Thank you for reelecting me! It is an honor and a privilege to serve another term as your Statewide President. Congratulations and thank you to all the candidates who will help lead our union forward.
I do not take my responsibilities as a leader lightly. We continue to face enemies like the Freedom Foundation that seek to destroy us, as well as employers who don’t always or often have our best interests in mind. I am up to the challenge!
It is fitting that I start my second term as your President in March, which is Women’s History Month. I would not be your Statewide President today if it were not for the hard work, sacrifice and tenacity of so many amazing and incredible women who blazed the trail.
I have always drawn inspiration from women who worked toward workers’ rights. A great example of this kind of determination is Clara Lemlich. She was an immigrant from Ukraine who worked at a shirtwaist factory in New York in the early 20th century. She became an active member of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and organized several strikes to improve labor conditions, even at the expense of her own safety. Lemlich was once beaten badly while on a picket and hospitalized, but she continued the fight. In 1909, she led a strike of 20,000 workers that lasted months, but ultimately resulted in winning higher wages and shorter workdays from several factories.
Lemlich is just one example of the fights that union women have led over history. Unions have made great strides in gaining fair wages, affordable health care and better working conditions.
More than a century after Lemlich’s fight, we continue to see women help lead the way to advance working people, yet women are still fighting for equality.
There is still a gender pay gap, with women generally making 84 cents to every dollar a man makes. The pay gap is even greater for most non-Caucasian women. We continue to face assaults on women’s rights, including health care, reproductive rights and parental leave. We need to use our voices to ensure that these rights are protected today and for generations to come.
Once again, thank you for placing your trust in me to lead you. I could not be more honored and humbled to be elected to another term as your Statewide President. Let’s continue to accomplish great things as we move forward together!
