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Boston Globe

Pride and progress: How Rhode Island unions helped win LGBTQ+ rights

When now president of Rhode Island Laborers' District Council Karen Hazard was a new organizer in the mid-1990s with the Laborers' Union, she couldn't talk to prospective members on construction sites about the great pension benefits, because those benefits didn't even apply to her own family. It was up to her to have a hard, honest conversation with her union leadership about what 'family' meant for all their members. In the years to come, the union re-shaped the benefits they offered and negotiated to include all members and their families. It was because of Hazard's early and quiet leadership that her wife and the spouses of countless other members were included in union pension plans. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up In 2001, Rhode Island enacted its statewide Advertisement When it came to benefits for same-sex couples, state workers were often left in limbo. At the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, where now president of IFPTE local 400 Denise Robinson worked and organized, the benefits for domestic partnerships added in state law were not openly advertised to workers. Some went years without accessing their full benefits. It became the role of the union to communicate to members about what they were entitled to and what their rights were. Advertisement Still, these benefits did not come without their complications. Robinson experienced this firsthand when she added her partner to her health insurance, only to find out a year later that this benefit had been taxed as income, and as a result, she was liable for misreporting her income on her taxes. If she and her partner had been allowed to legally marry at that time, they would have never faced the same scrutiny for spousal benefits. These were the kinds of quiet battles queer labor organizers fought every day: to be included, to be recognized, and to make our unions better and more inclusive for everyone. It was the work of union organizers, countless stewards and delegates, and local presidents to defend members, and to negotiate protections that extended beyond what the law provided. Then came 2013. The campaign for Advertisement It was labor's leadership, our formal endorsements, our organizing infrastructure, and our solidarity, that helped make that victory possible. And it will be the labor movement that makes sure that we can keep fighting. Since taking office, We are proud that our labor movement stood on the right side of history, and prouder still to give queer workers a sense of belonging and protection that has been fought for and earned. This Pride Month, we're proud to be union. We're proud to be queer. And we are proud to keep up the fight. Karen Hazard is president of Rhode Island Laborers' District Council, and secretary-treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. Denise Robinson is president of IFPTE local 400, and member of RI AFL-CIO executive committee .