Public Employee Press

DC 37 celebrates
Women’s History Month

By JANE LaTOUR

In 1973, Thomas Berger wrote a book, “Regiment of Women,” in which gender roles are reversed. The comic novel is a head-spinning tour de force of reverse sexual discrimination. Women wield the power in this parody of gender bias while men stay home and paint their toenails.

Women’s History Month provided an opportunity for District Council 37 members to explore the many inequities that still shortchange women and to celebrate lives of deep commitment, women who took the lead and fought for change.

One of those women is DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. On March 23, the City Council issued a proclamation honoring her decades of union activism. Ms. Roberts’ commitment to labor began back in the late 1950s as a hospital aide and shop steward in Chicago. In New York City, her union building and militant leadership made her “perhaps the most influential African-American labor leader of the day,” said the Council.

On March 11, Social Service Employees Union Local 371 Vice President Faye Moore was honored for excellence in public service and labor by the Organization of Staff Analysts. She received the Mary Pinkett Memorial Award — named for the late City Council member and former union officer at OSA’s combined African American and Women’s History Month celebration.

The DC 37 Women’s Committee hosted its celebration on March 23. Committee Chair Walthene Primus, president of Housing Authority Local 957, welcomed the gathering. “Tonight we have four honorees. We are enriched and empowered by these women,” she said. Vice Chair Desiree Kenlaw presented the awards to Retiree Geraldine Foster, Clerical Grievance Rep Alpine James, White Collar Grievance Rep Phyllis McLean and Retiree Arlene Tuff. “I like to refer to them as DC 37 support gems,” said Ms. Kenlaw.

Keynote Speaker Gloria Johnson cast current events as a series of reality shows. “This is real reality TV,” she said. “In November, Americans voted George W. Bush their American Idol. The Fear Factor set in after the election.” Ms. Johnson was a founding member, treasurer and president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women. “I’ve been in the labor movement for 50 years. It was hard for women 50 years ago and it’s hard now. There are barriers, and they haven’t changed that much,” she said. “You have an obligation to reach back and make a difference for those who come behind you.”

Speakers stress the need for change
Local 957 Member Felicia Burrison, a Clerical Associate III for the Housing Authority and a preacher for the New Generation Apostolic Church in the Bronx, gave the invocation for the evening and sang a gospel song, “I Must Tell Jesus.” “Women are always in the background, but now, women are coming to the foreground. My motto for 2005 is ‘Women are making it happen!’ ”

“I was so moved by the song,” said Ms. Roberts. “We have to come together as women and feed on each other’s strength,” she said.

DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa spoke about the many contributions that women make to their families, communities and unions. “Women lead busy lives,” she said. “We care for our families, our partners, and our kids. Let this not be the only time you come out, because there are so many things this committee can do to empower women.”

On March 24, New York Public Library Guild Local 1930 hosted a panel discussion on women in the labor movement. Gloria Johnson, president of the Civil Service Bar Association, recalled her early career as a Customer Service Representative for Brooklyn Union Gas. “We worked in an electronic sweatshop,” she said. One incident catapulted her into labor activism. “Women were not allowed to work the night shifts,” she explained. The company changed its policy after Ms. Johnson filed a complaint with the City Commission on Human Rights. State Sen. Diane Savino pledged to revisit the issue of comparable worth. She made a passionate pitch for women to step up their role as activists in the political process.

On March 28, the Authors’ Talk Committee of the DC 37 Education Fund featured two speakers. Liza Featherstone wrote “Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker’s Rights at Wal-Mart.” And Barbara Briggs of the National Labor Committee co-produced “The Hidden Face,” a video documenting the intolerable working conditions of the women in Bangladesh who produce goods for Wal-Mart to sell.

Exhibit highlights women's history
“We tend to say something is ‘history’ when we’ve overcome it,” said Ms. Featherstone. “But workplace discrimination against women is not yet ‘history.’ Wal-Mart has an old-fashioned attitude towards women — unaffected by the gains that women have made elsewhere.”

DC 37 Librarian Ken Nash mounted an exhibit of books, CDs, and videos that complemented the programs offered throughout the month and highlighted the tremendous resources available at the DC 37 Education Fund library. Children’s books (for the 9 to 12 age group) focused on heroes of the civil rights and labor movements and pioneers who broke gender barriers in the workplace.