Raising My Voice

This blog post was emailed to me from a sister at Summer School and I am posting it on her behalf:

Welcome to the very first entry of my blog.  I am a university professor, a feminist, and a union activist-- hence my pen name, University Sister.  It’s time for me to put my pen where my mouth is.  A workshop on social media I am taking today has given me the opportunity to start a blog.

When I signed up for the Summer School for Union Women sponsored by the Northeast UALE (United Association for Labor Education) a few weeks ago, I had no idea how intense it would be.  The theme of the summer school this year is “Raising Our Voices: Union Women Leading Democracy in Our Work, Our Country and Our World!”  This is the third day of six and I’m struggling to absorb all of the information coming our way as well as getting to know dozens of women we are meeting in our classes and other sessions.  School starts at 8:15 every morning and goes until after p.m. each night.

I can imagine all kinds of applications of what I am learning and I’m anxious to share these strategies with other leaders in my union, United University Professions, where the statewide Executive Board has just been feminized by the May 2013 elections.  For the first time in its history, the board contains more women than men; twelve of its twenty members are female.  It is incumbent upon the women stepping forward in their unions to use all their considerable skills in support of the mission of higher education unions.  Unions need the power of women more than ever, especially in the public employee unions which are under violent attack. Women’s life experience ideally suits them to understanding the challenges and rewards of democracy.

Of the three “courses” I am taking, the “Union Building: Tools for Strengthening Your Union from the Inside” taught by Angela Ferritto has impressed me most.  Some of Angela’s pointers are shockingly counter-intuitive.   I can see that practices I had assumed made sense, really don’t. There are better ways to engage our members.  I wish every delegate in my union could take this course.  Angela is an Organizer for Council 13 of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Pennsylvania).  All I can say is, AFSCME is really lucky to have her.

- University Sister (Anonymous)