Article notes[1]

Globalization has reconfigured the opportunities for politics and the repertoire for collective action available to transnational activist movements concerned with economic and sexual justice. Transnational forms of activism depend on domestic political contexts, the availability of local actors, the existence of mobilizing structures, the mobility of ideas and people, and the available discourses with the power to frame the opportunities for activism.[2] Transnational activism can occur at various levels, at multiple sites both virtual and physical, and take a variety of forms including networks, coalitions, organizations, and movements. Some activists travel extensively, while others can participate in transnational movements and campaigns without leaving home. Elsewhere we have written extensively about the constraints and opportunities globalization presents to union feminists whose transnational activism is helping to build new political alliances between women's movements and organized labor.[3] Now we turn our attention to transnational queer labor activism by focusing on how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists are capturing the resources, networks, and discourses of the transnational labor movement to mobilize for labor rights in a global economy.

Much like women and other marginalized workers who are underrepresented in "the House of Labor," LGBT workers are using self-organizing as a strategy to build political spaces within unions from which they can make claims for representation and participation. Like feminism, queer activism has the potential to revitalize the labor movement; but to do so, it will need to challenge the homophobia, transphobia and sexual politics of organized labor and insist that unions live up to their democratic ideals. In the past, feminist and civil rights activists within labor had to leverage their alliances with other activists, advocacy groups and grassroots organizations outside the formal boundaries of unions in order to make their case for greater representation and equity. Queer labor activists are borrowing these strategies, but are also creating new approaches and discourses that challenge unions to rethink how they mobilize their members for collective action. In this paper, we draw on notions of sexual politics, self-organizing, discursive frames, and mobilizing structures to help us understand transnational queer labor activism, and to argue for the value and necessity of queer organizing in the labor movement.

Sexual Politics and Self-Organizing

The political opportunities available in the labor movement cannot be realized without analyzing and challenging the obstacles of sexual politics. We adopt the concept of sexual politics in this context in order to re-engage with gender as relational and political, in the sense of Kate Millet's early conceptual formulations (1969). Millet redefined politics as "power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another," and advanced the then new claim that the sexes (as well as races, castes and classes) should be seen as well-defined and coherent groups and thus subject to politics.[4]

In analyzing the sexual politics of the labor movement, we aim to sidestep the way that gender has since become coded to refer almost exclusively to women. Instead we acknowledge that gender is an ever-present relation of power, and thus best conceived in terms of a sexual politics that engages and challenges power as domination, resistance, alliances and pleasures. This conceptualization of gender and sexual politics allows recognition, in the contemporary climate, of the centrality and dominance of masculine, heteronormative sexualities/identities, and reframes the analysis away from an arithmetical "gender inclusivity" where women are merely slotted in and LGBT people disappear.[5] It is the dynamic and changing circumstances of sexual politics, in which gender relations contest and shape political opportunities and social identities, that produces the resources and capacities for political action.

The sexual politics of trade unions is clearly challenged by the interests and concerns of LGBT workers. Trade unions are dominated by masculine heterosexuality—indicated by the alarming rates of discrimination and prejudice in the workplace faced by lesbians, gay men and transgender people. In the Australian study, The Pink Ceiling is Too Low, over half of the respondents said they suffered from homophobic behaviour or harassment, and eleven percent experienced verbal abuse, including threats of physical and sexual abuse.[6] Studies elsewhere also find that LGBT workers' careers are affected by the culture of work organizations and policies.[7] Where trade unions themselves have begun to collect data on the experiences of LGBT workers, they find that breaches of labor rights are common.[8]

As the experiences, issues and concerns of LGBT workers become increasingly visible, two points emerge: firstly, this category of workers is no more homogenous than any other, and secondly, progressive gains can only be made with persistent and focused political activism. To the first point, John Blandford argues that although sexual orientation has significant influence on income, its submergence within categories of married or non-married serves to distort analyses of causes, and therefore the framing of political campaigns to achieve pay equity.[9] Likewise, American research on heterosexism in the workplace has found that studies on the impact of race and gender in the workplace that ignore sexual orientation tend to underestimate or misconstrue the effects of multiple identities on workers themselves, as well as on the value of anti-discrimination policies.[10]

