CLUW’s National Executive Board met in Ohio, a key battleground state, to prepare for the upcoming 2008 election. The June meeting also featured a day-long conference on the economic crisis.

A speaker at the “National Health Care and Paycheck Fairness: It’s Beyond Time” conference was AFL-CIO National Field Coordinator Katie Gjertson of the Health Care for America Now! Campaign, who said that because women are more likely to have low incomes and work part time they really feel the pinch of health coverage cost increases. Almost 17 million women – including nearly one in four women between the ages 19 and 64 – were uninsured in 2006.

Speaking on the AFL-CIO's Voting Rights Protection Program was Petee Talley, Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO, who stressed the need to make sure that every vote counts in November. (See the Ohio AFL-CIO's item below which includes more information about our activities.)

CLUW was pleased to have Lilly Ledbetter (pictured at right, bottom photo, with CLUW National President Marsha Zakowski) educate our delegates on her fair pay case before the Supreme Court, which decided in Ledbetter V. Goodyear to place new limits on the ability of victims to pursue pay discrimination claims. Congress is now considering legislation to correct the decision. A group of CLUW leaders from National CLUW and Ohio met with Senator George Voinovitch’s office to seek his support to oppose pay discrimination and support the Lilly Ledbetter Act of 2007 H.R. 2871 while the rest of the sisters rallied (top photo) to end pay discrimination and received messages of support from the local Jobs with Justice chapter as well as from Senator Sherrod Brown’s office.

CLUW sisters participated in a Labor Walk (2nd and 3rd photos) in various parts of the local Cleveland community on Saturday, June 21 to find out the key issues from union and Working America households and to share information on the candidates’ position on health care.

We also took this opportunity to distribute the latest CLUW button (above) which hits the issues of concern to working families right on the head.

We left Cleveland armed and ready to bring our message to our local communities and to gear up for November 4th.

From the Ohio AFL-CIO's electronic newsletter:

This weekend, the National Executive Board of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) held its conference in Cleveland (June 20-21).  Petee Talley, Secretary Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO, Harriet Applegate, Executive Secretary of the North Shore Labor Council, Jeanette Mauk, Field Director for the Ohio AFL-CIO, and Joe Clark, Ohio Outreach and Mobilization Coordinator for Working America, all spoke at the conference, along with Lilly Ledbetter, the plaintiff in a famous fair-pay case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear.  On Friday, CLUW conference attendees rallied outside the Cleveland Federal Building (where Sen. Voinovich's office is housed) in support of fair pay.  They also held a walk in Cleveland on Saturday.  It was an honor to have them in our city.