Pride @ Work Conference
By Valerie Stewart, Instructor, CT Aero Tech School
A record number of national union leaders joined LGBT activists and allies at the Pride at Work Triennial Convention in Cleveland, Ohio recently. Among the union leaders who called for equal rights at the convention were Veda Shook, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants; Lee Saunders, President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT); Augusta Thomas, National Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); Annie Hill, Secretary-Treasurer of the Communications Workers of America (CWA); and Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO.
The convention passed resolutions supporting the efforts of striking Chicago teachers and the boycott of Hyatt hotels, where housekeepers and other hotel workers face dangerous workloads and risk replacement by low-paid temporary workers. Delegates voted to support annual participation in support of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and to expand efforts “to achieve full respect, dignity and justice for transgender and nonconforming workers,” including outreach activities, skills trainings and mentoring efforts. Additional resolutions called for support of organizing for racial justice, mobilizing young workers, and increasing efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Delegates voted to increase support for union-made products and union services; to develop new programs to increase support for LGBT workers internationally; for passage of pay-check fairness legislation; and for passage of the DREAM Act. They called for unions throughout the country to push for LGBT inclusive union contracts and transgender inclusive health care.
The convention called on T-Mobile and its parent company Deutsche Telekom to give their American workforce the same organizing rights enjoyed by the company’s workers in other regions of the world. They called on the company to stop marketing to the LGBT community in the US while simultaneously seeking to prevent their LGBT employees from securing recognition and rights through collective bargaining agreements.
The convention elected a new slate of Pride at Work officers to lead the organization for the next three years. Shane Larson (CWA) and Connecticut AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Lori Pelletier (IAM) were elected Co-President; Shellea Allen (UNITE-HERE) and Gabriel Halaand (SEIU) were elected Co-Vice President; Bess Watts (AFSCME) was elected Vice President of Organizing; Gregory J. King (AFSCME) was elected Treasurer; and Tiffany Heath (TNG-CWA) was elected Secretary. The new slate of officers is geographically, ethnically, racially and gender diverse, and includes representatives from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied communities.
“We are at a critical juncture for our labor movement as well as the LGBT movement,” noted Larson. “The enemies of organizing don’t care if you are gay or straight, transgender or bisexual or what color your skin is or your faith, they are out to see that workers lose their voice and it is up to us to fight back.” Pelletier went on to say, “Pride at Work is the voice in the LGBT community explaining how much stronger and better off our community is by growing the Labor movement and focusing on organizing members of our community.” Both newly elected co-presidents have committed themselves to expanding the efforts to build the organization’s chapters around the country and to providing a strong voice in the labor movement for the LGBT community.
Workers interested in joining Pride at Work or in launching new chapter organizing efforts, can email Pride at Work at info@prideatwork.org or call Executive Director Peggy Shorey at 202-637-5014.