opinion
August marks a month that salutes women, voting rights and the powerful impact of both on labor.
Aug. 6 is the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which more powerfully enforced the 14th and 15th Amendments to our U.S. Constitution and combats voter suppression tactics. On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote and let their voices resoundingly be heard.
August is also the month the 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as his running mate — the first descendant of African American and Southeast-Asian Americans to be a vice presidential candidate.
As we head into the Labor Day holiday, the UAW salutes the work of women, using the power of their voices to vote and to make a change in many ways for the betterment of this country.
Throughout her career Harris has worked diligently to create a fairer process for forming a union and protecting our health care and retirement security. She has a proven track record of taking on powerful corporate interests to fight for what’s right for everyday working people, and has been a reliable ally of the labor movement. She has fought to raise the minimum wage, strengthen workplace health and safety protections and protect and expand workers’ rights.
Harris has a 100% voting record with the UAW. She is a co-sponsor of both the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO) and the Public Sector Freedom to Negotiate, two labor law reforms that protect workers' right to collectively bargain for wages, retirement security and health and safety in our nation’s workplaces.
But she is just one of a long line of women who have fought, and fought hard, for the rights of everyone to have a safe workplace, a decent wage and fair benefits.
Women have always played critical roles in the labor movement — especially in the CIO-led unions of the 1930s. More than a century ago Mary “Mother Jones” Harris called the wives of striking coal miners across Appalachia to action. Their combined efforts helped drum up public support and turn the tide in the miners’ favor.
During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, women stood side-by-side with their brothers to vehemently rally UAW support for civil rights.
In 1941, the CIO Congress of Women’s Auxiliaries held its first convention in Detroit. Faye Stephenson, wife of an autoworker, was the first president. She had been active in the labor movement since the age of 13. The Women’s Auxiliaries lobbied for free nurseries for working mothers, maternity leaves, equal pay and an end to job discrimination against African Americans.
And their reasons to be on the front lines were strong: Their efforts were impactful. Currently, women represented by unions earn more than their nonunion counterparts. A significantly greater share of women covered by union contracts than nonunion women have a pension plan — 75% to 42.3%, according to UAW findings.
By uniting with their male co-workers and becoming strong leaders in the workplace, women have demonstrated a powerful voice that helped secure higher wages, better benefits and reasonable work hours from their employers. They have been an integral force from day one to rally for all working families, fighting for: fair wages, job security, health and safety in and out of the workplace and education and training.
So as we celebrate these milestones in August, and look to the celebration of Labor Day as well as the coming presidential election, let us remember to salute the millions of our powerful sisters — union or otherwise — who have changed our world.
The best way to honor their efforts and achievements is to get out and do what the Voting Rights Act and the 19th Amendment allow for us all — vote!
Rory Gamble is president of the UAW.
Labor Voices
Labor Voices columns are written on a rotating basis by United Auto Workers President Rory Gamble, Teamsters President James Hoffa, Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber and Michigan Education Association President Paula Herbart.
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August 26, 2020 at 09:39AM
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Opinion: Women's voices echo in history of labor movement - The Detroit News
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