Mark Gruenberg at People’s World reports: To paraphrase Daniel Webster’s description of Dartmouth College, the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau “is a small agency, sir, and yet there are those who love it.” The Women’s Bureau has existed for more than a century and it promotes Working Women and their equality on the job. And there are those who love it, too. One is Courtney Newberg, a Journey-Level Ironworker with Local 29 in Portland, Oregon. If it wasn’t for the Women’s Bureau, and more particularly for the Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations (WANTO) grants it administers, she wouldn’t be where she is: Making good money in a job she enjoys, with a Union that accepted her. And when driving around Downtown Portland, saying proudly: “I built that building.” Those who don’t love the Women’s Bureau or its grants, though, include President Donald Trump, a confirmed misogynist, and his partner, Elon Musk. They want to kill the bureau and much of the rest of the Department of Labor - and the grants with it. One leading grant recipient, the Organized Labor-backed Chicago Women In Trades, anticipated that move. It marched into Federal Court in the Windy City earlier this year, seeking an injunction against closing the Women’s Bureau and cutting off the money - and got it on April 15th. “The problem of equity is far from solved and pretending that institutional barriers don’t exist won’t make them disappear,” explained Jayne Vellinga, who serves as the Executive Director of Chicago Women In Trades.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: Unions and allies go to bat for Labor Dept.’s Women’s Bureau – People's World

Photo Courtesy Of Chicago Women In Trades’ Facebook Page.