Rocking the Boat: Union Women's Voices, 1915-1975 / Edition 1

by Brigid O'Farrell

Overview

Rocking the Boat is a celebration of strong, committed women who helped to build the American labor movement. Through the stories of eleven women from a wide range of backgrounds, we experience the turmoil, hardships, and accomplishments of thousands of other union women activists through the period spanning the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the McCarthy era, the civil rights movement, and the women's movement. These women tell powerful stories that highlight and detail women's many roles as workers, trade unionists, and family members. They all faced difficulties in their personal lives, overcame challenges in their unions, and individually and collectively helped improve women's everyday working lives.

Maida Springer-Kemp came from New York City's Harlem, Local 22 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, to represent the AFL-CIO in Africa. In Chicago, Alice Peurala fought for her job in the steel mill and her place in the steel workers' union. Jessie De La Cruz organized farm workers in California. Esther Peterson, organizer, educator, and lobbyist, became an advisor to four U.S. presidents. In chapters based on oral history interviews, these women and others provide new perspectives and practical advice for today's working women. They share an idealistic and practical commitment to the labor movement. As Dorothy Haener of the United Auto Workers and a founding member of the National Organization of Women said, "You have to take a look at how to rock the boat. You don't want to spill yourself out if you can avoid it, but sometimes you have to rock the boat." From these women we, too, learn how to rock the boat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813522692
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	05/01/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Brigid O'Farrell is a senior associate at the Center for Women Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. She has edited or coauthored several books, most recently Work and Family: Policies for a Changing Work Force. Joyce L. Kornbluh, workers' educator, labor historian, and community activist, recently retired from the Labor Studies Center, University of Michigan. Her most recent book is A New Deal for Workers' Education: The Workers' Service Program, 1934-1943.

Table of Contents

Ch. 1. An Overview: And Not Falling Out
Ch. 2. Equal Is Equal, Brothers: Lilian Herstein, American Federation of Teachers (1886-1983)
Ch. 3. First a Troublemaker, Then a Troubleshooter: Carmen Lucia, United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union (1902-1985)
Ch. 4. You Can't Giddyup by Saying Whoa: Esther Peterson, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1906- )
Ch. 5. We Did Change Some Attitudes: Maida Springer-Kemp, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (1910- )
Ch. 6. Forty Years I'm Secretary-Treasurer of the Local: Mary Callahan, International Union of Electrical Workers (1914-1981)
Ch. 7. The Challenge Is Still There: Ah Quon McElrath, International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (1915- )
Ch. 8. Sometimes You Have to Rock the Boat: Dorothy Haener, United Auto Workers (1918- )
Ch. 9. The Vote Does Make a Difference: Fannie Allen Neal, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1919-1990)

Editorial Reviews

You could say that it's too bad that Dorothy Haener and the other women in this book had to 'rock the boat' to get the union movement to accept and acknowledge their talent. But thank goodness they had the guts and foresight to do what they did. And thank goodness there's this book to tell the story of how they made our whole movement better.

President, UAW - Stephen P. Yokich

Brings back many memories of the founding days of the National Organization for Women (NOW) . . . provides a timely lesson in coalition building and the importance of women and men working together on economic, political, and social issues so vital to our future.

founding president, NOW, and author of The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

Celebrates the triumphs of ordinary women doing the extraordinary. I celebrate this moving collection of the stories of union women who changed the face of American labor.

President, AFL-CIO - John Sweeney

Will startle those for whom 'labor union' means a paunchy cigar-smoking white male. . . . A too-often ignored element of labor history.

Booklist

Gives long overdue recognition to eleven women, who, like many of their sisters in the labor movement, have given so much to their communities and their unions. They are an inspiration for today's working women, the organized and the unorganized, and they offer practical advice for those who continue the fight for justice for all workers.

President, Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW); Vice President, AFL-CIO - Gloria T. Johnson

These two collections of oral histories document women's activities in the labor movements of the 20th century. Both books omit the questions posed and construct a seamless narrative of the women's words, broken only by short paragraphs of textual explanation or introductory remarks. Both contain remarkable stories. Moore's collection highlights the struggle of women to work in the mines for equal pay and equal respect. The women relate their experiences working in the mines (both company and family-owned) and recall strikes, union activities, and family hardships. Testimony is drawn from both union members and union activists; from whites, African Americans, and Native Americans; and primarily from the Appalachian region. Moore, a former miner and associate editor of the United Mine Worker's Journal, has produced an astounding collection that gives the scholar and casual reader alike an important view of women's lives. O'Farrell and Kornbluh's collection is smalleronly 11 women to Moore's 25with a wider range. The authors interviewed women activists from such unions as the American Federation of Teachers, International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Both academics, the authors find common themes of women in unions such as the need for education, federal involvement, and women's participation and the importance of women in leadership positions and cross-union solidarity. This collection is a more academic treatment than Moore's volume, which may be the better choice for most libraries. Where affordable, both volumes are highly recommended for all libraries.Jenny Presnell, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, Ohio

Library Journal