by James Parks, Aug 24, 2007

Barbara Easterling

Barbara Easterling, the daughter of a coal miner, who became the first woman to serve as an officer of the AFL-CIO and longtime secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), is retiring. 

Easterling, whose trailblazing work has inspired women in the union movement around the world, announced this week that she will retire at CWA’s 2008 convention.  

 CWA President Larry Cohen says:  

When Barbara steps down, her talents, wisdom and activism will be missed not only throughout CWA, but also by the labor, women’s and human rights movements around the world.  

Easterling began her union career in Akron, Ohio, 56 years ago as a member of CWA Local 4302. Ohio Gov. John Gilligan appointed her to head the state Labor Division in 1970, where she drafted strong laws to protect women on the job and strengthen the enforcement of child labor laws. She left state government in 1973 to work full-time for CWA. She was elected secretary-treasurer of the CWA in 1992. In 1995, she took a leave of absence to serve as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, becoming the first woman to hold that position.  

Well known for her outreach to women in the United States and worldwide, Easterling serves as president of the World Women’s Committee for Union Network International, which has 17 million members globally.  

Easterling most recently spearheaded efforts to add four at-large diversity seats to CWA’s executive board to give a greater voice to local leaders. In presenting the plan to the CWA convention in Toronto, she discussed the importance of unions and diversity.  

When I went to work for Ohio Bell Telephone and then joined the union, it changed my life forever. I could never have imagined what that union card would mean to a kid from Akron, Ohio, and the doors it would open and the opportunities it would present.

But even with everything that I have been blessed to experience by virtue of CWA and the labor movement, there were times when doors weren’t always open to me, when those glass ceilings came into clear view. And try as hard as you might, you never quite forget those times when the door was shut or not fully open because of the color of your skin or because of your gender or because of your religion or because of your socio-economic status.

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