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CWA's Easterling to Head Women's Committee of Global Trade Union Secretariat

BERLIN, GERMANY - Barbara Easterling, Secretary-Treasurer of the Communications Workers of America, has been elected the first-ever president of the World Women's Committee of the global labor secretariat for telecom, professional and information sector workers - UNI (Union Network International). UNI represents more than 15 million workers.

Delegates representing 210 unions from 76 countries elected Easterling during the two-day World Women's Conference immediately preceding the first UNI World Congress, set for Sept. 5-9. The Women's Committee will present to the Congress a program of action to improve the position of women in the New Economy. More than 1,700 representatives of 452 unions from 112 countries are expected to attend.

"I've got labor in my blood, and I've tried my best to emulate my parents' extraordinary courage and dedication," said the daughter of Polish immigrants who became the first woman to serve as secretary-treasurer of CWA and, for a time, of the AFL-CIO.

"So many of the things that we take for granted today - vacations, regular work weeks, holidays - all came about because of this burning desire to forge a better life," Easterling said. "This quest to make life better is what the labor movement is all about."

Easterling began her own career as a telephone operator at Ohio Bell. She served her CWA local as steward, secretary and vice president before accepting an appointment by Ohio Gov. John Gilligan in early 1970 to head the Ohio Labor Division.

In 1973 she left state government to become a full-time CWA staff representative, and in 1980, was named an assistant to the president of the union, a position she held until her election as executive vice president in 1985. She became secretary-treasurer in 1992.

In June 1995, Easterling was elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO as the running mate of Thomas R. Donahue, who succeeded Lane Kirkland as president. At the federation's October convention, the John Sweeney-Rich Trumka slate prevailed and Easterling returned to her CWA post.

Long active on behalf of women in trade unionism, Easterling served on the executive committee of Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International, a worldwide secretariat of communications unions which in 1998 changed its name to Communications International. In 1996 she was instrumental in the formation of a PTTI Inter-American Women's Committee and served on the committee as U.S. representative. In 1997 she chaired the PTTI World Women's Conference, setting in motion a resolution adopted by the PTTI World Congress that year for an International Women's Committee with representation from four regions: Inter-American, Eastern Pacific, African and European.

In September 1999, CI endorsed merging into a broader consortium of information sector organizations, with the International Graphical Federation (IGF); Media & Entertainment International (MEI); and Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET). The new organization became known as UNI on January 1, 2000.



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