A new report by the Berger-Marks Foundation offers a "top ten list" to help Unions attract and keep a new generation of workers, especially women members.  "Stepping Up, Stepping Back: Women 'Talk Union' Across Generations" provides some very specific suggestions to help increase activism and leadership among young workers, especially women. 

The report is based on discussion among 30 women leaders who attended a "summit" in New Orleans.  They came from more than 20 different Unions and other organizations.

Recommendations included more training programs so that young workers can learn how to Talk Union with their peers, eradicating sexual harassment and sexism, and more decision-making involvement and opportunity for young activists. 

The Berger-Marks Foundation was established with a bequest from the estates of Edna Berger - the first female lead organizer for The Newspaper Guild-CWA - and her husband, the legendary Tin Pan Alley song-writer Gerald Marks. 

It seeks to bring the benefits of Unionization to working women and to assist organizations committed to those principles. 

Editor’s Note: Go to www.bergermarks.org for more information.  The following is information posted on the report that is located on The Berger-Marks Foundation website:

Stepping Up, Stepping Back: Women Activists Talk Union Across Generations

The Berger-Marks Foundation trustees weren’t sure quite what to expect when we brought together 30 women activists - half of them younger than 35, the other half older than 35 - to New Orleans last March for an intergenerational conversation about the Labor Movement.  What we got was a deeper understanding of what it is about Unions that turns younger women on and what turns them off.  We also managed to create a real sense of sisterhood among the participants from more than 25 Unions and allied organizations who left New Orleans “refreshed, reconnected and less isolated.” 

Spotlight On Younger Women, Unions & Social Justice

The observations and recommendations of these 30 vibrant, intelligent women are captured in a report published by the Foundation, available here and in printed form.  Stepping Up, Stepping Back: Women Activists ‘Talk Union’ Across Generations is an honest and complete reflection of how these women view social justice, the American labor movement and the role of younger women in Unions.

New & Provocative Ideas Emerge From Frank Discussions

The report is based on quotations from the women themselves (most of them anonymous), as well as conclusions and ideas produced by group discussions that were recorded by two facilitators on flip charts.  The Under 35 (U35) and Over 35 (O35) participants at first met separately, followed by combined conversations in plenary sessions.  Like the women who attended this inter-generational summit,  Stepping Up, Stepping Back pulls no punches in its critique of today’s Unions.  Its prescription for change includes practical, yet bold, steps that America’s Labor Movement should undertake in order to ensure it becomes a “safe space” for tomorrow’s women workers and activists.