Debbie Schneider
| Debbie Schneider | |
|---|---|
| Born | Deborah Schneider |
| 💼 Occupation | |
Debbie Schneider was a critical member of the 9to5 organization, a labor union organization trying to fight for women's rights in the workplace. She challenged the tasks women were hired to do in the workplace and the employers. She became a leader in public speaking and held high positions in the 9to5 Boston Chapter.[1]
Schneider was one of the early organizers and participants in the 9to5 organization, which changed women's working environment in 1972. Women in clerical jobs were tired of how they were treated in the workplace and how little pay and respect they got. The 9to5 movement was originally started by a group of office workers in Boston as a way to discuss work-related issues that were never mentioned. The group included Karen Nussbaum and Ellen Cassedy. 9to5 was a big organizational union during the labor movement that granted women the opportunity to speak out against their employers and allowed them a chance to fix the problem. 9to5 used tools like media outreach programs, affirmative action, and pressure on the public to change the way the workplaces acted and behaved. Rather than spending all their money and energy on lawsuits, this organization gathered women from a plethora of fields to write up documents and statements explaining what they wanted from their workplaces. [1][2]
Additionally, the 9to5 organization changed the playing field. The traditional labor unions were male-dominated industrial jobs; they didn't include women or clerical service jobs. The 9to5 movement changed that by considering women's voices and opinions and creating something that had never been done. The organization brought a feminist lens to the labor movement and addressed serious issues surrounding sexual harassment and respect. To keep this organization non-threatening and less intimidating, many lunches were held to discuss projects or goals for upcoming months. The idea was to get more people to join 9to5 by being open and casual with their meetings. Some members had never been a part of an organization before, and these "nurturing" lunches helped make women feel comfortable.[1][3]
Schneider initially worked as a secretary, and later joined the staff of the New York-based Women Office Workers.[4]
Schneider has worked with multiple groups to help them establish unions including library staff,[5] Head Start workers,[6] hospital workers,[7] and workers for the City of Chicago.[8] She has also spoken as an advocate for workers with respect to employment and pay equity.[9]
Schneider's advocacy at the University of Cincinnati centered on administrative workers,[10][11][12] During the events at the University of Cincinnati, Schneider coordinated a strike where half of the union members walked out.[13][14] By 1990 the university had settled with the workers.[15]
Early life[edit]
Schneider was born into a family that wasn't part of the working class, but she was raised to be progressive. Her family often had many discussions about progressive politics. Her mother was a high school English teacher, and her dad was a corporate tax attorney. Her mother was part of a labor union and influenced Schneider's thoughts and opinions on activism. When Schneider was young, anti-war demonstrations were in full swing, and her family went to every demonstration they could. Influenced by her mother, Schneider went to college to major in Literature which later inspired her to move into journalism. After graduating college, she became a clerical worker at Cahner's publishing company, where she tabulated market survey results.[16] It gave her a foundation in publishing and an insight into journalism that she would use in the future. When she didn't see a ladder to climb at the publishing company, she moved to another clerical job in Boston.[1]
In 1994 Schneider noted that her idol is the labor organizer Mary Harris Jones.[17]
9to5[edit]
Entrance into 9to5[edit]
Schneider was a college student working for a magazine when she first heard about 9to5. She had written a couple of articles about clerical workers organizing and came to know the movement. Schneider's goal was to make a name for herself after graduating from college and moving to Boston. At her publishing job there, she was presented a leaflet from the Boston Chapter of 9to5 and remembered bits and pieces from her magazine days. Schneider eventually attended her first meeting in 1978 and instantly felt at home.[1]
Involvement in 9to5[edit]
When beginning her time with the 9to5 organization, Schneider attended a lunch meeting to figure out her role in the movement. She became part of the campaign committee, which launched campaigns against employers who had issues within their companies. She eventually rose to the chair of that committee and learned how to be a public speaker. Schneider had no background in public speaking and wasn’t sure this position would be for her. She worked with many people to get her comfortable and ready for the speech, including the director of 9to5. Schneider went through with the speeches and became a leader in public speaking.[1]
After attending meetings and getting more involved, she took up the position of rank-and-file leader of the 9to5 Boston Chapter. She was given tons of experience and life skills while in this position, rather than when she was an organizer. Most members of the movement got thrown into a heap of responsibilities, but many said they never felt abandoned. At this point, Schneider left 9to5 to go back to college to earn a degree in adult education, worker education. She was inspired by the organization's ability to do adult education and inspire other women to learn more about antitrust. Her hope was to be able to educate workers and allow them higher pay. After six weeks in Harvard's education program, Schneider dropped out. She realized that teaching and workers' education weren't going to be able to do what she wanted to. Schneider felt it would be easier to figure out how to organize workers together for higher pay. [1]
In 1993, when Karen Nussbaum went to the Department of Labor as the head of the Working Women's Bureau, Schneider became the president of the union.[18] She was surprised when her name was mentioned to take over for Karen because that was never Schneider's goal. Nussbaum had been the president, the leader, the visionary, and no one thought she was going anywhere. Schneider didn't see herself as a leader; She saw herself as a detailed, one-worker-at-a-time, get-my-list right, put-people-together kind of organizer, and not that kind of a national leader in any way. But she stepped up and took on the job. After the year, she returned to her old rank-and-file leader position and started speaking more.[1]
