Almadi and Cobbs in OXFAM:
In the summer of 2023, Oxfam launched an initiative called A New Era for Black Women to spotlight the voices and priorities of low-wage earners. We are working with Black women’s advocacy groups in the Southeastern U.S. to surface issues that low-wage workers face and come up with policies addressing racial, gender, social justice, and economic inequality. Oxfam has a history of supporting labor organizers in Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana, to promote policies for higher paying jobs, job protections, more resources for job training, and other ways to break down barriers to upward mobility. This Black History Month, we are shining a light on some of the lesser-known leaders of labor movements in America as well as shouting out Black women who are currently leading the way to address root causes of inequality.
Sylvia Woods 1909-1987
Sylvia Woods, a Chicago-based union organizer and community activist, helped organize the Laundry Workers Union. She helped establish the Bendix Local 330 of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and even though only 25 percent of the membership was Black, she was elected financial secretary-treasurer of the UAW in. Through her organizing efforts, Woods realized that racism is a tool used to divide the working class. She believed that Black and white workers had to unite to defend their collective rights, and that ideology guided much of her organizing work.
More here. (Note: In honor of Black History Month, at least one post will be devoted to its 2025 theme of “African Americans and Labor” throughout the month of February)
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