The second point about the necessity for political activism by and for LGBT workers recognizes that, overall, little attention has been paid to issues of sexuality in the politics or research literature of trade union movements, and still less has been paid to the hegemonic or homophobic dimensions of such movements. The general silence on issues of sexuality among union activists stands in strong contrast with the clearly articulated view that the male dominance of the labor movement can no longer be ignored or overlooked, including issues of union leadership and sexual harassment.[11] Considerable uncertainty and timidity remains about LGBT issues in the labor movement at both local and international levels.

Queer organizing is strongest in unions where other marginalized workers have carved out self-organizing spaces, where union feminism is active, and where there are large numbers of women.[12] Examples of women's self-organizing include women's conferences, caucuses, committees, forums, workshops, special educational programs, and websites. The rationale for creating separate forms of organizing is predicated on the minority status of women in a male-dominated union and in their experiences of sexual harassment and sex discrimination on the job. These separate spaces can serve as staging areas for broader forms of organizational and movement participation. As Katzenstein (1998) makes clear: "For protest to occur inside institutions there must be protected spaces or habitats where activists can meet, share experiences, receive affirmation, and strategize for change."[13] Although these spaces are clearly defined and defendable by activists, their boundaries are not necessarily permanent or fixed. For women, self-organizing in unions provides the political space to construct union feminism. According to Curtin (1999), "separate spaces provide the opportunity for women to alter the discursive frameworks through which women's claims are constituted."[14] These spaces serve as mobilizing structures and are not ends in themselves.

Similar self-organizing internal support structures and policies have been developed by LGBT union members despite resistance from some union officials and members. LGBT labor activists have mounted campaigns on explicit issues around sexuality such as protection from homophobia in the workplace and collective bargaining for domestic partner benefits since the early 1970s. The first Australian Gay and Lesbian Trade Unionists Group (GayTUG) was formed in 1978. Twenty years later, GLAM (Gay and Lesbian Australian Services Union Members) was established to articulate their issues to the broad labor movement as well as within their union. In Canada, similar self-organizing by networks of lesbians and gay men established internal structures such as The National Pink Triangle Committee of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in 1991. In 1997, the Canadian Labor Council organized its first national conference for gay and lesbian unionists, attended by about 300 people,[15] and in 1999, the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) added transgender issues to its bargaining agenda.[16] The first public endorsement of LGBT rights by an American labor union was in 1970, when the executive council of the American Federation of Teachers passed a resolution denouncing discrimination against teachers solely on the basis of homosexuality. In 1983, the American peak body, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), formally condemned discrimination based on sexual orientation. Around the same time, gay and lesbian unionists for equality formed GLUE in Wellington, New Zealand to gain union recognition of the need to promote and protect the interests of lesbian and gay workers. In 2000, the New Zealand Council of Trade Union's network, CTU Out@Work, was established for lesbian, gay, takataapui, bisexual, intersex, transgender and fa'afafine union members.[17]

It is notable that these campaigns have advanced through the kinds of alliances with broader social movements that we have identified as critical to a new feminist politics. As McCreery and Krupat have argued, "the challenge for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered movements to confront elitism and inequalities in their own ranks, is to acknowledge common cause with other social movements, and to wage their struggles at the intersections of class, race, and gender."[18] Such alliances have fueled internal campaigns by feminist and LGBT activists to push unions to address the issues and workers' concerns. In 1981, for example, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of LGBT community activists, organized a gay contingent to participate in the Australian May Day parade, the annual celebration of workers' rights—despite the fact that "it was not well received by some in the union hierarchy."[19] Over the last decade, unions have participated in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras march through the heart of the city, which attracts enormous crowds and live television coverage. Although the march is a major annual expression of the LGBT movement, union involvement is not without serious internal conflicts that have even resulted some union officials threatening to resign. Robyn Fortescue argues that the significance of events like Mardi Gras are not just about what happens on the night of the march; rather, their impact derives from the organization, debates and material support that must be negotiated within the labor movement beforehand. She argues that such an alliance makes Mardi Gras "the biggest labor festival of the year."[20]

