Public Employee Press

Union Scrapbook
LaTour book on working women gets attention from colleges and unions

PEP Associate Editor Jane LaTour began her 2010 book tour Jan. 28 at the Harvard Trade Union Program in Cambridge, Mass. LaTour’s book, “Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality,” was part of the curriculum for the 45 trade unionists participating in the six-week session.

Detroit Council 25, Ohio Council 8, and the New York State Civil Service Employees Association represented DC 37’s parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and participants came from Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia as well as U.S. unions of Steelworkers, Firefighters, Operating Engineers, Boilermakers and Nurses.

LaTour is using her vacation time to travel and to discuss gender in the workplace and in the labor movement.

South Bend, Ind., was the next stop, where she met with trade unionists and spoke at Notre Dame and Indiana University. In Duluth, Minn., talks for the University of Minnesota Women’s Studies Dept. were coordinated by Laura Stolle Schmidt, a member of AFSCME Local 3801. Union activists from the Building Trades Council, AFSCME Council 5 and the Food and Commercial Workers attended a breakfast at Duluth’s Labor Temple.

Upcoming trips include Detroit, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Albany and Oakland, Calif.

“LaTour’s insights, plus the voices and stories of the women themselves, are a powerful combination,” said Schmidt.