SEIU involvement[edit]
While working with 9to5, Schneider also worked closely with SEIU (Service Employees International Union). SEIU is a labor union that is focused on representing millions of workers throughout the United States and Canada. Karen Nussbaum co-founded this union and it later joined forces with 9to5, creating a new union, District 925, making a local union available for office workers in Boston. When Schneider took over as President of 9to5, her main goal was to make sure that the two unions could be separate. She didn't want either organization to rely on the other and she took it very seriously. She had been working with the two for many years and had seen the good and bad. There were times they supported each other and times when they didn't and she felt responsible for the members; Schneider didn't want the members of 9to5 to start depending on subsidies or extra anything.[1]
In 1995 Schneider was named president of District 925 of the Service Employees International Union,[19] and was later elected to SEIU's executive board.[20]
In 1997, Schneider spoke out against changes proposed in the Ohio legislature that would make is harder for clerical workers, who are primarily women, to prove their injuries were related to their occupation.[21]
In June 2001 Schneider was appointed a trustee of SEIU,[22] and she was appointed to serve as trustee for Service Employees International Union, Local 585, at the end of 2001.[23] By 2007 Schneider was head of the global partnerships within SEIU.[24]
Personal list[edit]
She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband, Tom Mooney, who was the president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, as well as her children.[25]
Further reading[edit]
- Windham, Lane. Knocking on Labor’s Door: Union Organizing in the 1970s and the Roots of a New Economic Divide. UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA P, 2017.[3]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Debbie Schneider; Transcript (1 Pdf), Nov. 3, 2005 | ArchivesSpace@Wayne". archives.wayne.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ↑ Windham, Lane (2015-09-01). ""A Sense of Possibility and a Belief in Collective Power": A Labor Strategy Talk with Karen Nussbaum". Labor. 12 (3): 35–51. doi:10.1215/15476715-2920388. ISSN 1547-6715.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Windham, Lane (2017). Knocking on Labor's Door: union organizing in the 1970s and the roots of a new economic divide. University of North Carolina P. ISBN 1-4696-5477-6. OCLC 1096220116. Search this book on
- ↑ "You don't even need a degree". Eureka Times Standard Newspaper Archives. March 26, 1981. p. 8 – via Newspaperarchive.
- ↑ Kissell, Margo Rutledge (December 10, 1999). "LIBRARY TURNS NEW PAGE, JOINS UNION CHAPTER". Dayton Daily News ; Dayton, Ohio [Dayton, Ohio]. p. 2 – via Proquest.
- ↑ Bennett, Sara J. (8 Oct 1999). "Head Start workers rally today". Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio [Cincinnati, Ohio]. pp. D.4 – via Proquest.
- ↑ "Privatization". The Tribune Coshocton, Ohio. May 23, 1996. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ Duerksen, Susan (February 10, 1984). "County Workers Get Union Pitch". Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago. p. 4 – via Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Nichols, John (April 1997). "No pay for overtime". The Progressive ; Madison. 61 (4). pp. 28–29 – via Proquest.
- ↑ Crockett, Kimberley (June 25, 1986). "70% of UC employees say job situation is OK". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ "Union petitions for UC election". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. December 6, 1985. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ Howard, Allen (March 14, 1986). "UC secretaries plead union case to labor board". The Cincinnati Enquirer ; Cincinnati, Ohio. pp. [1], [2]. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ Harris, Nick (October 19, 1989). "Sides differ on UC strike impact". The Cincinnati Post; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ Hopkins, John (September 23, 1998). "Contract talks hit a snag at UC". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ Burgins, Scott (September 4, 1990). "Workers enjoy Labor Day respite". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ Nussbaum, Karen (2021-02-09). "9to5: Hope and Lessons from '70s Working Women". Convergence. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
- ↑ Ward, Leigh Beth (September 4, 1994). "The State of Labor". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ AFL-CIO (1993). AFL-CIO news. College Park University of Maryland. Washington [American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations]. Search this book on
- ↑ Flynn, Terry (July 9, 1993). "Service-employees union leader becomes president of District 925". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
- ↑ "Article clipped from The Cincinnati Enquirer". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. January 20, 1995. p. 40. Retrieved 2023-05-14 – via Proquest.
- ↑ Souhardra, Paul (March 20, 1997). "Union leader: Proposed changes would hit women hardest". Times-Gazette; Hillsboro, Ohio ·. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ↑ McKay, Jim (March 6, 2001). "TRUSTEE TAKES CONTROL SHAKEUP AT SEIU LOCAL FOLLOWS ELECTION DISPUTE". Pittsburgh Post - Gazette; Pittsburgh, Pa. [Pittsburgh, Pa]. pp. B-1 – via Proquest.
- ↑ Davis, Christopher (November 30, 2001). "Volatile year for Local 585 comes to close as SEIU mulls a restructuring". Pittsburgh Business Times; Pittsburgh. 21 (19). p. 1 – via Proquest.
- ↑ Rosenberg, Alyssa (October 6, 2007). "Blue Collars Turning Green". National Journal. 39 (39): 03604217 – via Gale.
- ↑ Kiesewetter, John (2021-01-28). "New '9to5' Film Shows Cincinnati, Cleveland Roles In Working Women's Movement". WVXU. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
External links[edit]
- 9to5: The Story of a Movement - Film Q&A on YouTube
- Oral history in Wayne State University archives, November 3, 2005
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