Transnational Queer Labor Activism

The emergence of a gay labor activism at the transnational level is the outcome of several decades of queer organizing within national unions in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Great Britain, Germany, and many other countries.[21] In addition, there has been a proliferation of real and virtual political spaces where transnational activists from a variety of movements—gay, human rights, feminists, labor, global justice—can meet to exchange information and strategies for change. These spaces include various UN Forums, international labor conferences, the World Social Forum, and the Gay Games. Such transnational networks have the capacity to be effective when they draw on trade union resources to create forums and spaces for lesbian, gay and transgendered workers.

One site for transnational queer labor activism is the Global Union Federation (GUFs). These organizations are federated peak labor bodies, mostly headquartered in Europe, whose missions include building international support and solidarity for workers and their struggles for labor rights worldwide. The GUFs have expanded to every region of the world and have grown in size, scope, and political influence. Today there are ten different global union federations representing millions of workers in almost every country in the world.[22]

The two GUFs that have been most receptive to gay activism have been female-dominated, feminist-influenced public sector federations with well-developed equity programs and structures in place.[23] The Public Service International (PSI), founded in 1907, is comprised of 650 affiliated trade unions in 150 countries representing 20 million public sector workers in government, health and social care, municipal and community services, and public utilities. The Education International (EI) is comprised of 348 affiliated organizations in 169 counties representing 30 million teachers and education workers from pre-school through university.

Both PSI and EI have broadened the scope of their mission to include basic questions of equity, justice and free access to public services and education. They now maintain permanent standing within international organizations concerned with labor standards, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and various UN sub-organizations, employer organizations, and newer financial institutions like the WTO. In the case of violations of human and trade union rights, these organizations have learned that joint action with human rights groups and consumer rights organizations can make protest more effective. Building alliances with activists from women's, environmental and non-governmental organizations contribute to achievements that would not be possible without a cooperative approach.[24]

It was at the 2004 World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil that gay activists from PSI and EI sponsored their first joint forum on sexual diversity. The purpose of the forum was to develop a set of proposals for action on the rights for LGBT workers framed as basic human rights. The resulting declaration recognized the diversity of the LGBT lifestyles and argued that unions should take the lead in eliminating discrimination against these communities. It also noted that equal rights for LGBT workers would be strengthened if they were successfully integrated into broader campaigns for labor rights at national, regional and international levels.

The declaration expressed the concern that because the rights of sexual minorities were not explicitly recognized in most international and national labor standards, discrimination and inequity based on sexual orientation and gender identity continued to persist at different levels of the world economy.[25] The action plan adopted at the WSF called for a multifaceted approach: establishing a sexual diversity network that would facilitate the sharing of resources and the coordination of national and international campaigns for LGBT labor and social rights; linking webpages to provide a regular supply of news and updates about the work of the national networks; participating in the World Workers' Out Conferences; and holding a second joint international forum on sexual diversity prior to the PSI World Congress.

The second PSI-EI Sexual Diversity Forum was held September 21-22, 2007 in Vienna, drew over 300 hundred participants, and covered a range of topics including collective bargaining for LGBT equity issues, diversity and antidiscrimination training, bullying and workplace climate, building alliances and protecting and expanding quality public services like free education for all. The joint PSI-EI sponsored forum website serves as an important resource for labor and queer activists and is used to mobilize international solidarity campaigns—such as the one for a Polish educational official who lost his job for authorizing a teacher training guide on gay tolerance. The site contains research reports on the status of LGBT members, a training guide for incorporating LGBT issues into the work of the union, press releases, and links to the broader movement for LGBT rights.[26]

