Women, Unions, and the Labor Movement











Live Nude Girls, Unite!

Produced by Julia Query

Directed by Julia Query and Vicki Funari

Edited by Vicki Funari

This documentary chronicles the efforts of dancers employed by San Francisco's Lusty Lady Theater to unionize. Winner of an award at the 2000 San Francisco International Film Festival. 


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Books of Interest


Autobiography of Mother Jones by Mary (Mother) Jones.

This is the story of "the most dangerous woman in America," legendary labor organizer Mother Jones, in her own words.


Jessie de la Cruz: A Profile of a United Farm Worker by Gary Soto.

"The author effectively personalizes the struggle of farmworkers in a manner that will enable students to understand and care about their triumphs."



The Necessity of Organization : Mary Kenney O'Sullivan and Trade Unionism for Women, 1892-1912 by Kathleen Banks Nutter.

"Book describes Mary Kenney O'Sullivan's struggle to improve labor conditions through trade unionism. Appointed the first woman organizer for the American Federation of Labor in 1892, she went on to be a co-founder of the Women's Trade Union League, formed in 1903 as a cross-class alliance of women workers and their middle- and upper-class allies. The possibilities and limits of trade unionism for women, given the class and gender constraints of the period, are the focus of this book."



History of Women in Trade Unions (Women in America: from Colonial Times to the 20th Century) by John B. Andrews.


Women and the American Labor Movement: From the First Trade Unions to the Present by Philip S. Foner.


Mother Jones Speaks: Speeches and Writings of a Working-Class Fighter by Philip S. Foner.

Includes nearly 40 speeches by Mother Jones, as well as articles by Jones written for labor and socialist papers of the time, press reports about her activities, and letters she wrote to other labor and socialist leaders.



Big Annie of Calumet: A True Story of the Industrial Revolution by Jerry Stanley.

"In 1913, miners in Calumet, Michigan, fought to a bitter stand-off with the powerful C & H Mining Company. An inspiration for many strikers was the wife of a Croatian miner, Annie Clemec. At 6-foot-2 inches, "Big Annie" led marches seven days a week over the months of the strike, carrying a "massive American flag on a 10-foot staff." Protesting the brutal working conditions, low pay, and the fact that "on average, one worker a week died in the mines, and two were crippled for life every day" at Calumet, Annie's dedication won the hearts and attention of many citizens and newspapers, who in turn backed the striking miners. A book for intense teens who might want to change the world."   Review - Amazon.com



Florence Kelley and the Nation`s Work: The Rise of Women`s Political Culture, 1830-1900 by Kathryn Sklar.

Kelley, a leading resident of Jane Addams' Hull House staff, worked to improve the plight of adult and children workers.



Battleground: The Autobiography of Margaret A. Haley by Margaret A. Haley.

Haley was a labor activist and the leader of the Chicago Teachers' Federation. She fought to improve public education and the working conditions of Chicago's elementary school teachers.


Sticking to the Union: An Oral History of the Life and Times of Julia Ruuttila by Amy Kesselman.

"Julia Ruuttila (1907-1991) was a lifelong political activist-she was cradled in the Industrial Workers of the World, matured in the CIO, tested in the red-baiting '50s and fully at ease ('too old to get beat up') in popular struggles of the late 20th century." Publishers Weekly



Conversations With Maida Springer: A Personal History of Labor, Race, and International Relations by Yevette Richards.

"In a fascinating set of interviews, Yevette Richards has documented Springer's own feisty voice illuminating major issues of her day, including the foreign policy of the AFL-CIO, laborite anti-Communism, women's leadership in trade unions, and black freedom struggles here and abroad."- Eileen Boris, University of California, Santa Barbara


Maida Springer: Pan-Africanist and International Labor Leader by Yevette Richards.


Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry 1930-1950 by Vicki L. Ruiz.


Dishing It Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century
by Dorothy Sue Cobble.


Working Women of Collar City: Gender, Class, and Community in Troy, New York, 1864-86 by Carole Turbin.


Working Woman from Spillertown: A Memoir of Agnes Burns Wieck by David Thoreau Wieck.


Women Organizing: An Anthology by Bernice Cummings, Victoria Schuck.


Women, Work, and Protest: A Century of U.S. Women's Labor History by Ruth Milkman (Editor).


Common Sense & A Little Fire: Women and Working-Class Politics in the United States, 1900-1965 by Annelise Orleck.

"The life stories of four Jewish immigrant organizers--Rose Schneiderman, Pauline Newman, Clara Lemlich Shavelson and Fannia Cohn--frame Orleck's history of women in U.S. working-class movements." Publishers Weekly


America's Working Women: A Documentary History 1600 to the Present
by Rosalyn Baxandall, Linda Gordon, and Susan Reverby Annelise Orleck (Editors).




Find Online Biographical Resources re Women and Unions



Find Books re Women's Studies on eBay



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Online Organizations and Resources

Sources in U.S. Women's Labor History

AFL-CIO's "Working Women Working Together"

COYOTE

AFSCME - Women's Labor History

Women and Labor Unions - About.com

Exotic Dancers Alliance

9 to 5 - National Association of Working Women


U.S. Dept. of Labor - Women's Bureau

Exotic Dancers Association of Canada

UNITE HERE!


Coalition of Labor Union Women

The International Union of Sex Workers


Biographical Resources re Women and Unions








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All rights reserved.