Barbara J. Easterling
Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary-Treasurer Easterling's recent speeches are available online
Barbara J. Easterling is the first woman ever to serve in CWA’s second highest office — that of secretary-treasurer. She was re-elected by acclamation by delegates to the union’s 67 th convention on Aug. 29, 2005.
And she topped even that feat in the summer and fall of 1995, becoming the first woman in history to serve as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the 13-million member federation of labor unions.
Easterling, who was elected unanimously as CWA’s secretary-treasurer in 1992 balloting at the union’s annual convention, was elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO in June 1995, as running mate with Thomas R. Donahue, who succeeded Lane Kirkland as AFL-CIO president. At the labor federation’s October convention, the John Sweeney-Rich Trumka slate prevailed and Easterling returned to her CWA post.
She has made “shattering the glass ceiling” a rallying cry — on the campaign stump, at local union meetings and in media appearances throughout her distinguished career.
As CWA secretary-treasurer, Easterling is responsible for managing the finances and physical facilities of CWA. She serves on the union’s three-member executive committee as well as on the strategic planning and budget committee which allocates CWA’s resources and sets program goals. She oversees the CWA government affairs operation and the union’s retiree program. She serves as a member of the executive committee of the Union Network International, the 17 million member worldwide labor federation, and is President of the UNI World Women’s Committee.
Strong Union Principles
Easterling is proud to have brought to her union career the strong principles of trade unionism she learned as a child growing up in a Polish family of coal miners and rubber workers in Akron, Ohio.
Launching her telephone career as an operator at Ohio Bell, she had incorporated those principles into her own life by the time she joined CWA Local 4302 in Akron.
Easterling served the local as steward, secretary and vice president before accepting an appointment by Ohio Governor John Gilligan to serve as chief of the Ohio Labor Division in early 1970. In 1973 she left state government to become a full-time CWA staff representative and later was promoted to administrative assistant to the vice president of District 4.
In 1980 she was summoned to Washington, D.C. to serve as an assistant to the president of the union — a position she held until her election as executive vice president in 1985.
Easterling and CWA President Morton Bahr ran for office as a leadership team in 1992 and were elected by acclamation. She has held the office ever since.
Honors and Activities
Easterling has received a broad range of honors and accolades during her union career. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985 and received the prestigious Women’s Equity Action League award in 1986. In 1992 she received the Midwest Labor Press Association’s Eugene V. Debs award. She also is the recipient of the International Women’s Democracy Center Global Democracy award, the Ellis Island American Legend award and the March of Dimes Salute to Labor award.
She has been a leader in the fight to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which has been officially designated as the union’s “charity of choice.”
Easterling is an executive committee member of the Democratic National Committee, vice chair of the National Alliance to End Homelessness and serves as a Trustee of the National Policy Association (NPA).
She also serves on the board of directors of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs; is a member of the Spina Bifida Foundation and serves on the executive committee of the United Way of America and its board of governors.
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