Debbie Schneider

Debbie Schneider
Born	Deborah Schneider

Debbie Schneider is a labor organizer who has worked with multiple groups including 9to5, Women Office Workers, and United Healthcare Workers. She served as president of District 925 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and was a member of SEIU's executive board.

Early life and career

Schneider's mother was a high school English teacher, and her dad was a corporate tax attorney. Her mother was part of a labor union and influenced Schneider's thoughts and opinions on activism. Influenced by her mother, Schneider went to college to major in Literature which later inspired her to move into journalism. After graduating college, she became a clerical worker at Cahner's Publishing company, where she tabulated market survey results.^[1] Subsequently she joined the staff of the New York-based Women Office Workers.^[2] Schneider was a college student working for a magazine when she first heard about 9to5, and she attended her first 9to5 meeting in 1978.^[3] The 9to5 movement was originally started by a group of office workers in Boston, especially Karen Nussbaum and Ellen Cassedy, as a way to discuss work-related issues that gathered women from different fields to center on improving their workplace environment.^[3][4][5] Schneider's role in 9to5 was one of the topics presented in the 2020 documentary film 9to5: The Story of a Movement.^[6] In 1993, when Nussbaum left to work at the Department of Labor as the head of the Working Women's Bureau, Schneider became the national president of the district 925 union.^[7][8]

In 1995 Schneider was named president of District 925 of the Service Employees International Union,^[9] and was later elected to SEIU's executive board.^[10] In June 2001 Schneider was appointed a trustee of SEIU,^[11] and she was appointed to serve as trustee for Service Employees International Union, Local 585, at the end of 2001.^[12] In 2004 Schneider was head of the global partnerships within SEIU.^[13][3]

Activism

Schneider is best known for her work with clerical workers at the University of Cincinnati.^[14][15][16] The union led by Schneider, District 925, lost their first vote for unionization in June 1986 by 29 votes,^[17] but a second vote in 1988 passed leading to the successful establishment of a union for the University of Cincinnati workers.^[18] During the events at the University of Cincinnati, Schneider coordinated strikes where union members walked off the job.^[19][20] By 1990 the university had settled with the workers.^[21]

Schneider has worked with multiple groups to help them establish unions including library staff,^[22] Head Start workers,^[23] hospital workers,^[24] and workers for the City of Chicago.^[25] She has also spoken as an advocate for workers with respect to employment and pay equity.^[26] Schneider has also spoken against changes proposed in the Ohio legislature that would make is harder for clerical workers, who are primarily women, to prove their injuries were related to their occupation.^[27]

Further reading

• Windham, Lane. Knocking on Labor’s Door: Union Organizing in the 1970s and the Roots of a New Economic Divide. UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA P, 2017.^[28]

References

1. Nussbaum, Karen (2021-02-09). "9to5: Hope and Lessons from '70s Working Women". Convergence. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
2. "Secretary demand causing change in traditional role". Clarion-Ledger Jackson, Mississippi. April 26, 1981. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
3. "Debbie Schneider; Transcript (1 Pdf), Nov. 3, 2005 | ArchivesSpace@Wayne". archives.wayne.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
4. Windham, Lane (2015-09-01). ""A Sense of Possibility and a Belief in Collective Power": A Labor Strategy Talk with Karen Nussbaum". Labor. 12 (3): 35–51. doi:10.1215/15476715-2920388. ISSN 1547-6715.
5. Cassedy, Ellen (2022). Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
6. "9to5: The Story of a Movement | The Real Women Who Inspired the Song | PBS". Independent Lens. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
7. AFL-CIO (1993). AFL-CIO news. College Park University of Maryland. Washington [American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations].
8. Ward, Leigh Beth (September 4, 1994). "The State of Labor". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
9. Flynn, Terry (July 9, 1993). "Service-employees union leader becomes president of District 925". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
10. "Article clipped from The Cincinnati Enquirer". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. January 20, 1995. p. 40. Retrieved 2023-05-14 – via Proquest.
11. McKay, Jim (March 6, 2001). "TRUSTEE TAKES CONTROL SHAKEUP AT SEIU LOCAL FOLLOWS ELECTION DISPUTE". Pittsburgh Post - Gazette; Pittsburgh, Pa. [Pittsburgh, Pa]. pp. B-1 – via Proquest.
12. Davis, Christopher (November 30, 2001). "Volatile year for Local 585 comes to close as SEIU mulls a restructuring". Pittsburgh Business Times; Pittsburgh. Vol. 21, no. 19. p. 1 – via Proquest.
13. Rosenberg, Alyssa (October 6, 2007). "Blue Collars Turning Green". National Journal. 39 (39): 03604217 – via Gale.
14. Crockett, Kimberley (June 25, 1986). "70% of UC employees say job situation is OK". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
15. "Union petitions for UC election". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. December 6, 1985. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
16. Howard, Allen (March 14, 1986). "UC secretaries plead union case to labor board". The Cincinnati Enquirer ; Cincinnati, Ohio. pp. [1], [2]. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
17. "Workers at UC turn down union". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. June 27, 1986. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
18. "Clerical union voted in at UC". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. October 26, 1988. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
19. Harris, Nick (October 19, 1989). "Sides differ on UC strike impact". The Cincinnati Post; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
20. Hopkins, John (September 23, 1998). "Contract talks hit a snag at UC". The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
21. Burgins, Scott (September 4, 1990). "Workers enjoy Labor Day respite". The Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
22. Kissell, Margo Rutledge (December 10, 1999). "LIBRARY TURNS NEW PAGE, JOINS UNION CHAPTER". Dayton Daily News ; Dayton, Ohio [Dayton, Ohio]. p. 2 – via Proquest.
23. Bennett, Sara J. (8 Oct 1999). "Head Start workers rally today". Cincinnati Enquirer; Cincinnati, Ohio [Cincinnati, Ohio]. pp. D.4 – via Proquest.
24. "Privatization". The Tribune Coshocton, Ohio. May 23, 1996. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
25. Duerksen, Susan (February 10, 1984). "County Workers Get Union Pitch". Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago. p. 4 – via Newspaper Archive.
26. Nichols, John (April 1997). "No pay for overtime". The Progressive ; Madison. Vol. 61, no. 4. pp. 28–29 – via Proquest.
27. Souhardra, Paul (March 20, 1997). "Union leader: Proposed changes would hit women hardest". Times-Gazette; Hillsboro, Ohio ·. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
28. Windham, Lane (2017). Knocking on Labor's Door: union organizing in the 1970s and the roots of a new economic divide. University of North Carolina P. ISBN 978-1-4696-5477-5. OCLC 1096220116.

External links

• 9to5: The Story of a Movement - Film Q&A on YouTube
• Oral history in Wayne State University archives, November 3, 2005