cluw clueless

Specifically, CLUW urges the AFL-CIO to:

< Ensure representation and participation of women,
people of color, and immigrants at the highest levels
of federation policy determinations and decisionmaking.

< Encourage unions to target for organizing, where
appropriate, industries and workplaces that have large
numbers of women workers.

< Encourage affiliates to hire women organizers and
strive to have women more visible at all levels of
union leadership so that women seeking to organize will
view unions as responsive to women's needs and
concerns.

< Continue to target union women as a key electoral
swing group, providing outreach, communication, and
involvement not only in election years but on an
ongoing basis.

< Work to encourage union women to seek elected office
and provide financial and personnel support for them.

< Highlight as priorities on the AFL-CIO's legislative
agenda issues that affect working women and their
families, including pay equity, affirmative action, the
right to organize, paid family and medical leave,
Social Security, protections for part-time workers,
national health care, and others.

< Review and implement the recommendations of the AFL-
CIO Working Women's Committee issued in July 2004.
These recommendations reflect the collaborative
thinking of many experienced labor leaders, both women
and men, and suggest tangible, achievable goals that
will help address the under-representation of women in
union leadership.

< Use available resources and expertise by including
and involving CLUW and the other constituency groups in
the federation's overarching Wal-Mart effort. As women,
we are a large proportion of Wal-Mart workers as well
as the vast majority of shoppers; as such, our
involvement and activism is key. In addition, the
community outreach networks that CLUW and the
constituency groups offer also are key to influencing
and altering consumer attitudes and shopping habits.

< Support CLUW and the other constituency groups with
financial assistance as well as by including
representatives of these organizations in formulation
of federation policies and strategies to address the
challenges we all face. The CLUW network provides a
valuable resource for outreach both to union women and
to communities in support of federation and
International Union programs, organizing efforts, and
bargaining situations.

We look forward to working closely with the AFL-CIO in
the days and months ahead to ensure that our labor
movement embraces the future with strength, energy, and
bold action to improve the lives of working families.

In solidarity, Susan L. Phillips National President

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