86. IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN S HEALTH AND WOMEN S INCLUSION IN HEALTHCARE DECISIONS

Transcription

1 . IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN S HEALTH AND WOMEN S INCLUSION IN HEALTHCARE DECISIONS 0 0 WHEREAS, a large body of research confirms that having women at the table results in policies that are better for women s health, for human rights, and for children and families; and WHEREAS, women are often excluded from conversations regarding women s healthcare; and WHEREAS, federal lawmakers are leading many concerning assaults on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid that affect women s health; and WHEREAS, scientifically based, comprehensive information regarding women s reproductive health is being censored in some venues, and federal funding for women s healthcare is under attack; and WHEREAS, some insurance companies and employers are limiting women s contraceptive choices based on nonfactual information and religious beliefs; and WHEREAS, the federal Food and Drug Administration has a history of approving drugs and devices with limited inclusion of women, people of color, and other subpopulations in testing; and WHEREAS, approximately 0,000 rape kits across the United States have gone untested; and WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of State released its annual Human Rights report on April,, and the document dramatically scaled back its reporting on women s reproductive health and rights; and WHEREAS, pregnant women detained and held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not always receiving appropriate prenatal care; and WHEREAS, the federal government and some states are mounting campaigns and restrictions against abortion services, as well as threatening funding for organizations that provide women with comprehensive and medically accurate reproductive choices and services: RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will continue to defend and work to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid to ensure that low-income women and their families have affordable insurance options; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will support policies that advance health equity, and address affordability and access barriers that affect women; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will work with partners in legislative arenas and during contract negotiations to ensure health insurance markets and employer-based health plans offer

2 0 0 comprehensive care plans that cover unrestricted reproductive health coverage; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will demonstrate its support for the federal Food and Drug Administration s plans to increase inclusion of women, people of color, and other subpopulations in testing drugs and medical devices prior to approval, and encourage the agency to be transparent in its findings; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will demand that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ensure detained pregnant women are provided with immediate and ongoing quality prenatal and obstetric care; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will request that the U.S. Department of State restore full reporting of women s health and reproductive statistics in its annual Human Rights report, beginning in ; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will engage policymakers to work toward policies that protect and benefit women s health; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will partner with the Joyful Heart Foundation and others as they advocate for state lawmakers to approve funding to pursue testing of untested rape kits; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to partner with Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide millions of women with access to comprehensive, medically accurate reproductive health services and education. Submitted by: Washington State Nurses Association, Local 0. RIGHT TO WORK AND ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN 0 WHEREAS, the case of Janus v. AFSCME is an attempt to create "right-to-work" conditions in all 0 states for public sector unions by eroding the freedom to form unions and diminishing the ability of unions to improve the lives of workers and the communities in which they live; and WHEREAS, it has been noted by many, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who stated that "right to work" was a "false slogan" saying that "whenever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights"; and WHEREAS, women are paid on average cents for every dollar paid to men, and the one factor that helps to correct this disparity is a union contract; and WHEREAS, women make up a majority ( percent) of workers represented by a public sector labor union; and 0

3 0 0 WHEREAS, two separate studies released by the Economic Policy Institute and the National Women's Law Center recognize that people of color, especially women of color, have directly benefited from the ability of their public sector union to reduce the compensation gap; and WHEREAS, these studies recognize that women of color are the highest share of workers in the public sector; and WHEREAS, women represented by a public sector union are paid percent more than women who are not represented by a union; and WHEREAS, women represented by a public sector union are more likely to have employer-based health insurance than women who work in the public sector, but are not represented by a labor union; and WHEREAS, the decision of the Supreme Court in the Janus v. AFSCME case threatens to weaken public sector unions, threatening the freedom and opportunity for all workers, in particular the progress of women, especially women of color, that have been achieved through these unions: RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will not allow the outcome of this case to weaken our resolve to continue to stand up and fight for equal opportunities for women in the workplace; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will place a renewed interest in organizing public sector workplaces where women, and especially women of color, comprise the majority of the workforce; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will inform the general public about the role it plays in working to eliminate the pay gap between men and women workers by giving these workers a more equitable say in their conditions of employment; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will redouble its efforts to empower unionized women workers, and especially women workers of color, by inviting them to take a more active role in the leadership and decision-making roles in their local unions. Submitted by: Baltimore Teachers Union, Local 0

