For Judith Wishnia, the Coalition of Labor Union Women’s (CLUW) 15th Biennial Convention was something to shout about.

And dance about.

“More than 600 union sisters and brothers from numerous unions opened each session and greeted each speaker with clapping and dancing in the aisles to the rhythm of R&B music,” said Wishnia, a professor emeritus at SUNY Stony Brook and elected chair of the union’s Committee on Active Retired Membership. “Who knew union meetings could be fun as well as informative?”

Wishnia and a handful of other UUPers joined hundreds of delegates to the convention, “The Rising Tide of Change: Activism, Leadership—Union Women!” held Oct. 14-17 in Los Angeles.

Buffalo Center UUPer Lorna Arrington, CLUW Rules Committee co-chair, presented the rules report during the opening plenary, which came one day after a series of 21 workshops ranging from family leave and women’s health, to gender discrimination, organizing and politics.

“CLUW has spent the last three decades improving the participation, position and influence of women in the labor movement and society,” said Arrington, an associate professor in Buffalo’s Educational Opportunity Center. “I always walk away with information I can pass on to my colleagues. It is very rewarding to be part of such a vital and vibrant organization.”

Karen Skelton, senior executive producer of A Woman’s Nation, spoke on The Shriver Report, which updates the 1963 report by the Commission on the Status of Women appointed by President John F. Kennedy.

According to the 2009 report, women earn 60 percent of the college degrees awarded each year and fully half of the Ph.D.s and professional degrees. Almost 40 percent of working women hold managerial and other professional positions, and women make 80 percent of the buying decisions in American homes.

A summary of The Shriver Report can be found at www.awomansnation.com.

“The economic contribution of women is crucial,”Wishnia said. “Unfortunately, women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.”

Fair pay is just one of the many reasons UUP’s liaisons to CLUW are urging their colleagues to join the coalition at www.cluw.org.

— Karen L. Mattison