What follows below is trade union support for the Global Women's Strike 2001. Shortly information about trade union support for 2002 will be posted on this webpage. Trade Unionists speak out in support of the Global Women’s Strike 2001 ARGENTINA BRITAIN SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN USA Article
in Voice of the Union, Feb 2002 ARGENTINA
"We congratulate you for your strength and are ready to always join with you in actions such as this Global Strike. "Today we women fight principally not to extend our working life beyond the age of 60 because we recognise that our double task gives us the entitlement to enjoy a well deserved rest, and this is duly recognised by the whole of society as above and beyond the demands that any world bank may impose on our governments ... "We also join your struggle for the much awaited pension for housewives. Working together for these just causes will soon bring the time for celebration of our successes." The newly formed Multisectorial de Mujeres [women from different trade unions] in Rosario, have joined our Strike call and are issuing a statement to that effect. The Confederación General de Trabajadores in Santa Fe has also joined. BRITAIN SOUTH AFRICA
- Affordable and
accessible housing and transportation. COSATU salutes all those heroines who have worked tirelessly to advance the struggles of the poor and the oppressed (who are mainly women). We continue to be inspired by these revolutionaries, and believe it is fitting a day should be set aside to pay them their well deserved tributes." SPAIN - CGT CALLS FOR GENERAL STRIKE STOP PRESS . . . Huelga General, 8 de Marzo 2001, Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT Comisiones Obreras (CO), Union General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Unión Sindical Obrera de Catalunya (USOC) met with organisers of the Global Women's Strike, the Women's March, women's groups, local government and other institutions to organise a joint action for the 8 March 2000. The outcome was a strike of unwaged work and a waged work stoppage at 12 noon across Catalunya with people gathering outside their workplaces, town councils and plazas to read a manifesto: "For a world without poverty or violence: Stop the World to Change it. We denounce: ... the feminization of poverty across the world, given that women and girls do 2/3 of the world's work and 2/3 of this work is neither socially recognised, nor economically valued ... We therefore demand: ... Equal pay for work of equal value. ... that the government of Catalunya and the Spanish State advance their implementation of parliamentary agreements which commit them to measure and value the unremunerated work of women in national accounts, so that the whole country and the whole world are made aware of the enormous economic and social contribution of women . . . that the "Third World" debt be abolished." (Manifesto excerpts) CO members and shop stewards at the International House Language School in Barcelona dedicated their classes to discussions on women's work and the Strike. Nieves Marina, Confederación General de Trabajarores (CGT) : "The CGT delegates at Valencia University got news of the Strike call in an e-mail sent by a worker ... , we checked it on the Internet and we thought it was an excellent idea. At our union meeting we decided that an organization like ours which pursues social justice through action, had the duty to support that kind of call ... we [the CGT] wrote an open letter to the University Rector with our complaints, asking him to call on the whole community of the university to support the stoppage. He replied the following day ... encouraging the university to participate ... Thanks to this answer, CGT was able to invite ... the workers to take part in the stoppage called by the students." USA
Rosa Ayala, striking janitor [caretaker], SEIU Local 1877, Justice for Janitors Campaign, Los Angeles "... I am just a janitor but I have courage to fight for medical benefits and wages that get us out of poverty. I am proud to be in the struggle for respect and dignity and justice. ... We know what it’s like to see the suffering of our mothers and sisters and daughters. That’s what unites us in our fight for dignity as women. ... The Global Women’s Strike should be recognized throughout the world, because no matter who we are or where we come from, we should get the respect and dignity we deserve ..." Kathy Black, President, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Philadelphia Chapter hosted the launch of the International Pay Equity petition and is now pressing for a two-hour lunch break for women "against no pay, low pay and for pay equity" - supported by Philadelphia Jobs With Justice [coalition of 40 labor and community groups], Jewish Labor Committee and Women's Way. Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farmworkers Union, announced the Strike during her keynote address to the Monterey Peninsula College's 5th Annual Multicultural Conference, on 4 March. She encouraged the hundreds at the event to put a broom by their front door to signify that they are supporters of this Strike for women's political, economic and social equality, globally. She was terrific! Vickie Milhouse, United Child Care Union, speaking at the Global Women’s Strike event launching the International Pay Equity Petition, 8 March 2000: "Childcare workers know firsthand about pay inequity…. receiving little respect and recognition for the valuable work they do ... We are working to change that ... We join our sisters and brothers in supporting pay equity for the work that women do throughout the world."
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