KAREN GAY SILKWOOD

 

Today in #LaborHistory : November13 -- via -- www.unionist.com

Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union activist Karen Silkwood is killed in a suspicious car crash on her way to deliver documents to a newspaper reporter during a safety investigation of her Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant in Oklahoma. - 1974

Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician and labor union activist known for raising concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety of workers in a nuclear facility.

She worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. She joined the union and became an activist on behalf of issues of health and safety at the plant as a member of the union's negotiating team, the first woman to have that position at Kerr-McGee. In the summer of 1974, she testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about her concerns.

For three days in November, she was found to have high levels of contamination on her person and in her home. While driving to a meeting that month with David Burnham, a New York Times journalist, and Steve Wodka, an official of her union's national office, she died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances.

Her family sued Kerr-McGee on behalf of her estate. In what was the longest trial up until then in Oklahoma history, the jury found Kerr-McGee liable for the plutonium contamination of Silkwood, and awarded substantial damages. These were reduced on appeal, but the case reached the United States Supreme Court in 1979, which upheld the damages verdict. Before another trial took place, Kerr-McGee settled with the estate out of court for US $1.38 million, while not admitting liability.

Her life was featured in Silkwood (1983), an Academy Award-nominated film based on an original screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood

 

IT'S MY GENERATION BABY!

 

Giants, Rosies, Sisters in the Brotherhoods & Unionistas all rockin' the boat and learning to swim. Understanding our generational differences and building union power together.

 

Research indicates that people communicate based on their generational backgrounds. Each generation has distinct attitudes, behaviors, expectations, habits and motivational buttons. Learning how to communicate with the different generations can eliminate many major confrontations and misunderstandings in the workplace and in our unions.

This is a listing of recent generations for individuals born in the United States. Dates are approximate, as recognized by demographers.

2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1980-2000 - Millennials or Generation Y
1965-1979 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1925-1945 - Silent Generation/Traditional

 

Listen and watch Karen McCullough who in her own entertaining way describes each generation.

TRADITIONALISTS

 

Institutions -Are loyal

Rewards- Satisfaction of a job well done

Feedback-No news is good news

Work/Life Balance- Support me in shifting the balance

Training- I learned it the hard way; you can too

Job Changing- Job changing carries a stigma

Retirement- Pension/Savings

 

BABY BOOMERS
 

 

 

Institutions- Want to put their own stamp on

Rewards- Money, title, recognition, the corner office

Feedback- Formal yearly feedback with lots of documentation

Work/Life Balance- Help me balance everyone else and find meaning myself

Training- Train them too much and they might leave

Job Changing- Job changing puts you behind

Retirement- Retool

 

GEN X

Institutions- Are skeptical

Rewards- Freedom is the ultimate reward

Feedback- Frequent, honest, immediate feedback

Work/Life Balance- Give me balance now, not when I'm 65

Training- The more they learn, the more they stay

Job Changing- Job changing is necessary

Retirement- Renew

GEN Y

 Institutions- Will judge on merit

Rewards- Work that has meaning for "me"

Feedback- Whenever I want it at the push of a button

Work/Life Balance- Work isn't everything; I need flexibility to balance all my activities

Training- Continuous learning is a way of life

Job Changing- Job changing is part of my daily routine

Retirement- Recycle


WHAT WE ALL WANT

Achievement- Pride in one's work

Camaraderie- Positive, inclusive, and productive relationships

Equity- Being treated fairly in matters such as pay, benefits, developmental opportunities etc...

 
Next week we will take a deeper look into the lives of Traditionalists.

                                                     ~MORE~ 

Generational Differences in the Workplace

American Generations A Timeline



  

Union Women Union Power: From the Shop Floor to the Streets

The film was produced by the Coalition of Labor Union Women in Philadelphia and highlights 5 rank and file union women from different sectors across Philadelphia introducing us to their lives and their recent fights for democracy in the workplace. 

