Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1474752
Fall 2022 – LOCAL695.ORG 27 It is easy to be discouraged. It is easy to feel defeated. It would be easy to give up. But Dobbs v. Jackson will not be the final word on this issue. Right now, people who believe in reproductive rights and bodily autonomy all over the world are fighting to reverse this injustice. We need to join together and get organized if we are to see our rights restored. So I am asking that everyone reading get involved. There are several organizations in need of support. I've extended mine to Women's March, Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the ACLU. All of these organizations are in need of donations and volunteers. Women's March in particular has several amazing ways to get involved, including petitions, government correspondence, and phone/ text banking initiatives. There is no contribution of either time or money that is too small, but at the very least, please get out and vote. Tell everyone you know to vote and help get out the vote in states where reproductive rights are under threat. There is so much that we can do. Do not be discouraged. We are not defeated. We will not give up. –Anna Wilborn While the focus of our magazine is Sound & Video, ultimately, Local 695 is a labor union. With our focus on the film industry and looking forward to how we can continue to improve wages and working conditions, it's sometimes easy to overlook how far society has come in the fight for labor rights across many industries, especially with regards to the rights of women. A commercially produced birth control pill wasn't approved by the FDA until 1960. The Equal Pay Act wasn't signed into law until 1963. These improvements are so recent, and yet it is still so easy to take them for granted. All of the women who fought for their rights in the past would be elated to know that we currently have legal protections and birth control. On June 3, 1900, seven Locals in New York City founded the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which became one of the largest labor unions in the United States during the 1900s. In 1909, they led a strike that became known as the "Uprising of 20,000." This strike lasted for three months. At the time, it was the largest strike by women workers in US history. Some months after that, 60,000 male and female cloak makers walked out in a strike that was known as the "Great Revolt." In 1911, the conditions that many of the striking garment workers were protesting in the Uprising of 20,000 reared their ugly head in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. 146 garment workers died in the fire. A week later at a memorial, union leader Rose Schneiderman was quoted as saying, "I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship... Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience, it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement." New York wasn't the only place in which women were labor leaders. In Chicago, on September 22, 1910, 18-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Hannah "Annie" Shapiro led a walkout at HSM Shop No. 5 (a men's garment factory). The strike lasted until February 1911, and at its peak had 40,000 workers on the strike line. Initially, some male garment workers and the United Garment Workers of America (UGWA) were hesitant to support a women-led strike. Years later, Hannah was quoted as saying, "We all went out; we had to be recognized as people." Today, we are back at a turning point in both labor history and the rights of people whose bodies can bear children. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, our autonomy and ability to have careers, participate in the labor force, and just make decisions about our own bodies is once again in question. We are back to the time in 1910 when we were just asking to be recognized as people. We ask that our Brothers in the Local stand with us without hesitation; that they move more swiftly in support than men in the past. To that end, below are statements from the Women's Committee that lay out just how impactful this decision is on our lives. Please listen to their words and stand at our sides.