6-26-06,8:21am
Thoughout the month of June, Gay Pride Month, members of the AFL-CIO constituency group Pride At Work (PAW) have been spreading the message that all workers, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) need protection from unscrupulous employers and a voice on the job to affect wages, working conditions and prevent discrimination.
“People need to understand that workers have no protection without a contract,” says Nancy Wohlforth, secretary-treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees, co-president of PAW and AFL-CIO international vice president.
At Gay Pride rallies across the country, hundreds of PAW members have joined in solidarity with workers in a variety of campaigns, such as the justice at Wal-Mart and Delphi Corp., Wohlforth says. In the past month, hundreds of LGBT workers have signed petitions demanding affordable health care for Wal-Mart workers and called on the giant retailer to respect workers’ desire to form a union.
This weekend, PAW members are distributing leaflets and information on union membership to participants in Gay Pride marches in San Francisco, the nation’s largest such event, Seattle and New York City. So far, PAW staff and members have participated in parades in Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Michigan. Next weekend, they will be in Madison, Wis.
At the Michigan Gay Pride celebrations June 3, PAW members circulated petitions calling on giant auto parts maker Delphi, which declared bankruptcy last year, to negotiate with workers and not to abrogate its contract with the UAW.
Says Cynthia Paul, treasurer of the Michigan PAW and a member of the unaffiliated SEIU:
LGBT workers, and all workers, need our rights protected at the workplace. The union is the only place to get protection. Otherwise, you are totally at the will and whim of your employer.
PAW’s Delphi campaign in Michigan follows a major court victory for workers. After voters in the Wolverine State approved a ban on gay marriage in 2004, the state reneged on a promise not to take from state workers the domestic partner benefits or any other benefits they had won at the bargaining table. PAW joined with the American Civil Liberties Union and took the state to court. A state court judge agreed with PAW that the state’s actions violated the workers’ equal protection and forced the state to reinstitute the benefits. “We wanted to let people know that it was the union movement that got the case going,” Wohlforth says.
It’s critical that union and nonunion people know the AFL-CIO has a constituency group for LGBT workers, Wohlforth says.
We always get a very positive reaction from LBGTs, especially young people, who think the union movement has nothing to offer them. Most of our national leadership is under 30. We have to build a new generation of leaders to take our place and PAW is one of the places that is doing that. AFL-CIO