Members of the Young Women's Committee conducted the interviews and aimed to use the final product as a tool to introduce particularly younger women to the labor movement with women as role models.


Throughout history, story has been used to teach, to entertain, to express, to advocate. and to organize. It is through the sharing of stories that communities build their identities, pass on traditions, and construct meaning.

Story-telling is one of our most powerful tools as organizers and movement builders.

Storytelling is a practice of leadership
Your story is the "why" of organizing—the art of translating values into action through stories.

Each of us has a compelling story to tell
Each of us has a story that can move others. As you learn this skill of story-telling, you will be able to tell a compelling story that includes elements that identify yourself, your audience and your strategy to others.



The key to this story-telling is understanding that values inspire action through emotion.

  Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to express the motivational content of our values to others. In other words, because we experience values emotionally, they are what actually move us to act; it is not just the idea that we ought to act. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived experience, they have the power to move others too.


Some emotions inhibit action, but other emotions facilitate action.


Action is inhibited by inertia, fear, self-doubt, isolation, and apathy. Action is facilitated by urgency, hope, YCMAD (you can make a difference), solidarity, and anger. Stories mobilize emotions that urge us to take action and help us overcome emotions that inhibit us from action.


"There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories." - Ursula K. LeGuin

Learn more about storytelling as an organizing tool at

WE WERE NOT BORN TO FOLLOW

 

OLGA MARIE MADAR

 

　

Olga M. Madar (May 17, 1915-May 16, 1996) was the first woman to serve on the United Auto Workers (UAW) International Executive Board.

 

She was born in Sykesville, Pa., one of 12 children of a coal miner and grocer who moved the family to Detroit in search of work when she was 15. In 1933, she found a summer job on a Chrysler assembly line.

Years later she recalled that the line moved so fast she could "never keep up" and had nightmares about it. She said she was apparently kept on the job because of her citywide reputation as a terror on the women's softball team.

 

"There was no union at the plant then," she said, "and the fact that they would hire me when other workers were being laid off -- just because I could play softball -- was incredible. It was my first indication that a union was badly needed." http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/18/us/olga-marie-madar-80-pioneer-for-women-in-automotive-union.html

 

In 1938, she graduated from Eastern Michigan University (formerly Michigan Norman School) with a degree in physical education. In 1941, she joined the UAW(United Auto Workers) Local 50 while working at Ford’s Willow Run bomber plant.

 

Olga believed that while work was important, that non-work time was just as important. "We’ve got to place more emphasis on non-work time. Contributing to community organizations- that’s important." While Olga was the director of the Recreation Department she eliminated racial bias from organized bowling.

According to Doug Fraser, former UAW president, Madar "was a trailblazer in the struggle for equal rights," fighting to end racial discrimination and a champion of women’s rights. In 1947, Madar led a crusade to end racial discrimination in the men and women’s bowling association. Victory came in 1952 when the white-only membership policy was removed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Madar

Bowling, a highly interactive sport, was by 1945, a billion dollar industry that touched the lives of an estimated 12 to 16 million Americans. It had reached this status in great part due to its promotion by the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII and because unlike football or baseball anyone with a few dollars and the desire could play. But the American Bowling Congress (ABC), bowling's governing body, had in its bylaws a "white males only" clause which it had strictly enforced since its incorporation in 1893. By 1945, at wars end, a number of civil rights and civic organizations and progressive white individuals concluded that segregation in American society was a baleful social malignancy that had to go. From organizations such as the NAACP, National Urban League, B'nai B'rith and others, plans were formulated to end segregation in America's most popular participant sport.

These organizations joined with the United Auto Workers--Congress of Industrial Organizations (UAW-CIO) and other labor unions in the effort to end the whites-only policy of the ABC.

