AFSCME Women Pledge Action in Upcoming Political Fights
by Cynthia McCabe | October 03, 2011
Attendees rise to their feet during the final day of the 2011 AFSCME Women’s Conference in Milwaukee. (Photo by Luis Gomez)
MILWAUKEE, WIS. – The women of AFSCME pledged Sunday to out-organize, out-fundraise and outlast opponents of America’s workers and the middle class, bringing their national conference here to a rousing close.
Wisconsin Sen. Lena Taylor and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker brought the more than 900 attendees of the AFSCME National Women’s Conference to their feet, as they urged them to stay energized for the coming political battles in more than a dozen states. Women are a particularly vulnerable target of corporate-backed, right-wing politicians targeting public employees’ jobs, as they make up 56 percent of public sector workers.
“Will it be people or the corporations?” asked Taylor, who helped spark a movement in Wisconsin this past winter when she and 13 other state senators left the state to prevent anti-worker legislation from proceeding. “Will it be about making sure the least among us are cared for? If we don’t stand up, who will? That’s what’s at stake in this legislative cycle.”
Referencing AFSCME’s Main Street Movement – individual members nationwide coming together to fight for workers’ rights – Baker said, “Wall Street got Main Street into this mess and it’s time for them to help solve the problem.”
The National Women’s Conference focused this year on preparing them for leadership in their locals readying members for state battleground fights in the months ahead. The coming local, state and federal elections will affect collective bargaining agreements, pensions, health care benefits and the very ability of unions to organize for the American worker.
