Not for Women Only -- Women Organizers Make Their Mark
They're on the front line as AFSCME steps up organizing efforts.
“This has been a goal all of my life,” says Althea Burton-Lute of her job as organizing coordinator for the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28. “My mother and father were both union stewards. I think I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
And where she is supposed to be these days is all over the state of Washington. It’s a busy time for Council 28, which embarked on an ambitious organizing program five years ago, hiring several new organizers, among them Burton-Lute.
According to national statistics, women soon will make up 50 percent of the working population. And with six out of 10 women working today, it’s not surprising that women are well-represented among AFSCME organizers.
Some, like Burton-Lute, work with any group targeted by the union as a good organizing prospect. Others work with specific organizing targets, including those that are dominated by female workers. Child care, for instance, is the passion of Vicki Milhouse, organizer for the newly formed United Child Care Union, an affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE)/AFSCME Local 1199.
BEEN THERE. Both Burton-Lute and Milhouse know their union well, having “risen from the ranks,” as they say, to become organizers and leaders.
Burton-Lute started out as a patient registration representative at the University of Washington Medical Center, and served as a steward and later as an officer of Local 1488, of which she is still a member. At one point, she also served as vice president of Council 28.
Milhouse was a child care teacher for 20 years at Temple University and served as vice president of her union, Local 1723 (District Council 47), for 14 years. She says her union was unique, that very few child care workers were — and still are — organized. But she and her colleagues got representation by joining forces with other university employees.
Their own histories, their own union struggles are important to both Milhouse and Burton-Lute as they organize others today. They know firsthand the hopes and concerns of the unorganized.
ON THE JOB. Catching up with Milhouse in her home base of Philadelphia, is not easy. “We’re so excited around here,” she says, as she heads out the door for another round of visits to home child care providers. Child care providers are scattered all over, she notes, so she pulls a group together to explain the benefits of a union whenever and wherever she can. McDonald’s is a popular spot for many meetings, she says.
Milhouse’s energy clearly reflects her commitment. The low salaries of child care providers are “a disgrace,” she says. “We’re talking about the care of our children.”
Surprisingly, Milhouse notes, salary is not the greatest concern of child care workers. Benefits and pensions, she says, are much more important.
A Philadelphia community college, for instance, offers its child care staff 10 paid days per year — that includes sick days, vacation and personal days. No wonder turnover is so great, she comments. Child care workers can’t afford to put their own children in day care, and they can’t take time off with them when they’re sick. “Over and over, I see experienced teachers leaving the field because they can’t take care of their own families,” Milhouse observes.
Burton-Lute’s fast-paced days have contributed recently to the successful organization of 113 workers at Washington state fish hatcheries. She’s also working with members of a trades local at Washington State University who want to establish a union shop. They hope to strengthen their local to better head off threats of privatization. Burton-Lute says one of her short-term goals is to establish union shops (those where all employees in a bargaining unit must join the union and pay dues) because union strength is greater where such shops exist.
“I’m a unionist,” Burton-Lute says. “I’ve been one for 23 years and I don’t know where I’d be otherwise.”
Steeped in union experience, Burton-Lute, Milhouse and many other AFSCME women are heading full speed ahead into the future. Their mission each work day is singular — to make unionists of today’s unorganized workers.
By Catherine Barnett Alexander