Olga appealed to the natural ties between the two organizations. "Your organization, as well as ours, is constantly confronting situations which threaten our basic democratic philosophy of fair play," she wrote to Walter White, the Executive Secretary of the NAACP, in March 1947. She called the exclusionary policy of the ABC a "challenge which cannot be ignored," and invited White to participate in a one day conference at the Maryland Hotel in Chicago on April 1. The UAW-CIO's vision of a broad-based civil rights campaign was clear from Madar's letter. "We are confident," she wrote, "that religious, fraternal, civic and labor organizations can develop a unified program of sufficient strength to persuade the American Bowling Congress to change its policies.

Madar opened the conference with a discussion of the history of bowling describing its rapid growth in the 1930s. She set the tone for the conference when she attacked the ABC for its hypocrisy. She noted that the American Bowling Congress and other promoters of the sport, emphasized the democratic nature of bowling and its accessibility to low wage workers. She denounced the ABC's claims and asserted that if the ABC practiced democracy, it was the "Georgia variety of democracy." She ended her talk by suggesting that one possible strategy was to attack the ABC indirectly by organizing campaigns against owners of bowling alleys. She believed that by applying financial pressure on proprietors, they might be compelled to seek changes in the ABC's policy.
The conference delegates envisioned the campaign against the ABC as a true-grassroots effort.


Madar gave the history of bowling in the United States, noting that in its present charter it had the following clause:


City associations shall be composed of teams with membership of

three or more individuals of the white male sex who are members

of a league or leagues bowling a game of American ten pins
  weekly or bi-weekly.

This clause, said Madar, was the reason for the organization of the National Committee for Fair Play in Bowling, and that, since within the UAW-CIO labor movement there were lots of people of Chinese, Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, and Negro ancestry, the UAW-CIO organization was opposed to this clause in the ABC's charter.

The various members of all the organizations who had participated with the National Committee for Fair Play in Bowling in its sterling efforts to integrate the ABC, could congratulate themselves. They had played a pivotal role in the campaign to integrate the ABC, had worked hard in an ecumenical manner, and had set an important example for other cities in the fight to integrate a major American sport.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+integration+of+the+American+Bowling+Congress%3A+the+Buffalo...-a0135210752

She was also active in organizing community recreation programs. Her projects included preservation of Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains, Sleeping Bear Dune Parks, and the clean-up of Lake Erie.

Many labor unions would show their support of Earth Day and become important constituencies in the modern environmental movement. The UAW led the pack.


"Don't be a 'cop-out' or a 'drop-out' in the struggle for survival. Only if you, in the UAW spirit of concern for the community, join with your neighbors in the fight to control pollution, can we insure the quality of our future environment. "- Olga Madar

Madar was named to the UAW International Executive Board in 1966. She was also the first woman elected as the union’s vice president in 1970.

Olga also started the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and was their first national president. The impetus for the formation of CLUW came in June 1973 when women labor union leaders, led by Olga Madar of the United Auto Workers and Addie Wyatt of the United Food and Commercial Workers met to discuss the formation of a new AFL-CIO body to create a more effective voice for women in the labor movement. More than 3,000 women attended the conference.

Olga was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989 because of her many efforts throughout her life time.


She dedicated her life to the betterment of the working class, not only in the work place but also in the community.

 

Frustrated with representaion in a Grievance hearing

There have been many times that I have been disappointed and frustrated during the preparation for and presentation of a grievance during a grievance hearing. I felt that as a representative for my fellow members, as a Teamster, we were ineffective in our attempts to make the necessary arguments to gain the result desired.

It was my B.A.’s fault that the hearings were lacking in fight and luster, right? After all, I had presented my B.A. with all of the information prior to the hearing; he should have been adequately prepared, right? When the grievance was filed, he was full of support and assurances that he was going to fight for the results desired. Although when the time came for the hearing, there was no fight, and he did not express knowledge of the desired resolution. I was expecting fireworks, and I experienced a fizzle. The dynamite failed to detonate!

For quite some time, I held a ton of resentment toward my B.A. Where was the fight that I expected and desired? After all, he is paid by the members to fight the good fight. Where was the bang for the buck? I questioned why he was in this position if he was not going to storm in and make things right. Being prepared for a grievance hearing is critical for membership representation.

