Randie Pearson, the Director of the United Steelworkers Women of Steel, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the program and how it empowered her in the workplace. She also discussed the Raising the Bar campaign, and how it is helping to create safer workplaces.
The Women of Steel program educates USW Sisters about the union and the issues that affect women at work. Pearson said the program empowers members to become leaders within their Locals and encourages them to become activists fighting for equity and the USW's core values. She said the program encourages Women of Steel to be active in their communities and the broader labor movement. They actively work to meet the unmet needs of fellow union members and members of their communities, as well as serve on central labor councils and area federations. They also volunteer to political campaigns and non-profit organizations.
Pearson knows from first-hand experience the difficulties of being a woman in a heavily male-dominated industry. She talked about women's struggles like obtaining properly fitting Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and tools designed with a female in mind. Pearson shared her experience not having a female locker room and being forced to change in the men's locker room. Because the Steelworkers are leaders in health and safety activism, she was empowered through the Women of Steel program to demand her employer follow the law and provide the women in the facility the tools and respect they deserved, she said.
Finally, Pearson talked about the Women of Steel Raising the Bar campaign. The campaign offers Local leaders and other equality activists a comprehensive roadmap to help create healthy and safe workplace environments for everyone. The issues covered by the campaign are not exclusive to women, however, women are often disproportionately impacted by them. She said the campaign provides members with the ability to address women’s health and safety concerns and create a safer workplace for everyone.
For more about the USW Women of Steel and their Raising the Bar Campaign, listen to the show above.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
