District 9 Conducts Leadership Education Conference for Women of Steel

Submitted by Sub-District Director & District 9 WOS Coordinator Sheila Harris

United Steelworkers (USW) District 9 Women of Steel (WOS) held a Level 1 Leadership Education Conference open to all Women of Steel in the District.  Sheila Harris, D9 WOS Coordinator, Debbie Cook, D9 Health & Safety Coordinator/Former WOS Coordinator and Carol Landry, USW International Vice President facilitated the class of thirty four (34) women.  District 9 Director Daniel Flippo opened the session by welcoming the class on Sunday April 27.  Other guest speakers attended and spoke to the group during the Level 1 including Greg England, SOAR Coordinator for District 9, Shane Mitchell, D9 Rapid Response Coordinator and William Jones with Alliance for American Manufacturing.  

The four days were filled with education on the history of our union, leadership skills and how our union works on the International and Local level.  The core of the class is to build leadership skills and self-confidence.  Every participant must speak or give a presentation to the group in order to complete the course.  I am proud to say each did a great job and we had some very good speakers and strong leaders from this group.  Other topics that were discussed included a good exchange on health and safety and organizing in our District.  Several groups shared experiences on how they are active in their local and others have set goals for themselves and their locals in regards to activity and involvement in the WOS but also their Local, District and International.

Many friendships developed over the four days.  The tornado evacuation on Monday evening to the interior closet of the hotel, helped to build on the groups closeness and friendships. This was a first and we certainly hope the last of this type experience however we all made the best of it and was grateful that our group was safe.

This class was larger than what we generally like to facilitate but everyone enjoyed the exchange and did not seem to mind the close quarters.  Everyone worked well together and individually.  We had participants from the Virgin Islands, TN, NC, AL, FL, MS and SC for a total of 19 locals participating.  This was a wonderful group and a great learning experience.