Gateway to Equality: desegregation and the American Association of University Women in St Louis,Missouri

In 1946 the National Board of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) adopted a policy of racial non-discrimination, and in 1949 amended its bylaws to allow any woman with a degree from an approved institution admission into local branches, regardless of the local branch members’ approval. Many local branches resisted this move, which had the effect of allowing African American women admission. In St Louis, Missouri, the move caused a rift within the local branch. The St Louis group divided into the St Louis Branch of the American Association of University Women and The College Club of St Louis, and the split prompted a lawsuit over the groups’ property (Graham v Kirchner 1956, Missouri Supreme Court). This research explores the historical process of racial desegregation in St Louis in the context of a voluntary, progressive women's organization and reflects on the power of women's organizations to promote social change. This case study sheds light on the strength of social norms regarding racial segregation in a city in a ‘border state’ without the legally entrenched segregation found in many other southern cities during this time.     

Negotiating the Politics of Inclusion: Women and Australian Labor Governments 1983 to 1995

The Hawke and Keating Labor governments have tended to practise a politics of inclusion in which women, along with other social groups, are seen to have an important part to play in building the new, internationally competitive Australian economy of the twenty-first century. Australian politics have therefore had a very different nature from that of the more exclusionary politics practised by British Conservative governments. While the politics of inclusion have given feminists room for manoeuvre, and facilitated some positive developments in areas such as affirmative action and childcare policies, feminists have had little success in challenging the overall direction of the governments' right-wing economic policies. Furthermore, the ‘economic’ has functioned as a meta-category which dissolves difference and conflict. The Australian experience therefore has both practical and theoretical implications for British feminists who may be experiencing a Labour government themselves before too long.     

"A Trade Union Oriented War on the Slums": Harold Gibbons,Ernest Calloway,and the St Louis Teamsters in the 1960s*

Michael Ross was international affairs director for the American Congress of Industrial Organizations from 1945 to 1955 and for the merged American Federation of Labour—Congress of Industrial Organizations from 1958 until his death in 1963. As such, he played a prominent role in the bitter anti-communist international trade union politics of the day. Ross, however, had been a communist in his younger years. Making use of Ross's own writings and an extensive secondary literature on the politics of the period, this article seeks to describe and explain his ideological journey. It argues that, while there were significant shifts in Ross's politics, there were also underlying consistencies. Specifically, it is contended that Ross retained a consistent commitment apparent throughout his career—as advocate of Soviet communism, New Deal bureaucrat, and trade union official—to working-class interests advanced by technocratic planning. It notes, however, that the radicalism and ambition of this politics were diluted both by the successes and constraints of Ross's career advancement and, more substantively, by a political context hostile to planning ideals in the US after 1945.     

A successful union in an era of decline: interrogating the growth of the Service Employees International Union, 1980-1995

ABSTRACT

Between 1980 and 1995, while John Sweeney was president, the membership of the Service Employees International Union rose from around 600,000 to over 1.1 million. It continued to increase after 1995, making the SEIU the largest and fastest-growing union in the country. This growth was remarkable because it occurred at a terrible time for unions, one where the overwhelming emphasis – in both the media and academic scholarship – was on labor’s decline. While scholars have noted the SEIU’s growth, there has been little sustained analysis of how it was achieved. Existing accounts also posit growth largely as a reflection of the union’s organizing prowess. Drawing on the SEIU’s papers and interviews, this article argues that the union’s growth under Sweeney did reflect its commitment to organizing. At the same time, the article makes a fresh contribution by showing that the SEIU also grew because of lesser-known factors, including the affiliation of independent unions and legislative advances in public sector rights. The SEIU also benefited from operating in a growing sector of the economy, where low-paid workers needed unions. These conclusions are developed through analysis of “flagship” drives at Beverly Nursing homes, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and the high-profile “Justice for Janitors” campaign.