Women make up about half of U.S. union membership, but their representation in top union leadership positions is low, even in female-dominated industries and especially for women of color.

But black and Latina women are starting to realize ground, taking top positions in a few of the largest unions in the US. This has translated into victories at the negotiating table, with greater deal with family-friendly advantages comparable to parental leave and health care, in addition to protection against sexual harassment.

Often, when people consider unions, “they think of a white guy in a hard hat. But in fact, research shows that approx two thirds of working people covered by a union contract are women and/or people of color,” said Lane Windham, a labor historian at Georgetown University.

Indeed, the UNITE Here hospitality union is overwhelmingly made up of women and people of color. And last month there have been more than 12,000 in six states began a strike push for pay increases, fair workloads and cheaper health care under the leadership of Gwen Mills, who in June became the first woman elected president of the union in its 130-year history.

Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that Black and Latina women are particularly hard hit large gender pay gaps. They also encounter intersections a headwind to each racism and sexism of their careers, making them even more sensitive to inequalities in the workplace and motivating them to step up their fight as trade union leaders.

Black and Latina women are driving the growth of unions in the U.S. in the face of: a decades-long decline in membership. In 2023, Black women’s union membership rate increased barely from 10.3% to 10.5%, while Latina women increased from 8.5% to eight.8%. But that is still more than white men and women and Asian women, whose membership has declined over the same period.

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Over the past five years, the advancement of black and Latino women to leadership positions in trade unions has accelerated. But based on Liz Shuler, who became the first woman in history to steer the AFL-CIO in June 2022, the work began long before that, by “our ancestors who laid that foundation and kicked that door open and pushed it wide open over the decades.” a federation of 60 national and international trade unions.

” The #MeToo movementI think it’s really emboldened women in all cases, including childbirth, to say, you know what? I’m not going to sit on the sidelines,” Shuler said. The pandemic has also put a highlight on essential staff like nurses, service staff and care staffwho are mainly women and minorities.

Today’s examples of diverse union leaders include Becky Pringle, a black woman who heads the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union; Bonnie Castillo, the first Latina to function executive director of National Nurses United; and April Verrett, who in May became the first Black woman to steer the Service Workers International Union, which says about 60% of service staff are people of color and two-thirds are women.

“If we want to build power in those who are perceived to have the least power, we need to create space for our people with that identity to lead,” Verrett told The Associated Press.

But while progress has been made in women-dominated industries when it comes to diversity in union leadership, unions in male-dominated fields like construction and manufacturing “still have a long way to go,” said Emily Twarog, a labor historian at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. Despite some progress through DEI and apprenticeship programs“there wasn’t that kind of cultural change.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, men still have higher rates of union membership than women – 10.5% versus 9.5%, respectively. And sexual harassment and workplace bias are still rampant in lots of places, including in the case of Lisa Lujano of Chicago, an experienced carpenter and member of Local 13 of the Carpenters Union.

She said the situation could improve if more black and Latina women held leadership positions in unions and were more aware of the needs of their membership, including protective equipment tailored to women’s bodies and parental leave, which Lujano doesn’t have.

“I think we would get more respect on the field,” she said.

Here’s the impact women union leaders have had on the negotiating table:

Education

In recent years, teachers unions have begun to make use of their collective power to push for comprehensive advantages to assist the surrounding community, using a way often known as “bargaining for the common good,” which goals to transcend wages and advantages at the bargaining table and address broader issues social problems. For example, the Chicago Teachers Union was included demand for inexpensive housing across the city during the 2019 strike – organized partially by then-Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, now president of CTU.

Some teachers unions are also fighting for racial justice, including United Teachers Los Angeles, which has demanded that the school district stop subjecting students to random metal detector tests and checking lockers for no reason, denouncing the practice as disproportionately targeting black and minority students.

“We must address the inequities built into every social system in this country that determine whether our students come to school ready to learn every day,” Pringle said. “It was our women leaders, especially our women leaders of color, who really bought into this.”

Hospitality

Unionized hotel staff like Maria Mata, have made progress in the fight against rampant sexual harassment of their occupation.

Mata, a Latina housekeeper and UNITE Here union leader in W San Francisco, helped lead a successful campaign at her hotel in 2018 to equip employees with emergency buttons to call security for assist in an emergency. currently implemented by several large hotel chains.

“We needed more protection,” especially during night shifts once we spent cleansing entire floors alone, explained Mata, who herself twice experienced sexual harassment at work. “It’s very dangerous.”

It’s also necessary that women doing this work even have a seat at the negotiating table, “because sometimes as women we need something that men don’t know about,” said Mata, whose hotel is currently negotiating a brand new contract.

Stewardesses

Keturah Johnson in 2022 became the first queer woman of color to function vice chairman of the international flight attendants union AFA-CWA, led by Sara Nelson and representing more than 50,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines.

People often consider a flight attendant as a “white woman with her hair in a bun,” and Black flight attendants often face microaggressions from managers about their appearance, Johnson said. “This has happened to me many times because of my natural hair.”

Johnson said it is vital for female flight attendants who are gender non-conforming to have the option to wear a uniform that reflects their gender identity. That’s why she’s leading the fight to update uniform standards to be gender-inclusive and allow natural hairstyles, which has led to changes at several airlines.

According to AFA, for instance, United Airlines updated its uniform standards to incorporate gender-neutral options in 2021, and Alaska Airlines management adopted gender-neutral uniform and appearance standards in 2022. In 2021, Frontier allowed flight attendants to have natural hairstyles, and this yr introduced uniform pricing on all uniforms no matter size and gender.

“We’re not only there to serve Diet Coke. That’s why it’s our job to be sure that flight attendants are represented and seen for who they are,” Johnson said. “The world has modified now.