Public Employee Press

CUNY conference
Problems of working women



Women from unions, immigrant rights organizations and community groups gathered Jan. 12 at the City University's Murphy Institute to consider critical problems facing working women, including issues of leadership and social and economic equality.

"The recession started earlier for women and budgets cuts are having a disproportionate impact on women and children," said Maria Figueroa, director of labor and industry research for Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She provided a PowerPoint presentation of facts and figures on working women, including the reduced but persistent gender wage gap.

"I've been in the labor movement for 35 years," said Julie Kushner of the United Auto Workers, "and gradually, things are changing for women." Kushner, director of Region 9A, is only the second female in the UAW's history to hold such a high position.

She came to the conference fresh from MSNBC's "The Ed Show," where she confronted Republican Mitt Romney on his distortions about President Barack Obama's job-saving auto industry bailout.

In every sphere of endeavor, there is a gap between the numbers of women and their representation in positions of leadership, noted Maria Castaneda, secretary-treasurer of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. "Women always face an inherent challenge, but we know that we can meet it," she said.

Rx for change

DC 37 Communications Director Zita Allen spoke about challenging hidden biases and the use of media in telling working women's stories, and Carmen Charles, president of DC 37's Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420, stressed the importance of mentoring and announced a new mentoring program for union women.

"Only a union can take ordinary people and do extraordinary things," said Charles, who was recently elected as head of the New York City Chapter of the Congress of Labor Union Women.

The Murphy Institute and Cornell's Workforce Development Institute sponsored the all-day conference.