Leo W. Gerard - United Steelworkers

Left: Conference attendees volunteer at a
Pittsburgh food bank.
Top right: International Vice President
Fred Redmond
Bottom right: Michele Laghetto Erwin
leads a seminar
Photos by Steve Dietz
Creating and protecting good
jobs, strong communities, quality
health care, and a healthy
environment are among the civil
and human rights issues of our time, and
they require action from our union.
That was the message at the USW’s
fifteenth Civil and Human Rights Conference
held Dec. 9-13 in Pittsburgh.
In his keynote address, International
Vice President for Human Affairs Fred
Redmond called on the more than 500
conference attendees from the United
States and Canada to become activists in
the union, joining the likes of Rapid Response
and Women of Steel in taking on
tough issues affecting working families
around the world.
Local civil and human rights committees
must be revamped to focus on this
work along with traditional duties such
as handling discrimination claims and
conducting training, Redmond said.
“It is time for us to address the mounting
needs of our nations, get active and
strengthen the relationship between our
union and our communities,” Redmond
told delegates. “Our civil and human
rights committees are the instruments for
this mission.
“We want you to be the guiding lights
that will help us rebuild these committees
to not only help our union do what we do,
but to work with allies and other leaders
to help our communities survive and
thrive,” he said. “We want our communities
to be able to count on us, and we want
to be able to count on our communities.”
Building strength and power
International President Leo W. Gerard
also spoke at the conference, themed
“Building Strength and Power through
Action,” saying every member of our
union has an obligation to fight for a better
future for the next generations.
“I’m talking about talking to your
friends, your neighbors, your sisters
and brothers – taking the information
and knowledge you’ll gain here and go
educate them,” he said. “Get involved.
Get people that weren’t involved before
involved. Tell them a story, inspire them.
Get them to stand up. Give them the courage
to go do something because we can
make a difference.”
At the conference, Steelworkers attended
workshops and heard speakers on
a variety of civil and human rights issues,
including bargaining for equity, workplace
harassment, health insurance reform
and how to be a force in the emerging
blue-green economy.
Members also wasted no time getting
involved. They packed and shelved items
at a local food bank, donated books and
videos to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh,
and went door-to-door in a housing
project, bringing backpacks of gifts
to residents. Housing Authority children
were guests at a Steelworkers holiday
party, received gifts from our members,
and went ice-skating after the party.
Time of struggle
“We’ve got good jobs and we want to
get out there and help people anyway we
can help them, especially in this time of
struggle,” said Vince Leonard, president
of Local 1097 in Westport, Ore., while he
helped pack bags of cereal at a community
food bank.
Local 2695’s Jackie Holmes of Gary,
Ind., agreed.
“This is what it’s all about, helping the
community and getting people out to volunteer.
I enjoy doing this because I have
seen people hungry and not have anything
to eat,” she said.
David O’Hearn from Local 7072 in
the Boston area said he was inspired to go
back to his local after the conference and
spearhead volunteer efforts there.
“I’ve been at the other end when I’ve
gotten food from a food bank. So I know
what it’s like. When you’re doing something
for the community it always feels
good,” O’Hearn said.
More information, including videos,
photos and articles, from the conference is
available on our Web site at
www.usw.org/civilrights.
Fred Redmond
International Vice President
22 USW@Work • Winter 2010
USW@Work • Winter 2010 23