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Second Power in Diversity Dialogue Highlights Leadership’s Role |
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In the second of four Power in Diversity dialogues, some 175 union leaders and activists meeting in Philadelphia on June 16 looked at some of the strategies that have worked to bring diversity to their unions. In the first diversity dialogue June 9 in Atlanta, participants began a series of frank discussions about ways to ensure that the leadership of the union movement is as diverse as its membership.
During these diversity dialogues, local and regional union members, elected leaders and activists, members of AFL-CIO constituency groups and central local body and state federation leaders are pinpointing problems that exist in attaining diversity.
They also are discussing the best ways to meet today’s organizing and political challenges and opportunities by engaging all members in our struggle. Jim Snow, organizing director of Painters and Allied Trades District 35 in Massachusetts, told participants that the 10 organizers in his department include four people of color. Snow says:
Having diverse staff is both a tactical and moral decision. We do a lot of organizing in communities of color and it is important to have staff that reflects the community you are organizing. Today, nearly one-third of the members in his local are minorities and immigrants.
Elizabeth Powell, Northeast regional coordinator for the Postal Workers (APWU) and chairwoman of the union’s Women’s National Organizing Subcommittee, described how women in her union came together to gain a commitment to help nonunion women join APWU.
APWU is running a campaign to recruit more women postal workers into the union. The campaign includes recruitment drives, campaign buttons and other visible activity, all of which are prominently featured on the APWU website.
APWU changed its constitution in 1980 to create a women’s committee. The move to change the constitution began after women members were upset that the floor mikes at the 1978 APWU convention were turned off every time a woman tried to speak. Women union members organized a national women’s group and got support from the candidate for president, who had a woman’s committee in his own local union.
In a Point of View column on the AFL-CIO website, AFT Secretary-Treasurer Nat LaCour and UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn say diversity is the strength in our country and in our movement and if we truly want to make the union movement stronger, we have to involve everybody. Bunn and LaCour co-chair a special AFL-CIO Executive Council committee to promote diversity in the union movement.
The importance of the leadership’s commitment to change reflects what AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told the conference:
The wonderful dream of the AFL-CIO will come true only when every member of our movement—black or brown or white, female or male, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or straight, immigrant or native-born, with disabilities or without—is heard, every member has a chance, every member has a voice, every member can rise to the leadership, every member is treated equally.
If we’re not drawing on the resources and talent of all our members, we’re running in a race with a manacle on one foot and our hands tied behind our back. Many years ago, parts of the union movement tried that, and it was a losing game. There’s no way we can afford to do that today.
The dialogues grew out of the historic adoption of Resolution #2 at the 2005 AFL-CIO Convention. Resolution #2, “A Diverse Movement Calls for Diverse Leadership,” calls for:
- AFL-CIO Convention delegations to reflect the diversity of their unions.
- Central labor councils and state federations to implement plans for diverse leadership.
- Job, training and promotion opportunities.
The 2005 convention resolution cited a study by researcher Silas Lee that concluded many people of color think unions lack a commitment to address their concerns and that union members of color feel taken for granted. At the same time, a study by the AFL-CIO’s Working Women Committee found that while women have been joining unions in greater numbers than men for 25 years, favorable attitudes of women toward unions are declining. The study also found that women sense a lack of commitment among union leaders to advancing women.
The next diversity dialogues are set for Detroit on June 23 and July 14 in San Francisco.
Click here for more information and here for a registration form for the Power in Diversity dialogues.
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