Queer labor activists also find political opportunities in global alliances at international gay rights conferences such as the international Out at Work Conference which grew out of—and subsequently extended—global/local networks of gay, lesbian and transgender workers. The Sydney conference in 2002 drew 1700 participants from 113 countries. Conference declarations and action plans stress the political necessity of global campaigns to tackle the appalling working conditions of those who "live in countries that still execute their homosexual citizens."[27] The next international conference (now framed as a human rights conference) will be held in Copenhagen in 2009. Rebecca Sevilla, co-founder of gay and lesbian organizations in Lima and LGBT equity expert for the Sexual Diversity Forum, is the honorary co-chair of the Copenhagen games.[28] Such transnational networks have the capacity to be effective when they draw on trade union resources to create forums and spaces for lesbian, gay and transgender workers.

Discursive Frames and Mobilizing Structures

Collective action takes place through mobilizing structures—the networks of groups and organizations prepared to mobilize for action.[29] These structures, both formal and informal, serve as organizational mechanisms to collect and use the movement's resources. Although often designed for other purposes, they also serve as sites for collective action and identity formation. To identify and develop mobilizing structures effectively, activists must successfully frame them as useful and appropriate to the social-change tasks they will be used to facilitate. In other words, strategic framing is central in shaping the available range of mobilizing structures.

In order for unions to be viewed as mobilizing structures for achieving economic justice for existing and potential LGBT members, unions and their networks have to be discursively framed as such. A discursive frame "serves as an interpretive schema that simplifies and condenses the world out there by selecting, punctuating, and encoding objects, situations, events, experiences and sequences of actions within one's present or past environment."[30] Discursive frames are important because they A) help transform issues and problems into grievances about which individuals believe something can and should be done, and B) help participants to see that unions can make a difference. "To be successful frames must seek congruence and complementarity between the interests, values, and beliefs of the potential movement participants and the activities, goals, and ideologies of social movements."[31] Finding this congruence will not be an easy task, however, since frames that resonate with queer folks may not resonate with "straight" folks.

Activists use discursive tools (such as conference resolutions, policy statements, newsletters, websites, and education programs) as well as institutionally sanctioned spaces (such as conventions, workshops, labor schools, committee structures) to create a network of resources that can be called into action to mobilize members and potential supporters at strategically important moments. Activists forge a collective sense of themselves as political actors through the day-to-day activities of building and sustaining these networks.[32]

As an outcome of feminist activism, unions are struggling with new ways to think about and frame family issues. Because globalization has contributed to the merging of private life with the public sphere, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish among work, family, and intimate relations. This shift has important implications for labor politics. It is essential for labor to understand the sexual politics of everyday life including family, intimate relations, social reproduction, sexuality, and self-care. Union feminists are calling on labor to move far beyond nominal support for policies that help women balance work and family, and to instead challenge the fundamental relations of power based on gender in every sphere of life. Responding to the challenge will be difficult for labor; some men who have been subject to the economic dislocations of globalization often experience these dislocations as a threat to their masculinity rather than a basis for labor militancy. As a consequence, they are vulnerable to political discourses and movements that call for a return to traditional "family values."

Politically, it is problematic for labor to uncritically co-opt the conservative discursive hold on "family values" by turning to "working families;" such a discursive frame does not take into account the sexual politics of intimate kinship, or recognize the great variation in family structures and gender relations that are part and parcel of globalization. It also does not adequately acknowledge the condition of individuals who are exploited or at risk within their family structures, trapped in authoritarian, exploitative, or violent living arrangements. Progressive organizations that make a simple appeal to "working families"—without recognizing the complexity of families—will not be able to mobilize a viable progressive labor movement.[33] Cognitively, such language evokes the patriarchal family based on traditional gender roles, and leaves little room for labor to address the real needs of many workers who live their lives within alternative families including single-headed households, multigenerational households, gay and lesbian households, co-habiting adults, single households, childless couples, and unrelated adults sharing domestic responsibilities. Debates over the interpretation of a frame often result in the reformulation and extension of meaning so that they appeal to a broader audience.

