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Constituency Groups, Organizing, UFCW Values, Women's Network

Union Women’s Summer School Registration Open Now!

Apr 30, 2013

source: http://on.fb.me/Yk2snk

Hey union ladies! Want to learn more about the labor movement, and how you can become a stronger leader?

You will learn about these, and much, much more by attending any of the three Union Women’s Summer School programs being offered this summer by  The United Association for Labor Education!

Registration is now open for the three programs, each of which are offered on separate dates in different regions of the country.

The Northeast Regional Summer School for Union Women program, called “Raising our voices: Women’s Leadership for Democracy in our work, our country, and our world!“, will take place at the end of July. It will focus on strengthening the knowledge of union who have come together–rank and file members, officers, and staff–about the labor movement, in order to create better leadership skills.

The Western Regional Summer Institute for Union Women program, called “Women Emerging as Leaders” will take place in late June. This course also focuses on leadership skills and community work.

The third program, the Midwest/Southern Women’s School for Union Women will be held in mid August.

The workshops offered at all of these school programs are fantastic tools for women who are looking to get more involved in the labor movement–to protect workers rights and rebuild the middle class.

Go to http://bit.ly/Yhvunu now for more information and to download useful brochures. Register now to reserve your spot for this great opportunity!

Constituency Groups, Economic Justice, Social Justice, UFCW Values, Uncategorized, Women's Network

“Leaning In” Leaves Out Many Women Workers

Apr 19, 2013

By now, most of us have heard of Sheryl Sandberg’s (COO of Facebook) controversial book entitled “Lean In”, which, among other things, coaches women to negotiate for higher pay in the workplace. The problem? While Sandberg’s advice may be sound for women who are nearly at or are employed in top positions, her advice to women about advancing their careers fails to take into account what a recent OpEd in the New York Times referred to as the 5 C’s: women workers employed in caring, cashiering, catering, cleaning and clerical work positions.

The reasoning behind this claim, according to Amelia Gentleman, who wrote the piece, is that women who work such jobs have very limited opportunities to better their pay or position from minimum wage.  When looking at women in the workplace, it is unrealistic to only focus on “a few outsider women at the top”, rather than a more accurate cross-section of working women. Although there have been “incremental gains” for women in powerful, top positions, women still hold many of our country’s low-skilled, low-wage jobs.  Unemployment rates for women in the low-wage job market are also much higher than for those that are qualified for higher paying positions.

So, what does all of this mean? It means that “we have a long way to go to close the gender AND inequality gaps,” states a recent Business Insider article.

Gentlemen is correct when she says the solution to such inequality is to “raise the standards for working-class jobs and create better pay structures across the board.”

low skill labor

This chart shows that across Europe, among full-time workers, women fill more low-wage jobs than men.

Although Sanderg’s advice to women was well-intentioned, we must remember that the pursuit of feminism is only successful if it benefits all women.  Women in low-wage jobs have a much better opportunity to have good, well-paying jobs when they are part of a union.  When workers, of either gender, stand up together for a unified voice, they have the power to bargain for fair wages, and the power to ensure equality on the job, when that equality is threatened by management.

Constituency Groups, Economic Justice, Organizing, Politics, Social Justice, UFCW Values, Women's Network

UFCW Joins UNI’s International Women’s Day March at the UN

Mar 11, 2013

Audra Makuch and Betty Wilson from Local 888 standing together for equality

Last week, we all celebrated International Women’s Day, giving thanks to the women who have made a difference in our lives.

This year, UNI Global Union participated in International Women’s Day by being a part of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York.  The theme of the commission this year deals with stopping violence against women and girls.  For International Women’s Day, UNI’s call was that women should be able to join a union without fear.

Volunteers from UFCW Region 1 and from the UFCW Women’s Network joined in the events to show their support.  UFCW Women´s network donated 500 folders to the event, and the Region 1 south network worked to get additional volunteers from the local unions, including Local 888, Local 1500, and RWDSU Local 338. Volunteers attended sessions and blogged about their experiences, hand-billed participants on UNI´s breaking the circle campaign and participated in the march.

The International Women’s Day march was hosted by the UN commission and UNI , to further support their cause, and show their solidarity with other  women around the world who were marching for equality. Those involved in the activities were also busy lobbying governments to stop violence against women and girls.

Volunteers from UFCW participate in the UN/UNI International Women’s Day march

As a labor union, standing up in solidarity to support all of our union brothers and sisters is so important.  No one should be made to fear retaliation or punishment for joining a union, or be submitted to harassment in the workplace for any reason, no matter what gender or race you are.

“We want women to be free from fear and have a voice in the work place and the only way we can ensure that happens is through union organizing. Women must have the right to join a union without fear of intimidation. This is the way we can create a safe environment at work which will have a positive effect at home too. We can break through the circle of inequality and violence,” said UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings said, during last week’s events.  We couldn’t agree more!