Labor & Employment Law

CLUW Honors 11 Union Women for ?Extraordinary Achievements?

By Mike Hall

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) last night presented its first annual Working Women’s Awards to 11 women who have left their mark on and helped build the labor movement.

The ceremony, at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., honored the women for their

extraordinary achievements, leadership, and for being exemplary models for working women who seek to advance in their workplace, union and community.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, who received one of the awards, said it was thanks to the work and success of many of the women in attendance that she has been able to walk down the path they pioneered.

Take a look around this room. Wow, what incredible talent, what incredible commitment to working women there is right here. As you all know, this celebration is all about Women’s History Month…but you don’t just celebrate women’s history-you make it yourselves. I owe a lot to you. It’s because of you that I can stand here tonight.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, another honoree, said women’s workplace rights have a come a long way, but

the struggle to close the pay gap between men and women still continues, although we have come a long way, we haven’t completely closed the gap.  If I could grant one right to working women, it would be  pay equity. 

The other women honored were Letter Carriers (NALC) Secretary-Treasurer Jane E. Broendel; UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn; Change to Win (CTW) Chair Anna Burger; AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson; Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara J. Easterling; CLUW Presidents Emerita Gloria T. Johnson and Joyce D. Miller; AFGE Vice President Augusta Thomas; and Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Secretary-Treasurer Emerita Nancy Wohlforth.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 19, 2010 (boomark / email).