Conclusion

The labor movement is formally structured to represent the economic and political interests of workers at local, national and international levels, and thus represents a valuable transnational resource for feminist and LGBT activists. Networks and alliances between trade unions and LGBT activists are vital; complete consensus is unnecessary, but without such groupings, activists involved in queer organizing risk isolation and burnout. While workers benefit from queer organizing, the labor movement also gains in relevance, energy and growth. However, the potential political opportunities arising from such alliances cannot be realized without first analyzing and challenging the obstacles of sexual politics within the structures of queer organizing, as discussed in this paper. As Carol Beaumont, New Zealand Council of Trade Union Secretary recently observed: "We are a long way from having stamped out homophobia—certainly in the community as a whole but also among unions—our officials, activists and members."[34]

With their critique of heteronormative social relations, queer activists and feminists have the potential to revitalize and expand the boundaries of the labor movement by pushing unions to consider new forms of organizing, new types of workers and workplaces, and different types of issues.[35] In turn, unions have the potential to provide queer activists and feminists with resources to participate in transnational politics. Because they identify with multiple social movements, feminist and queer labor activists are in a position to build alliances between social movements. Finally, such activism situates the local struggles of workers within a transnational context—one that attempts to link questions of economic justice to the social and economic rights of LGBT workers around the world.

Endnotes

1. This paper draws on our research for our book, Making Feminist Politics in Global Labor Movements: Transnational Alliances between Women and Labor, under contract with the University of Illinois Press. [Return to text]

2. Suzanne Franzway & Mary Margaret Fonow, "An Australian Feminist Twist on Transnational Labor Activism." Signs 33: 3 (2008): 537-544. [Return to text]

3. See Mary Margaret Fonow & Suzanne Franzway, "Transnational Union Networks, Feminism and Labour Advocacy." Trade Union Responses to Globalization. Ed. Verena Schnidt. Geneva: ILO Press, 2007. 165-176. Also Suzanne Franzway & Mary Margaret Fonow, "An Australian Feminist Twist on Transnational Labor Activism," Signs 33: 3 (2008). 537-544. [Return to text]

4. Kate Millet, Sexual Politics. New York: Avon Books, 1969: 23-4. [Return to text]

5. Suzanne Franzway, Sexual Politics and Greedy Institutions: Union Women, Commitments and Conflicts in Public and in Private. Sydney: Pluto Press Australia, 2001. [Return to text]

6. Jude Irwin, 'The pink ceiling is too low': workplace experiences of lesbians, gay men and transgender people, 1999. http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/Arts/departs/social/jirwinpub. [Return to text]

7. Fiona Colgan, Chris Creegan, Aidan McKearney, & Tessa Wright, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Workers Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. A Qualitative Research Study. London: Comparative Organisation and Equality Research Centre [COERC], London Metropolitan University, 2006. [Return to text]

8. See report by Education International, The Rights of Gay and Lesbian Education Personnel, Triennial Report. Education International, 2001. [Return to text]

9. John Blandford, "The Nexus of Sexual Orientation and Gender in the Determination of Earnings." Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 56 (2003): 622-642. [Return to text]

10. Ragins, B. R., Cornwell, J. M., Belle Rose Ragins, John M. Cornwell, & Janice Miller, "Heterosexism in the workplace." Group and Organization Management, 28 (2003): 1: 45-74. [Return to text]

11. Sheila Cunnison, & Jane Stageman, Feminizing the Unions: Challenging the Culture of Masculinity. Aldershot: Avebury, 1995; Sue Ledwith, "The Future as Female? Gender, Diversity and Global Labor Solidarity." The Future of Organised Labor. Ed. C. Phelan. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006: 91. [Return to text]

12. Monica L. Bielski, Identity at Work: U.S. Labor Union Efforts to Address Sexual Diversity through Policy and Practice (Rutgers, Dissertation 2005); Hunt G. & M. Bielski Boris, "The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender challenge to American labor." The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor. Ed. D.S. Cobble. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007: 81-99; Mary Margaret Fonow, Union women: forging feminism in the United Steelworks of America. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2003. [Return to text]

13. Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, Faithful and Fearless: Moving Feminist Protest inside the Church and Military. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999: 33. [Return to text]

14. Jennifer Curtin, Women and Trade Unions: A Comparative Perspective. Sydney: Ashgate, 1999: 33. [Return to text]

15. Genge, Sue, "Solidarity and Pride." Canadian Women's Studies 18: 1 (1998): 97-99. [Return to text]

16. Gerald Hunt, & Judy Haiven, "Building Democracy for Women and Sexual Minorities: Union Embrace of Diversity." Relations industrielles, 61: 4: 666-682. [Return to text]

17. Fa'afafine is a Samoan term that literally means to be like a woman, and Takataapui is a Maori term to describe intimate friends of the same sex. [Return to text]

18. Patrick McCreery, & Kitty Krupat, Introduction. "Out front: Lesbians, gays, and the struggle for workplace rights." Social Text, 17: 4 (1999): 1-8, 5. [Return to text]

19. Neale Towart, "Mardi Gras: The Biggest Labor Festival?" Workers Online (2002). [Return to text]

20. Robin Fortescue, "Mardi Gras: The biggest labor festival of the year." Hecate, 262 (2000): 62-65, 64. [Return to text]

21. See Laboring for Rights: Unions and Sexual Diversity across Nation, Ed. Gerald Hunt. Philadelphia: Temple, 1999; Out at Work: Building a Gay-Labor Alliance, Eds. Kitty Krupat & Patrick McCreery. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999. [Return to text]

22. A Global Union Federation (GUF) is an international federation of national unions organized by industry, sector, or occupation. Unions are members of the global union federation in their sector. For example, a steelworker in the U.S. would belong to the United Steelworkers of America and that union would in turn belong to the International Metalworkers Federation—the GUF representing workers in steel, auto, electronics, and precision instruments. GUFs are peak labor bodies because the pull together workers from different unions and different countries. To read more about GUFs see http://www.global-unions.org. [Return to text]

23. For the value of self-organizing see the special Industrial Relations Journal, 37, 4, 2006. [Return to text]

24. See PSI web site http://www.world-psi.org and EI web site http://www.ei-ie.org/en/index.php. [Return to text]

25. http://www.ei-ie.org/lgbt/en/. [Return to text]

26. http://www.ei-ie.org/lgbt/en/. [Return to text]

27. Workers Online. Workers Out For Gay Games. 2002. http://workers.labor.net.au/139/news83_gay.html. [Return to text]

28. See worldOutgames at http://www.games-cologne.de/en. [Return to text]

29. Dieter Rucht, "The Impact of National Contexts on Social Movement Structures: Across Movement and Cross National Comparison." Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures and Cultural Framings. Eds. Doug McAdam et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. [Return to text]

30. David A. Snow, E. Burke Rochford, Steven K. Worden & Robert D. Benford, "Frame Alignment Processes, Micro Mobilization and Movement Participation." American Sociological Review, 51 (1986): 464-81. [Return to text]

31. Mary Margaret Fonow, "Human Rights, Feminism, and Transnational Labor Solidarity." Just Advocacy? Women's Human Rights, Transnational Feminisms, and the Politics of Representation. Eds. Wendy S. Hesford & Wendy Kozol. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005: 221-243. [Return to text]

32. Mary Margaret Fonow, Union Women: Forging Feminism in the United Steelworkers of America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. [Return to text]

33. Lisa Duggan, "Crossing the Line: The Brandon Teena Case and the Social Psychology of Working Class Resentment." New Labor Forum, 12 (2003): 37-44. [Return to text]

34. Carol Beaumont, "Stamping out homophobia all over the world." Paper presented at the UK Trades Union Congress Conference "Stamping Out Homophobia." London, 2006. [Return to text]

35. For an excellent discussion of the way women are transforming the labor movement, see The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor. Ed. Dorothy Sue Cobble. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2007. [Return to text]