4 . SEXUAL HARASSMENT: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 0 0 WHEREAS, sexual harassment is a pervasive problem affecting the physical and mental health of women, LGBTQIA individuals and men, both in the workplace and in their personal lives; and WHEREAS, sexual harassment is an insidious and divisive form of discrimination and is clearly prohibited by federal statute under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of, which prohibits discrimination; the Civil Rights Act of, which provides for the right to a jury trial and both punitive and compensatory damages when an employee sues an employer for discrimination; and the Violence Against Women Act, first passed in and most recently extended in, which seeks to improve responses to sexual assault and stalking, among other things; and WHEREAS, workers who are union members are in a stronger position to resist and fight sexual harassment in the workplace; and WHEREAS, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has stated, Labor has been part of the problem. The sexism and misogyny in our ranks has been tolerated for far too long. Some of you have personally experienced it. The looks. The comments. The innuendos. We must do everything in our power to protect working people from sexism, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, transphobia and homophobia. And we must hold abusers accountable : RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will set up and publicize a way for any AFT members who believe they have experienced sexual harassment in their local or national union to report and take action on such harassment; and RESOLVED, that the AFT, through its publications and leaders, will take action to inform all members about the many subtle and pervasive, as well as blatant, forms of sexual harassment, and that the AFT will encourage its members to demand that their employers take action to make their workplaces harassment-free zones ; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will encourage its state and local affiliates to write articles, hold events, and participate in and support the work of community organizations engaged in the fight to eliminate sexual harassment both in the workplace and in the broader arenas of our society; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will provide data, model language and other support to locals to make explicit anti-sexual harassment language readily available on their websites, in their member training sessions, and in their collective bargaining agreements or handbooks.

5 Submitted by: Chicago Teachers Union, Local. ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO RUN FOR ELECTED OFFICE 0 WHEREAS, the goal of any true democracy that represents the people should be a diversity of representative leadership that reflects the people it serves; and WHEREAS, the increased inclusion of women in elected governmental offices has consistently shown to infuse a necessary diversity of opinion, voice, experiences and perspectives; and WHEREAS, while women comprise 0. percent of the population, women make up less than percent of the members of Congress, only percent of the members of state legislatures and only six of the nation s 0 governors; and WHEREAS, in, the last time women challenged the overwhelming gender imbalance among elected officials to the degree we are seeing in, women were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives the largest group of women ever to enter the House in a single election and the number of women in the Senate tripled from three to nine; and WHEREAS, although women s congressional representation has tripled since the fall of, in there are still states that have no women representing them in Congress, and gender disparities persist across every level of elected representation; and WHEREAS, women have entered the race for a congressional seat, women have filed or are likely to seek office in the Senate, and the number of women likely running for governor this year,, is a record high; and WHEREAS, even with record-setting levels of candidacy, women are less than one-quarter of all candidates for the U.S. House this year; and WHEREAS, one of the biggest reasons there are fewer women in congressional office is not that women are less likely to win than men but that they are less likely to run; and

6 0 WHEREAS, a greater diversity of gender among our elected officials will result in the enactment of better policies for our members and the people we serve: RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will actively foster the ideal of greater gender diversity among elected officials and candidates seeking elected office in order to promote a more equitable representation by elected officials of the people they represent; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will strongly support a wider inclusion of the voices of women who are seeking and serving in office and who uphold the values and mission of the AFT and its members; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will actively encourage qualified women who take the step of running for office and who our members choose to support, and will engage our members in these women s campaigns. Submitted by: Montclair State University Federation of Teachers, Local 0 0. SUPPORTING THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT 0 WHEREAS, women still do not have constitutional equality; and WHEREAS, years ago in, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which states: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States by any state on account of sex ; and Congress sent it to the states for ratification by a minimum of states; and WHEREAS, the ERA will benefit all genders in areas of civil rights, employment rights, healthcare access, and legal system reforms; and WHEREAS, by, states had ratified the ERA, leaving ratification necessary by only three remaining states; and WHEREAS, because of the STOP ERA movement created and led by Phyllis Schlafly, an Illinois resident, no additional state, including Illinois, voted to ratify, even after Congress extended the deadline to June, ; and WHEREAS, since, the Supreme Court has found numerous laws unconstitutional because of discrimination against women, leading Ruth Bader Ginsburg to write in a decision, Neither federal nor state government acts compatibly with equal protection when a law or official policy denies to women, simply because they are women, full citizenship stature; and WHEREAS, in, Nevada voted as the th state to ratify; and

