August 22 Breaking the Glass Ceiling

On this day in Labor History the year was 1980. 

That was the day that Joyce Miller became the first woman ever elected to the Executive Board of the AFL-CIO. 

In her 2012 obituary the New York Times described Joyce’s commitment to women’s rights in the labor movement. 

Writing “Ms. Miller saw union membership, collective bargaining and labor contracts as the road to equality for working women, and she believed that women should be a part of union management to make sure that attention was paid to issues like equal opportunity, equal pay, parental leave, child care, health insurance and discrimination in the workplace.” 

Joyce grew up in Chicago, where she her earned her Master’s Degree in education from the University of Chicago. 

She first entered the labor movement as worker at a gumball factory while attending college. 

After graduation, she became the Education Director for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in Pittsburgh. 

She remained dedicated to union education for rank and file members. 

Joyce was a founding member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women or CLUW. 

She served as CLUW’s East Coast Vice President eventually being elected CLUW President in 1977, a position she held for 15 years.  

Under her leadership CLUW worked as a powerful voice for women’s reproductive rights, improving child care, and increasing the number of women in union leadership positions.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton named Joyce Miller the Executive Director of the Glass Ceiling Commission. 

The purpose of the commission was to gather testimony about women’s experiences in the workplace and to draft a report about their findings. 

Of her career Joyce said, “I came to the labor movement with stars in my eyes, I saw it as a vehicle for social change, and I’ve never changed my mind.”