How you changed our movement in 2020.
Despite all of the mess this year, you kicked ass in 2020. Yes, really.
This year has been the fucking worst and even in the midst of it all, you—repro workers—have done some incredible organizing and truth-telling. Here are just a few of your triumphs:
You ousted toxic leaders: Staff at PPGNY ousted an allegedly* toxic, racist CEO who screamed at and shamed employees. Workers at PPPA ousted their allegedly fiscally irresponsible, transphobic, and racist CEO and overhauled their Board of Directors. The NOW CEO stepped down after allegations of racism within the organization and chapter network. Current and former Women Deliver staff spoke out about endemic racism within the organization, leading to the departure of the CEO. After years of enduring institutional racism and bullying, former staff at the International Women's Health Coalition spoke out about their experiences, leading to the CEO's resignation.
You are unionizing your workplaces in record numbers. Just this year, nearly a dozen organizations announced employee unions, including at AccessMatters, ACLU of Kansas, ACLU of Northern California, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Feminist Majority Foundation, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood Northern New England, and URGE, among others. Some of you faced swift recognition from management (hurray!) and others faced extremely disappointing responses, including management hiring anti-union lawyers, forcing you to appeal to the President's anti-union NLRB, or met you with complete silence. In the face of this bullshit AND a global pandemic, you kicked ass and organized anyway.
You took huge risks in calling out racism, toxic work environments, and union-busting in reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations. Two Buzzfeed articles, a bunch of Daily Beast articles, and a Washington Post piece documented alleged patterns of institutional racism and abuse at NARAL, PPFA, Planned Parenthood affiliates, NOW, Feminist Majority Foundation, and AAUW. You called out the hypocrisy of allegedly feminist organizations that practice union-busting. You spoke out against the culture of anti-Blackness that plagues so many organizations. More than 500 of you signed our statement of demands to repair racist, anti-Black actions across the field.
You did that! Your co-workers did that! Take the time to celebrate yourself. None of this was easy. In fact, we know how scary it was and that you probably feared retaliation or loss of your jobs, and did it anyway to make our movement stronger. One of the hardest things to do is to hold other feminists and progressives accountable for the harm they create. Thank you for your courage and dedication to making this movement a stronger and more inclusive one.
Here's to you and everything you're doing to make your workplaces more equitable for everyone. And, here’s to more rabble-rousing and organizing in 2021!
*We’re not doubting you, but the lawyers say we have to say “allegedly”.