7 WHEREAS, on April,, the Illinois Senate voted - to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, leaving only the Illinois House vote necessary for Illinois ratification; and WHEREAS, many Illinois unions and social groups are publicly advocating for the ratification of the ERA: RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will send a statement of support to the Illinois House of Representatives; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will advocate for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and urge the AFL-CIO to do so as well. Submitted by: United University Professions, Local 0. SUPPORT FOR PAID PARENTAL LEAVE 0 WHEREAS, a national paid leave program would allow people to receive a portion of their pay when they need time away from their jobs for family or medical reasons, resulting in significant benefits for their families, businesses and our economy (National Partnership for Women & Families, Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, and WHEREAS, on average, only percent of workers in the United States have access to paid family leave through their employers, and fewer than 0 percent have access to personal medical leave through employer-provided short-term disability insurance (NPWF, Paid Leave, and WHEREAS, the only federal policy that ensures access to time off to care for others is the Family Medical Leave Act, passed in, which guarantees eligible workers access to unpaid leave for up to weeks in a -month period (Jacob Alex Klerman, Kelly Daley, and Alyssa Pozniak, Family and Medical Leave in, report prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor, revised ); and WHEREAS, the lost wages from lack of access to paid time off costs the American economy $. billion per year (Sarah Jane Glynn and Danielle Corley, The Cost of Work-Family Policy Inaction: Quantifying the Costs Families Currently Face as a Result of Lacking U.S. Work-Family Policies, Center for American Progress, ); and WHEREAS, the burden of unpaid leave falls heavily on working women, since percent of working women make healthcare

8 0 0 0 decisions for someone else, and percent of working mothers make healthcare decisions for someone else, resulting in the need to take unpaid leave ( % of Working Mothers Make Healthcare Decisions for Others, Klick Wire, May,, and WHEREAS, in Sweden, new parents are allowed 0 days of leave at 0 percent of their normal pay on top of weeks of leave reserved for mothers; fathers receive 0 paid paternity days (Chris Weller, These 0 Countries Have the Best Parental Leave Policies in the World, Business Insider, August,, #sweden-); and WHEREAS, percent of all education and healthcare workers (0. percent and. percent female, respectively) do not get paid leave yet work in the most prevalent child bearing years (- years old), forcing many of these women to borrow paid sick leave or face financial hardship (Drew DeSilver, Access to Paid Family Leave Varies Widely Across Employers, Industries, Pew Research Center, March,, access-to-paid-family-leave-varies-widely-across-employersindustries/; and U.S. Department of Labor, Most Common Occupations for Full-Time by Sex and Shares of Employment, and WHEREAS, a child, especially a newborn, is best cared for by his or her parent, and leaves of six weeks or less lead to depression and stress for parent and newborn (Audrey Goodson Kingo, Indisputable Reasons Why Paid Family Leave Is Good for Babies, Parents, Companies and Everyone Else, Working Mother, December,, RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers will press for the creation of paid sick leave programs as part of the recognized employee benefits bargained with employers, especially in occupations dominated by women; and RESOLVED, that the AFT will update contract language to reflect this need for paid parental leave; and

9 0 RESOLVED, that the AFT will join with other groups, such as the Center for American Progress, the Institute for Women s Policy Research and the National Partnership for Women and Families, to fight for the passage of paid leave legislation to improve the lives of all working families. Submitted by: Montana School for the Deaf and Blind, Local 0

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