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WORKING WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY

The state of the economy today is not made for young workers, women, and people of color or low-income communities. The gap between the very rich and the very poor continues to widen to the point that the middle class is slowly being diminished.

By NATASHA ISMA

During Women's History Month in March, we looked back at the many accomplishments of women in history and celebrated women making a difference in their communities and organizations.

The right to vote, pre-natal care, discrimination and family medical leave are a few of the legislative policies that have an economic benefit for women.

However there are still several issues impacting women and the family that unions should take the lead in addressing.

Women are fighting for equal pay, paid family medical leave and pro-choice to name a few. Today, more young women are working, may be the heads of households and possibly be studying for a college degree while holding down a job.

I work in a customer service call center where there are almost 200 employees - 85 percent union members and 90 percent women. Out of these working women, most are between the ages of 21 and 40. They face issues like child care, student debt and affordable education for themselves and their families.

But the reality is that most working women don't even realize how politics affect their concerns. In January, I conducted a training session of the AFL-CIO's Common Sense Economics program at Local 1549's annual political action and advocacy conference. Members learned about legislative policies and issues impacting working with women. They were also charged with contacting their legislators about our local's legislative priorities.

As a young women activist in the labor movement, I am not surprised by my discussions with my coworkers and fellow union members to see how out of touch people are with politics.

Whether it is workplace issues, local politics or this year's presidential election, many workers are uninterested in politics because they are turned off by vacuous media coverage or too busy to follow what is happening.

Younger workers tend to focus on advancing their education or their career. If they have started a family, they are very focused on their household economics. Some young workers may delay starting a family due to the rising cost of living.

The state of the economy today is not made for young workers, women, and people of color or low-income communities. The gap between the very rich and the very poor continues to widen to the point that the middle class is slowly being diminished.

In a time of attacks on the working class, it is more critical than ever to join together - young workers and women - to start working on electing politicians who stand to stop the war on the middle class and working families and look to the future of the environment to be sustainable for today's and tomorrow's children, and to fight for affordable education - or even free higher education -to be a guaranteed right and not a privilege.

It is imperative for activists to continue talking to their coworkers, families, neighbors and friends about what is truly at stake today.

Natasha Isma is Local 1549's officer-at-large, and she chairs the local's New Wave Committee, which represents the union's young workers.