The face of the American labor movement is changing--women gradually are becoming the majority of union workers.ÿ That observation is from an expert on union organizing, Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University's school of industrial and labor relations in Ithaca, N.Y.þþBronfenbrenner, who has a doctorate in industrial and labor relations, is a labor scholar who researches union organizing, with a special focus on women.þþShe presented her latest study, ÿOrganizing Women: The Nature and Process of Union Organizing Efforts Among U.S. Women Workers Since the Mid-1990s,ÿ at a recent meeting of the AFL-CIO in Washington. Her findings will be a chapter in the book, ÿWomen in Unions: Still the Most Difficult Revolution?ÿ to be published by Cornell University Press.þþBronfenbrenner says that since 1988, she has studied ÿthousands of organizing campaigns in the public and private sector.ÿ A former organizer herself, she was a representative for the United Woodcutters Association, working in Thomastown, Miss., and for the Service Employees International Union in Boston.þþÿIn workplaces where women predominate and elections are held, the win rate of organizing efforts averages 62 percent,ÿ she said. ÿWorkers vote to form unions in only 35 percent of elections in which a majority are white men.ÿ Male-dominated industries, according to Bronfenbrenner, include transportation, construction and manufacturing. Female-dominated industries include health care, hotels, light manufacturing and the public sector.þþÿIn 1985, there were 5.7 million women in unions. In 1995, there were 6.4 million and in 2002, 6.8 million,ÿ she said. ÿAnd in 1985, women were 34 percent of union workers; in 2003, 43 percent. And the increase is particularly significant among women of color who have a higher percentage of union membership than their percentage in the workforce.ÿþþUnions focusing on recruiting women, according to the director, are the SEIU; Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union; UNITE, which represents laundry and textile workers; the American Federation of Teachers; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and the Communications Workers of America, who also represent flight attendants.þþI asked Bronfenbrenner if unions are concentrating on women and minorities because they've already recruited all the available white men. She emphatically says no.þþÿThere are plenty of men left, but women are easier to organize,ÿ she said. ÿAnd unions, which have brought more women into leadership and staff positions, know women are more likely to organize than men because they're less likely to believe it when the boss says, `Trust me, you'll make it to the top.' And women have learned from the civil-rights and women's movements that the only way you make gains is through collective action.ÿþþAnd there are some pragmatic reasons, too, Bronfenbrenner points out: ÿWomen tend to be greater risk takers because in part they have less job security than men and so, in many ways, have less to lose by fighting for their rights--and much to gain.ÿþþThe researcher cites recent successful campaigns: In New York, women workers at major hotels are the focus of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees; in Chicago, UNITE is organizing laundry workers; and in Los Angeles, SEIU is working with home health-care workers.þþWomen are joining unions in increasing numbers because ÿunions offer the protections that make it possible to have a family and a job at the same time,ÿ said Bronfenbrenner. ÿAnd women have changed the labor movement for the better, making it more socially conscious, more diverse and vibrant and more effective.ÿþþShe adds: ÿA strong labor movement is essential for our democracy and for an equitable society--and women have been key in the revitalization of the labor movement.ÿþþ
Source: Chicago Tribune
