Labor & Employment Law

Report: Unions Must Open Up Opportunities for Women, Young Workers

By James Parks

All the growth in union membership since 2000 has been among women, Latinos and part-time employees, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. So how can the union movement attract the next generation of working women and younger workers? A new report says unions must become more diverse and open up more opportunities for young workers and women in leadership or they will move on to other social justice organizations.  

The report, ?Stepping Up, Stepping Back: Women Talk Union Across Generations,? details frank discussions in March among 30 women invited to a two-day women’s summit in New Orleans and sponsored by the Berger-Marks Foundation.

While acknowledging the significant gains for women in the workplace made possible by unions and the growing diversity in the union movement, the report urges unions to do even more to become more open.

The AFL-CIO is committed to increasing diversity in the union movement. At the federation?s 2009 convention, 43 percent of the delegates were women or people of color. The convention also passed two resolutions, ?A Diverse and Democratic Labor Movement? and ?Unions Should Give People with Disabilities a Voice and a Face,? that, among other things, require every state federation and central local bodies to establish concrete goals for expanding diversity in their leadership.

At the national level, several unions, including the Communications Workers of America (CWA), increased the membership of their executive boards to increase diversity. At AFT, for the first time, all three top officers are women. 

The Berger-Marks group?s recommendations include adopting term limits for elective offices, zero tolerance for sexual harassment, creating ?safe spaces? for women and younger activists who want to air their concerns and training programs so young workers can learn how to ?talk union? with their peers. You can download the report here.

?It?s not enough that the door is open,? one young participant said. ?You have to grab them [young women] and bring them through.?

The opinions expressed by the women and young workers were very similar to the ideas that came out of the AFL-CIO Youth Summit in June. One key point: New social media such as Facebook and Twitter aren?t nearly as powerful as face-to-face contact with young people deciding whether to join a union. Many participants in both summits also said they felt frustrated that too many union officials stay in office too long.

The Berger-Marks Foundation is dedicated to achieving a voice for working women through organization and union membership. It provides funds for women workers directly involved in organizing and assists groups that support working women who want to form a union.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 23, 2010 (boomark / email).