March is women’s history month and March 8th was International Women’s Day.  This is also a big year for commemorating women’s activism, with 2020 marking the centennial of women’s right to vote.  To discuss some highlights of women's activism around the globe during the past year, Leslie is joined by Anna Fendley of the United Steelworkers Union (USW).  Anna also shares some incredible insights on the USW's 'Women of Steel' program during the interview.

Anna has been with the USW for over a decade and has worked doing legislative advocacy and in the union’s Health, Safety and Environment Department. Anna serves as the vice president for North America for the IndustriALL Global Union, which represents industrial workers all over the world. She also represents the AFL-CIO as the chairperson of the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Youth Committee, where she led the effort to create a global economic platform for young workers. 

Here are some of the details that Leslie and Anna covered during today's conversation.

- Women of Steel:

·        The USW’s 'Women of Steel' is its program for empowering women leaders and activists. It began as a grassroots effort in Canada in the 1980s as an effort to combat sex discrimination. ·        Now it’s union-wide. Women of Steel work on a variety of issues that are important to women in the workplace: some of it iscommunity-based and some national.

- Health care worker safety:

·        The union has long fought for protections for health care workers. The USW represents approximately 50,000 health care workers, many of whom are women.
·        This includes work on the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R. 1309), which passed the House late last year.
·        Many of the issues that the USW fights for, not just in 'Women of Steel,' but across the board, are now taking on a new resonance with the outbreak of COVID-19.
·        The USW and other unions have pushed to get OSHA to issue anemergency standard to protect front line workers in the wake of the virus.

- Paid Leave

·        The issue of paid leave is also as urgent as it’s ever been. Even before the current crisis, the USW supported legislation that would expand leave, including the FAMILY Act.
·        Now, there is greater need. Lawmakers are proposing the 'Paid Sick Days for Public Health Emergencies and Personal Family Care Act.'
·        This issue does not just affect women, but because many women are caregivers in their families, access to benefits like paid leave help with gender equality.

- Women’s Activism Internationally:

·        It’s not just domestically that the USW has been fighting for women’s rights. As a part of a global alliance of unions called IndustriALL, the union has been taking a wider view of women’s participation in the workforce. In November, they met in Geneva and set ambitious goals. These included increasing diversity in workplaces, finding ways to get more women into leadership positions, and combating gender based violence. Anna was part of the USW’s delegation. ·        The ILO has also set reducing gender based violence as one of its goals.   It also announced that this year’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work, celebrated on April 28 dually as Workers Memorial Day, will focus on calling for the prohibition and prevention of violence and harassment in the workplace. As part of the campaign, the ILO will produce a global report highlighting how a comprehensive OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) framework at both national and workplace levels could address the epidemic of violence and harassment.
·        Women in Mexico have also started a grassroots movement against the violence they experience. o  On International Women’s Day, 80,000 protestors took to the streets of Mexico City. This “Day Without Women” was intended to draw attention to femicide and government inaction. It’s estimated that ten women are killed in Mexico every day.

The website for the United Steelworkers is USW.org and their Twitter and Instagram handle is @steelworkers.  The Twitter handle for USW President Tom Conway is @USWblogger.