotiation process “something that each of us has the ability to control….No employer has an obligation to whisper in the woman’s ear, ‘Hey, you know, you just lost out on more money because you didn’t speak up.’”

Read More...

Our panel of celebrity judges will pick several of the winners, while visitors to the website will choose the recipient of the “Our America” award.

Plus, some of the winning videos will appear in television ads—in part to engage voters and 2008 political candidates in a national dialogue about what is necessary to get America back on track.

 

Read More...

Labor singer Anne Feeney's new cd "Dump the Bosses off Your Back" is now available at CDBaby and Anne assures us that its her best cd yet. For those of you unfamiliar with Anne Feeney's music, you are in for a real treat. If you don't believe me, head on over to her website and listen to some of

This annual event brings together young organizers from unions and community groups and Chicago area college students interested in learning about working for change. Panelists from Illinois Action Now, UNITE HERE, AFSCME Council 31, IEA-NEA and others will share their experiences as organizers. Some of the invited groups are looking for interns and new staff.
Saturday, April 5th
11:00am to 1:00pm (lunch included)
Gage Gallery,
Roosevelt University,
18 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago

To rsvp please contact:
Carrie Breitbach This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Book Launch and Reception

Wednesday, March 12, 20085 p.m. - 7 p.m.

UNITE! HERE

333 S. Ashland, Chicago IL

On the Global Waterfront by Suzan Erem and E. Paul Durrenberger tells the story of the Charleston 5, who became an international labor cause celebre when they were falsely accused of inciting a riot after police attacked a longshore protest in Charleston, South Carolina. The dockworkers were protesting the attempt by a multinational shipping conglomerate to shift to non-union labor.

Suzan Erem is a former Chicago labor organizer who wrote the book Labor Pains about her experiences as a SEIU staffer here in the Windy City. You can meet Suzan and get her autograph on the book by attending the celebration at UNITE! HERE on March 12.