In hindsight, I was not prepared. I had not retained copies of the statements, grievance forms, or the disciplinary forms, which allowed for me to be sketchy on the details of the issue. If I would have been more prepared, I would have been able to prevent the appearance of a dysfunctional representative force. Although, I do not shoulder all of the blame; as a steward, I feel I should have taken more responsibility of our fellow members and their issues.

There are a few things that I can recommend to be done in the future; I know I will take on a more active role in the preparation and presentation of a grievance.

1)      Start with the grievance investigation. You can do a lot of it yourself. Remember to use the “Six W's” of a grievance investigation: Who, When, Where, Why, What happened, and Witnesses.

2)      During a grievance investigation, the union has the right to request documents and other information from the company, but your contract may require that all information requests go through the BA. If it does, put together a list of the documents you want to request, and give it to your Business Agent.

3)      Send your request to the BA in writing, and follow up with a phone call. You'll leave a paper trail and make sure that he's crystal-clear about the information you want. Ask the agent to meet with you before the day of the hearing, to go over the results of your investigation, discuss the company’s argument and your argument, and make a plan for the hearing with management. Arrange a signal to stop the meeting and go to a caucus if you don't like the way the hearing is going.

4)      Finally, the more you know about how the grievance procedure works and how to prepare grievances, the stronger you'll be.

It takes all of us to make this Union great. The better we represent our members, the stronger we will grow. I am committed to being the best representative I can. I am resolved to fight until there is no fight left. If the contract can be interpreted to benefit the employer, then I need to figure out how to spin it back to benefit the employee. We may not win them all, but I will be prepared to give it all I have. 

 

IMA UNION MAID

 

 

Dear Ima,

I am a new union steward. The shop floor where I work has it's share of stressors. It's fast paced, high production standards, understaffed, repetitive, monotonous and physically hard work. We work in extreme heat in the summer and can be chilled to the bone in winter. It's warehouse work. We face the typical range of supervisor styles from those who communicate well and appreciate the work we do to those who yell and scream "I'm the BOSS!"

 

There are times when members are frustrated, fed up and totally stressed out. They want help. By the time they come talk to me they are angry and emotionally charged and sometimes blaming the union. I know there's no magic wand that I could wave that could make everything better. I'm writing to find out if you have any advice on how I should communicate during these intense moments?

Sincerely,

I'm Listening


Dear I'm Listening,

What a great opportunity for building solidarity in your union being a steward is! It will be challenging at times but I think you'll find the rewards to be many. You're off to a good start already! Building on your communication skills will help you in your leadership role and build relationships with other members. I've learned that behavior is a form of communicating and when it comes to people sometimes we need to let out a little steam.

Assess the situation,

What’s going on? Is what you always have to be asking yourself.

What is this person’s motivation?

What is driving this person’s behavior?

Is this issue specifically about me or am I bearing the brunt of their bad day?

Do they need to just get this off their chest?

　

Providing that everyone is safe from physical danger, I think you'll find learning these universal principles in de-escalation a skill set that no stewards toolkit should be without.

 De-escalate Anyone,
Anywhere, Anytime:
Unplug the Power Struggle
with Principle-Based De-escalation

  Imagine dealing with any situation. Learn 5 surprises and 3 Guiding Principles, that will allow you to remain in control at all times, support anyone, anywhere, with any issue, and avoid the wrong response which can make the situation worse.

Is it really possible to de-escalate anyone, anywhere, anytime? Yes! Imagine yourself dealing with any scenario with anyone, anywhere, with confidence and long-term foresight. This is possible with a Principle-Based approach to de-escalation.

While no single technique will work on every person, there is a small set of principles that do apply to everyone. These principles are universal so they apply to any age person, any level of ability or disability, and any setting.


                      De-escalate Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime:
                                Unplug the Power Struggle

                                  Download the free 20 page eBook http://rightresponse.org/



　

You can make a difference "I'm Listening" because

Communication leads to understanding, mutual valuing and a community of unity!

