Although women remain underrepresented in top-tier union leadership roles, a growing number of Black and Latina women are asserting their presence at the executive level.
As more Black and Latina women secure leadership roles in major U.S. unions, their influence led to enhanced family-friendly benefits for union workers, including parental leave, improved healthcare coverage, and stronger protections against sexual harassment, The Philadelphia Enquirer notes.
This leadership change mirrors the demographics of union workers, with about two-thirds of those under union contracts being women and/or people of color, as noted by labor historian Lane Windham from Georgetown University. Furthermore, Black and Latina women are instrumental in fostering labor union growth in the U.S. during a prolonged membership decline.
In 2023, the union membership rate for Black women increased slightly from 10.3% to 10.5%, while the rate for Latinas rose from 8.5% to 8.8%. Despite these gains, these figures still surpass the membership rates of white people and Asian women, whose membership declined during the same period.
As more women and people of color join unions, with Black and Latina leaders at the helm, union members actively advocate for equitable treatment and their fair share in the workplace. These advancements are significant, especially as labor unions face challenges from the Supreme Court and various policy changes.
In June, Gwen Mills made history as the first woman elected president of the hospitality union Unite Here in its 130-year existence. Under Mills’ leadership, the union’s 12,000 members—primarily women and people of color—across six states went on strike to advocate for wage increases, equitable workloads, and more affordable healthcare.
Current examples of diverse union leadership include Becky Pringle, a Black woman at the helm of the National Education Association, the largest union in the nation; Bonnie Castillo, the first Latina to serve as the executive director of National Nurses United; and April Verrett, who became the first Black woman to lead the Service Employees International Union in May. This union reports that approximately 60% of its service workers are people of color, with two-thirds being women.
“If we want to build power on those who are perceived to have the least amount of power, then we’ve got to create space for our people of those identities to be able to lead,” Verrett told the Associated Press.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, men continue to have a higher union membership rate than women, with rates of 10.5% and 9.5%, respectively. Additionally, workplace sexual harassment and biases remain prevalent in many settings. However, Lisa Lujano, a journey-level carpenter and member of Carpenters Union Local 13, believes that conditions could improve if more Black and Latina women held leadership roles in unions and were attuned to the needs of their members.
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