Young women we sponsored
got a lot out of union schools

History of the Union Women’s Summer Schools

Young woman presenting ideas while another listens

Union Women’s Summer Schools began in the Northeast Region and eventually expanded to the Midwest, Western and Southern Districts of the United States. Their conception was rooted in the traditions of early worker education, as exemplified by the Bryn Mawr summer schools for Women Workers of the 1920's and the WPA worker education programs of the 1930's. Courses of study were tailored to the needs and interests of working women.

Barbara Wertheimer, Director of Cornell's Institute of Women and Work, introduced the idea to colleagues in the University and College Labor Education Association (which became United Association for Labor Education or UALE). Encouraged by the rising feminist movement and the founding of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, UCLEA launched its first school in 1975 at the University of Connecticut.

Berger-Marks-sponsored students:

Tomara Bowleg

Northeast School

Bowleg is a 32-year-old member of Transport Workers Union Local 555, which represents the employees at Southwest Airlines. Although her mom is a union activist, unions weren’t discussed much when she was growing up. Instead, it was Tomara’s union steward at Dulles Airport, where she works as an operations agent, who has encouraged her to become more active in her union.

The steward told Tomara about the summer school and urged her to attend so she could learn more about how unions work and develop the tools necessary to become an activist. The TWU steward encouraged Tomara to seek funding from the union. However, when Tomara investigated, she learned that all of her union’s scholarship money for the year had been allocated. So when she heard about the Berger-Marks scholarship, she jumped at it. To participate in the program Tomara had to arrange for someone to care for her son. To get time off from work, she combined vacation time and got co-workers to swap shifts with her.

Attending the school was Tomara’s first experience with union education. She reported, “I left there feeling empowered and motivated to make a change and a difference, both in my community and my work place.”

As a result of networking this summer, she is now on her national union’s radar screen as a member of the Young Workers Group.

Maria Hernandez

Midwest School, Minneapolis, MN

Hernandez, who is known as "Lupe,” is 26 years old, and her first language is Spanish. She is an upcoming leader in a local women's group called Mujeres en Liderazgo, which means “Women in Leadership.” Mujeres en Liderazgo, a leadership development program at the Pillsbury United Communities Waite House has partnered with many organizations including Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (Center for Workers United in Struggle), Jewish Community Action and several labor organizations around the Twin Cities.

Lupe is part of the third leadership group of that program, which currently includes nine Twin Cities Latinas who range in age from 20 to 55. They meet every Saturday over six months, and focus on leadership development, building a base of knowledge about social movements, family dynamics, immigration, financial information, labor rights, domestic violence and U.S. school systems. The women dedicate at total 21 Saturdays to learn about these topics, usually with the help of a guest facilitator from a partner organization in the community. The weekly workshops include computer classes. The meetings are conducted in Spanish.

Mujeres en Liderazgo also has a community action component. Lupe, along with other women leaders, has been working in the community to build support and spread the word about the Mujeres’ “Municipal ID” campaign – a campaign that seeks to increase access to various city resources and opportunities for all members of the community.

Hernandez said she felt the summer school was a good experience, because it provided an opportunity to learn about unions and how to talk about abuse at work. She says she is “fired up” about forming a union and being more involved in the Labor Movement. She also credits her experience at the school with giving her more confidence to speak with different groups and talk about many issues. Lupe will share materials from the school with the rest of the Mujeres.

A mother of 3 children, Lupe works part-time during the week for a temp agency. When she is not working (or attending Mujeres en Liderazgo meetings), she takes classes in English and studies for her GED. She hopes to continue on with the Mujeres en Liderazgo as a member of the Mesa Colectiva (Collective Board) where she’ll continue to support campaigns and new emerging leaders of the program.

Sandra Marin

Northeast School, State College, PA

Marin is an incoming senior at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. This summer she conducted research for her fellowship topic, “Developing Immigrant Women Leadership in Unions and Worker Centers.”

Last semester, she interned with the Connecticut Working Families Party and worked on a campaign to pass paid-sick-days legislation. The campaign came close but did not pass.

The experience offered her the opportunity to work with various unions and women's groups in a community coalition in Connecticut. She said the experience “confirmed my desire to continue with this type of work."

She found participating in the summer school especially helpful, as it gave her "the opportunity to talk to many women who were immigrants and get their stories.

" I also was able to experience training programs and watch union women being empowered first hand. I could see the transformation throughout the week in various women and in myself," she added.

Kaitlin Pelletier

Western School, Portland, OR

Pelletier is the Co- Director of Check Your Head: the Youth Global Education Network, a non-profit organization based in Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. Through CYH, she works to develop educational initiatives that engage young people around issues of social, economic and environmental justice. Kaitlin is a council member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) and is passionate about ending this culture of violence, both as it pertains to gender, and nature. Kaitlin holds an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in environmental health science and women’s studies, and an undergraduate degree in Intercultural Education and Training.

She was nominated to attend the school by Jane Staschuk, director of Women’s Programs, Education and Training at the BC Federation of Labour.

Kaitlin called the school “an incredible opportunity (that) was a whirlwind week of intense courses, meeting wonderful women, local connections, U.S. connections, learning and fun.” She added that the institute “was not only beneficial for me n a personal level, but was also extremely advantageous for Check Your Head…. The Storytelling session was really useful for me, as we were taught how to develop our own personal story, one that would answer the question: ‘what in my own experience has drawn me to this work/to be involved in the union? Our story was to include a challenge, a choice and a result. My story garnered quite a big response from the group; in fact, it was recommended that I tell the same story while asking unions for organizational support. I had never before considered telling the story of my own involvement in the work that I do in order to let unions know about Check Your Head.

“Additionally, I felt very grateful to be a part of a wonderful conversation on how to make the union more relevant to its young workers.”

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