Solidarity,


Ima Union Maid  

 

 

Dear Readers you can send in your own questions/comments to Ima at
 imaunionmaid@gmail.com

 

 

O IS FOR ORGANIZE!

 

In October of 1966, this is what organizing looked like.  Take a look back with us to see how the National Organization for Women was founded.

 

 

Events Leading Up to the Creation of NOW:

 

 

1961-1963: President's Commission on the Status of Women
1963: Publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
Civil Rights Act of 1964: outlawed sex discrimination, yet many women felt that there was little or no enforcement

1966, June: Washington, DC, meeting of state commissions on the status of women. Betty Friedan and others present were unsatisfied with the lack of action plans coming out of this meeting, and 28 met in Friedan's hotel room, leading to the creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW).


NOW Founded:

In several informal meetings followed by a national conference, a number of activists came together to form the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, seeing the need for a civil rights organization specifically focused on women's rights. Betty Friedan was elected the first president of NOW and served in that office for three years.


The National Organization for Women (NOW) held its organizing conference in October 1966, where the founding presidency was elected. Who were the first NOW officers? Some of the original members of NOW came from the Civil Rights Movement, and many of the important feminist organization’s co-founders had been actively working for women’s equality for years. These five leaders were the first NOW officers:

1. President: Betty Friedan

The legendary feminist Betty Friedan brought together activists from many areas and wrote the NOW Statement of Purpose.









 

 
2. Chair of the Board: Kay Clarenbach

A strong organizer from Wisconsin, Kay Clarenbach spoke about how far women still had to go to reach equality.















3. Executive Vice-President: Aileen Hernandez

Aileen Hernandez was elected in absentia; she was about to leave her position at the EEOC.











4. Vice-President: Richard Graham

Richard Graham was a feminist and a dedicated public servant.









5. Secretary-Treasurer: Caroline Davis

Caroline Davis was a labor leader who headed the UAW Women’s Department .













NOW Statement of Purpose 1966: Key Points:
 
-women's rights as "truly equal partnership with men," "fully equal partnership of the  sexes"
-focused on activism: "confront, with concrete action, the conditions that now prevent women from enjoying the equality of opportunity and freedom of choice which is their right as individual Americans, as human beings"

-women's rights seen in the context of "the world-wide revolution of human rights"; equality of women as an opportunity to "develop their fullest human potentials"

-purpose to put women in the "mainstream of American political, economic and social life"

-NOW's commitment "equality, freedom, and dignity for women" specifically defined as not being about "special privilege" for women or "enmity towards men"


Key Feminist Issues in Statement of Purpose:
   -employment -- the most attention in the document is to issues around employment and  economics

-education

-family including marriage and divorce laws, home responsibilities by gender role

-political participation: in parties, decision-making, candidates (NOW was to be independent of any particular political party)

-images of women in the media, in culture, in laws, in social practices

-briefly addressed issue of "double discrimination" of African American women, linked women's rights to broader issues of social justice including racial justice                      -opposition to "protectiveness" in work, school, church, etc.




NOW set up task forces on issues of women’s equality. The seven original NOW task forces were:

1. Education

Education was one of the most important issues for the founders of NOW.


2. Equal Opportunity of Employment

This issue was central to the creation of NOW.

　

3. Legal and Political Rights

NOW has been at the forefront of many legal battles.

　

4. Women in Poverty

Members of NOW wanted to address the economic concerns of women.

　

5. Family

Family concerns have always been a part of feminism.

　

6. The Image of Women

Feminists paid a lot of attention to media portrayal of women.

　

7. Women and Religion

Several theologians took part in NOW and contributed to feminist theory.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/tp/The-Seven-Original-Now-Task-Forces.htm

 

~MORE~

 

 

                                          Honoring NOW's Founders and Pioneers

                                           http://www.now.org/history/founders.html