Speaking just two days before the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., AFT president Sandra Feldman opened the AFT Women's Issues conference with a call to continue fighting for the things that make America a great nation and against the forces that would diminish it. The conference, called "Woman Power: Inform, Educate, Act," was held March 8-10 at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C.

"Our nation is learning lessons that are strengthening its values," said Feldman. "First we've seen that America is more than an economy--it's a community." When the terrorists struck, a spirit of community brought out people from every walk of life to answer the call for help during the disasters and their aftermath, she said.

A second lesson we learned, said Feldman, is that the marketplace is "hardly magical." We've been watching the terrible shame of the Enron executives who've ripped off investors, workers and their families. "Employee pensions would have been protected if they had been unionized," said Feldman to audience applause.

These terrible disasters have also allowed us to see what happens when freedoms are forbidden, said Feldman.

"We can be proud that for all its faults, our nation is an ally and example for freedom," said Feldman.

Seventy percent of our members are women with rights and benefits, said Feldman. Half of all presidents of the hundred leading locals, and 22 state federation leaders are women. "We're a union that speaks out louder and clearer than ever, not only for professionals in public service but for all the people we serve."

Feldman noted that the changes and improvements that the union fights for "always mean better services for the public we work for." Teachers want what children need and nurses want what patients need, college professors want what students need, she cited. "We have always fought not only for ourselves but for others."

The union president made a call for universal preschool education, noting that 60 percent of mothers with children under age 3 are working outside their homes. "Early childhood education is key--it should be available to all with costs that are shared," she said. "It's a fight we're continuing to make."

Feldman also noted that the union has begun an ambitious HIV/AIDS education program in Africa, where an estimated 30 million people are infected with the virus. "You'll be hearing a lot more about our campaign in coming months," she added.

Also on the dais to open the women's issues conference, presented by the AFT human rights and community relations department, was AFT vice president Louise Sundin who welcomed the more than 130 participants and Coalition of Labor Union Women President Gloria Johnson.

During the conference, AFT leaders heard from such speakers as AFT vice president Ann Twomey, Democratic Governors Association campaigns and elections director Pam Womack, AFL-CIO assistant to the president Karen Nussbaum, and Regan Grice-Vega, a UFT chapter leader whose firefighter husband was killed in the World Trade Center attacks. [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[May 24, 2002]