March 26 - Save the Date - Honor Women's Contributions to Labor History!
In celebration of Women's History Month, SEIU Arizona is planning a special 'WOMEN in LABOR HISTORY' reception. Event details to follow, but keep your calendar clear on the 26th. A women's place is in her union, and you're not going to want to miss it!
A Timeline of International Women's Day!
From the Holt Labor Library, http://www.holtlaborlibrary.org/intlwomen.html
March 8 is International Women's Day
- March 8, 1857 - women textile workers in New York were fired on by the army while demonstrating for a shorter work week.
- August 1907 - the idea of an annual demonstration in support of working women and women's rights was first proposed by Clara Zetkin at a caucus of socialist women prior to the Second International annual meeting in Germany.
- March 8, 1908 - women workers in the needle trades marched through New York City's Lower East Side to protest child labor, sweatshop working conditions, and demand votes for women.
- 1910 - proposal by Clara Zetkin, at the International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen, designating March 8 be observed annually as International Women's Day, in recognition of the 1908 demonstration by New York needle trades workers.
- March 19, 1911 - Alexandra Kollontai helps organize the first International Women's Day in Germany. Meetings and demonstrations were also held in several other European countries. The date was chosen to commemorate the 1848 promise (not kept) by the Prussian king to introduce votes for women.
- March 8, 1917 (Feb. 23 on the Julian calendar) - Russian women marched in Petrograd to demand bread and peace. With the half a million Russian workers already on strike, the demonstration by the women forced the resignation of Czar Nicholas II and ignited the February Revolution.
- 1922 - At Clara Zetkin's urging, Lenin established International Women's Day as a holiday.
- March 8, 1968 - Chicago women revived the celebration of International Women's Day in the USA.
- 1975 - March 8 was recognized as International Women's Day by the United Nations.
2009 Western Regional Summer Institute on Union Women
28th Western Regional Summer Institute on Union Women
The 28th Annual Western Regional Summer Institute on Union Women will be held August 11–15, 2009, at the University of California, Los Angeles. The four-day residential program brings together 150 participants from the United States’ and Canada’s western regions for exciting workshops and speakers on the history, struggles, and achievements of working women. This year’s theme, “Women Workers of the World Unite,” speaks to the inclusion of participants who represent not only labor unions but also workers’ centers, community groups, and other organizations that focus on social and economic justice issues. In addition to hosting participants from Canada, we have also extended an invitation to workers from Mexico to build trinational solidarity for a global social-justice agenda.
AUGUST 11 - 15, 2009, at UCLA DeNeve Plaza
President Obama's Statement on Signing the Lilly Ledbetter Act
Washington Post
January 29, 2009
"It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign - the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act - we are upholding one of this nation's first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.
It is also fitting that we are joined today by the woman after whom this bill is named - someone Michelle and I have had the privilege of getting to know for ourselves. Lilly Ledbetter didn't set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job - and did it well - for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits - losses she still feels today.
Now, Lilly could have accepted her lot and moved on. She could have decided that it wasn't worth the hassle and harassment that would inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead, she decided that there was a principle at stake, something worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey that would take more than ten years, take her all the way to the Supreme Court, and lead to this bill which will help others get the justice she was denied.
Because while this bill bears her name, Lilly knows this story isn't just about her. It's the story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every dollar men earn - women of color even less - which means that today, in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.
But equal pay is by no means just a women's issue - it's a family issue. It's about parents who find themselves with less money for tuition or child care; couples who wind up with less to retire on; households where, when one breadwinner is paid less than she deserves, that's the difference between affording the mortgage - or not; between keeping the heat on, or paying the doctor's bills - or not. And in this economy, when so many folks are already working harder for less and struggling to get by, the last thing they can afford is losing part of each month's paycheck to simple discrimination.
So in signing this bill today, I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal - but bad for business - to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability. And that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory, or footnote in a casebook - it's about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives: their ability to make a living and care for their families and achieve their goals..."
Read all of President Obama's statement here:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/01/29/obama_signs_lilly_ledbetter_ac.html?hpid=topnews
Federal Legislation for Women Workers
How Congress Can Act Now for Economic Recovery -- And Simple Justice
By Page Gardner
January 7
Article can be found:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/page-gardner/how-congress-can-act-now_b_155993.html
As early as this week , the new Congress can jumpstart the economy by passing two laws that will put more money into working women's paychecks by making sure they're paid what they're worth.
