Page 5 - Work Force March 2025

Women’s History Month: Women lead fights for change
During International Women’s History Month, CSEA celebrates labor union women who have played key roles in advancing the labor movement and working people.
Here are just a few examples of the ways that women have made a true difference.
Fire connects labor leaders
During the early 20th century, many women worked in garment factories, where they faced
long workweeks, low wages and potentially hazardous working conditions.
city commission to improve fire safety. Newman and
Perkins, who had
met one another
through their work
after the Triangle
Fire, helped lead
the successful fight
for legislation that
improved factory safety conditions and shortened workweeks.
Newman continued her activism with the ILGWU for about 70 years, fighting to improve wages and labor conditions for women workers.
Legislation has an effect today
Perkins later served in several New York state roles. In 1929, Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Perkins as the first-ever industrial commissioner, a role in which
she oversaw 1,800 employees.
She continued to fight for safer workplaces, shorter workweeks and a minimum wage.
When Roosevelt became President in 1933, he appointed Perkins U.S. Secretary of Labor. She is the first woman to ever hold a Cabinet position.
Perkins helped shape the administration’s New Deal policies, most notably the Social Security Act of 1935 and Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938, which ended child labor, established the 8-hour workday and set a minimum wage. During her 12 years as Labor Secretary, Perkins also helped millions of Americans who had lost their jobs get back
to work and championed workers’ rights.
Working for justice
In 1925, Rosina Corrothers Tucker helped establish the Brotherhood
of Sleeping Car Porters, the nation’s first predominantly Black labor union, along with its International Ladies’ Auxiliary Order.
While A. Philip Randolph generally receives more recognition as a founding member, Tucker helped
One of the
most infamous of
these sweatshops
was the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory
in Manhattan, which
employed many
immigrant women
and girls, including
Pauline Newman,
who started working at the factory at age 11.
After several years at Triangle, Newman joined the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) as the first woman organizer around 1909, helping organize multiple garment strikes across the country.
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire claimed the lives of 146 workers. The building lacked adequate fire escapes, and the factory owner had locked stairwells and doors to prevent workers from leaving. The fire led to widespread public anger.
Newman, who had known many of the Triangle fire victims, was eager to take action to fight for improved workplace safety standards. In
1913, she joined a state board that was established to improve factory safety.
The Triangle Fire was also a pivotal event for Frances Perkins, who directly witnessed the fire. Perkins became a lifelong advocate for working people and joined a
March 2025
organize porters. Her husband was a porter and Tucker was one of many porters’ wives who secretly organized members on behalf of the workers, who feared retribution by management. When Pullman learned of Tucker’s union activity, her husband was fired.
Tucker confronted her husband’s supervisor, who rehired her husband. She later became a leader in the union’s Women’s Economic Councils, which developed from
the auxiliary. She also organized laundry and domestic workers, helped organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and lobbied Congress on labor and education issues.
Fighting for farmworker justice
10,000-worker strike against grape growers in Delano, Calif. During
the five-year strike, Huerta helped organize national consumer boycotts of grapes and wine, marches and community organizing. The strike led to the California table grape industry changing its practices.
She also became one of lead negotiators on the first-ever collective bargaining agreement with an agricultural business to secure better wages and working conditions for farm workers. Huerta continues to be an advocate for working people and immigrant rights.
Fight for domestic workers
Ai-Jen Poo
founded Domestic
Workers United,
an organization
focused on gaining
power, respect and
fair labor standards
for nannies,
housekeepers
and caregivers
of Caribbean, Latina and African descent.
Domestic Workers United was key to 10 states, including New York, passing legislation that guarantees domestic workers basic labor protections such as overtime pay, three days' paid leave, and legal protections from harassment and discrimination. Poo is still a leading voice for domestic workers.
— Janice Gavin
Newman
Perkins
Rosina Tucker (right) with Helena Wilson and A. Philip Randolph. (Photo source: Dellums (Cottrell Laurence) Papers, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library, Oakland, CA)
As a teacher in 1950s rural Califonia, Delores Huerta noticed that many
of her students
– children of farmworkers - faced hunger and lack of sufficient clothing.
Poo
Huerta
In 1965, the association joined a
She quit teaching
to help farmworkers organize into a union. In the early 1960s, she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez and Gilbert Padilla. The association merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form the United Farm Workers in 1966.
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