Room at the Top: Black Women and District Council 37
Bellush, Jewel
For years, one of the most exploited segments in public services had been the nonprofessionals in New York City's hospitals, public schools, and governmental offices. Receiving the lowest pay...
...Behind the union's effectiveness as an expanding influence in decision making is its professionally run Political Action Department...
...As many as 1,000 of them participate annually and regularly— the two largest constituencies being the Clerical/Administrative and Schools Locals...
...It was through this local of some 12,000 hospital workers that black women were helped to improve their lives...
...As a result of these new recruits, the power base of DC 37 shifted dramatically by the end of the 1960s from laborers and motor vehicle operators (white, male and of Italian descent) to hospital, school and clerical/administrative workers who were black and female...
...Among the offerings that attract them are career opportunities in health, basic skills improvement, high school equivalency and a college education provided at headquarters...
...And yet, within the hospital setting, for example, these black women performed the most direct, crucial services...
...Overall, these programs lend a special spirit to the union which encourages members to assume leadership...
...Assisted by the head of the council's education department, she launched DC 37's famous career ladder program in the late 1960s...
...Sitting with others, however, who face similar difficulties, bolsters participation and tends to allay uneasiness...
...Drawn from the ranks, he steadily moved upwards through the channels of leadership from volunteer-activist to local president, and then through the council's divisional structure...
...Here, within this comparatively vibrant union, the impact of the civil rights 488 • DISSENT and feminist movements continues to be felt as black women move upward into positions of leadership...
...As a union leader, Gotbaum brought to DC 37 a unique social idealism and a rare sensitivity to its multicultural composition...
...It was largely through her skillful organizing endeavors that AFSCME built one of the largest union locals in New York and the nation...
...Generally, it is in the local that members with leadership potential display their skills and are identified...
...She had joined the labor movement as an eighteen-year-old nurse's aide in Chicago in 1946, and was quickly identified as a potential leader by a young Victor Gotbaum when he headed AFSCME in the Windy City...
...The former is by far the largest single local of the Council, if not the nation, with over 27,000 members scattered throughout city departments...
...Having emerged from a background similar to those of most female members, Roberts understood their personal plight and was aware that they were generally trapped in menial dead- end jobs...
...One of its major sources of strength is the large core of black women volunteers...
...The Schools local, with some 17,000 who are employed at the Board of Education, is mainly part-time school lunch orderlies, family paraprofessionals, school-crossing guards, and neighborhood workers...
...It was a slow, tortuous road for those from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) who went out to organize...
...Bridging the gap between the traditional, academic approaches to credentialism and the practical needs and capacities of the council's working women has required innovative strategies...
...They attend Political Action Committee meetings and are trained in lobbying and campaign strategies workshops...
...A second element that has helped black women are the many opportunities provided by the union—its open organization, its democratic spirit of elections, and the varied channels for membership participation...
...Excerpted from SAGE, VOL III, No...
...By the 1960s, they were predominantly black women, working in settings that included hot, crowded kitchens, unpleasant laundries, and large dehumanized hospital wards...
...Over the years, a number of them have moved into staff positions because of the political skills honed in this department...
...In cooperation with Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a specially designed program is offered for women interested in leadership that includes courses in women's studies, labor history, economics and communication skills...
...Directing the field operations among the hospital workers (a key organizing effort for securing DC 37's base of power in the city), was a young, determined, and attractive black woman, Lillian Roberts...
...For some sixteen years, his good right hand in the council was Lillian Roberts...
...Successsor to Gotbaum, who retired in 1987, Hill shares Roberts's concern for black women members...
...Trapped in their jobs, and with little education or training, they constituted the city's public sector underclass...
...When she left in 1981 to head the New York State Department of Labor, Roberts was replaced by Stanley Hill, a black former social worker...
...Receiving the lowest pay among municipal workers, they remained primarily outside the organized labor movement, segregated in jobs without status...
...A third factor serving as an important asset in the development of leadership is the council's broad array of educational and training programs...
...I have always seen the union," she repeatedly underscores, "as a protector of working-class rights that transcends all the other things...
...Small classes and extensive remedial and tutorial assistance bolster its "hands-on" approach which members require...
...1 (Spring 1986) 1:1 FALL • 1987 489...
...Attendance at these programs is exceptionally good with a high passing rate...
...Today, some 60 percent of DC 37's membership are black women...
...They include typists, stenographers, telephone operators and various levels of clerks, involving some thirty managers...
...As she would throughout her union career, Roberts quickly attracted workers, gaining their confidence and winning their respect...
...Two other larger locals that represented primarily black women were the Clerical/Administrative (1549) and the Schools (372...
...Black women constitute the bulk of participants in most of the Council's educational programs...
...In addition, Roberts pressed those responsible for steward training to encourage black women to participate by providing a program that was concrete and relevant to the job concerns of black women...
...Participation in meetings, speaking up and becoming active in committees constitute the grass roots launching pad for a union career...
...To organize them was no simple task, with unyielding management opposition, a dispersed hospital system spread over vast areas in the city's five counties, general ignorance about the labor movement, and suspicion as to the ability and determination of unions to provide the channels for resolving their multifaceted problems...
...And she continues to do to as New York State Commissioner of Labor...
...Many come anxious about returning to school and with a fear of failure...
...Confronting the professionally trained (e.g., doctors, nurses, teachers, school supervisors, and office managers), they often experienced demeaning treatment and menial assignments...
Vol. 34 • September 1987 • No. 4
