HELP WANTED UNION LEADERSHIP

Because of the increasing number of women in the work force, women's proportion of tö tal membership in labor unions rose from 18.1 percent in 1952 to 21.7 percent in 1972. More women have recently joined the work force in response to the diminishing stigma against women working, increasing cost of living, higher general wage levels, increasing educational levels among women, and improved technology which allows women in the home more spare time.

Despite the absolute increase of women in unions the rate of growth of unionized women workers has not kept up with their rapid rate

of growth in the labor force. There was a jump from 31 percent participation by women in the civilian labor force in 1952 to almost 40 percent participation in the civilian labor

force in 1972. Compare this with the fact that over 15 percent were active union members in 1952, while only 12.6 percent were active in 1972. This decline paralleled the general percentage decline in all unionized workers, from 24 percent in 1952 to 22 percent 20 years later.

Women now make up about one-fifth of union membership (21.7 percent.) While from 1968 to 1972 there was a 500,000 increase in women union members, this expansion was not matched by an increase in leadership positions, according to the Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations, 1973.

Women accounted for approximately 7 percent of the members of elected governing boards of unions and employee associations. These boards, generally consisting of the union president, secretary, treasurer, vice-presidents and others serve as the decision making bodies for unions between conventions.

Among their duties are the allocation of funds, interpretation of the laws of the union, and application of the constitution to its workings. Of 4,800 positions on the governing boards of both the unions and associations, only 350 were reported held by women. Women held the highest elected office, the national presidency, in two unions in 1972, the Stewards and Stewardesses Division of the Air Line Pilots and the Veterinarians. Six Associations were headed by women in 1972 – Alaska State Employees, Classified School Employees, National Education Association, Licensed Practical Nurses, American Nurses, and Washington State Employees Association.

Women were better represented at the higher appointive and elective levels of the 35 professional and State employee associations. The high proportion of women (60 percent) in the associations explains their comparative prominence in association governance. Only 13 of 35 associations had no women officers or officials, compared with 149 of the 177 trade unions.

Jdo/SWT

As for high appointive levels, women were infrequently appointed to heads of union departments at the national level, although they were sometimes appointed editors, or

PICKET STRIKERS ADIES TAILORS

PICKET

LADIES TAILORS

STRIKERS

heads of social insurance departments, and to a lesser extent as heads of education and research departments. Some 21 women held top appointive positions (including editor, public relations heads, and others) in associations in 1972.

Fragmentary information from studies 'done by several unions, such as the Bakery Workers, Auto Workers, and the Packinghouse Workers indicates that women more frequently held leadership roles at local than at national levels.

In the 24 unions with at least 50,000 women members (with women averaging 28.9 percent of total membership), only 6 of the 187 selected national offices and appointed officials were women. The Clothing Workers, Electrical Workers, Ladies' Garment Workers, and Railway Clerks all reported one woman officia!; the Textile Workers Union had two. Of the 556 members of executive boards in these unions, 18 were women.

This low level of women representation was evident throughout the entire labor movement.

A new and significant development in the. labor movement which is bound to aid union women in the future is the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). CLUW first convened in Chicago in March 1974 with 3200 delegates coming from over 58 labor unions. The Cleveland Chapter of CLUW has regular meetings, For more information see the article on Cleveland CLUW in this issue.

The information in this article is condensed from "Women's Participation in Labor Organizations" by Virginia A. Bergquist, published in the October 1974 issue of the Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Department of Labor.

CLEVELAND COALITION OF LABOR UNION WOMEN

At the November meeting of the CLUW chapter here in Cleveland, the local women were officially chartered as one of the first 7 or 8 chapters to be chartered in the country. Clara Day, midwest regional vice president of CLUW, came from Chicago to present her congratulations, saying: "I am glad to see that you have such a good cross-section of your community and that you are already active in educating and surveying your membership."

Clara Day is an international representative of the International Brotherhood (!) of Teamsters in Chicago. She was an organizer of The Montgomery Ward Company and participated in the march on Washington in 1963 organized by Martin Luther King.

At its first officially chartered meeting the chapter voted new officers, voted support for the striking mineworkers and passed the hat for their strike fund, heard about an upcoming strike by nurses at the Kaiser Community Health Centers (not the hospital), voted (just barely) to endorse the Freedom March for Human Dignity to be held in Boston Saturday December 14, and finally marched over to the Press where they picketted in the sleet with striking Newspaper Guild members, singing songs and looking forward to an active and successful first year as a pioneer CLUW chapter.

Cora Licursi, newly elected President of Cleveland CLUW and member of the Oil Chemical and Atomic Worker's Union, and Clara Day, Midwest Vice Pres ident of CLUW and member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,

photo by Barbara Winslow

page 5 What She Wants/ January 1975