Several DC 37 retirees were in the house at Rutgers University’s 46th Northeast Summer School for Union Women. The annual event, sponsored by the United Association for Labor Education (UALE), was held in New Brunswick, N.J., July 10-14, 2023. The conference theme was “We are the Real Infrastructure: Building Powerful Movements.”
DC 37 retiree Michelle Keller, who is president of the Coalition of Union Women’s NYC chapter and Susan Tindall, from DC 37, were instructors in the program. DC 37 Retirees Associate Recording Secretary Anna Berry and member Zelma Brown also attended to show support to sisters in the movement.
According to the Rutgers U. website, “The Summer School is a four-day residential program that brings together rank-and-file members, staff, and officers of unions and workers’ rights organizations to develop their leadership and strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the U.S. labor movement.”
Union women were invited to the conference to “network and learn; be inspired, be ready!” by participating in “leadership and skills building workshops, cultural activities, and educational sessions on current labor challenges, taught and shared by labor educators, union staff and officers, and worker organization activists.”
Sister Keller reported that, “This year's school, structured for Union and Solidarity Centers, was one of our largest gatherings in a very long time. Some 150 sisters, not counting administrators and instructors, packed into every open space at Rutgers, which ratified a union contract just this spring.”
Among the topics discussed, said Keller, were climate justice, gender-based violence across the world, and union skills like grievance handling, public speaking, building the economy for workers, internal organizing, women in non-traditional occupations, introduction to collective bargaining, and steps towards working in successful coalitions.
“Mark your calendars,” she said. “In 2024, the Summer School for Union Women will be held at U. Mass. Boston.” Below are photos from this year’s well-attended conference.
-- Michelle Keller and Anna Berry contributed to this article.
