United Auto Workers (UAW) Articles and Conference Materials, July 8, 1998- September 2006

Brigid O’Farrell joined the National Writers Union, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1981 in 1996 in Washington D.C. but was not active at first. The NWU offered many services to their members such as free advice on book contracts, grievance assistance, and more. As a member, O’Farrell met and worked with many women, such as Dottie Jones. Jones had worked as an auto assembler at Chrysler in 1966 where she had witnessed sex discrimination and harassment firsthand. She was an active member within the Union, serving as the first African American woman appointed to the staff in the UAW President’s office and as a mentor to other tradeswomen. Included in the series are documents from Dottie Jones’ work on affirmative action. By 2011, O’Farrell had become an active member of the NWU. After the publication of She Was One of Us, the chair of O’Farrell’s local NWU in San Francisco invited her to a union meeting, and due to Roosevelt’s close ties to the union, O’Farrell attended. While they started as a small chapter, they began to work on increased membership and activism; such as having tables and talks with organizations like the San Francisco Writing for Change and the Bay Area Book Fair. In 2013, O’Farrell was elected to be a delegate for the NWU Delegate Assembly in New York, and again in 2015 and 2018. As a member of the UAW and NWU, she also worked closely with the International Federation of Journalists. In 2016, she attended the United Nations Commissions on the Status of Women Conference. Included are materials and articles written by O’Farrell about the conference. Also included in this series are UAW articles, photographs, statements, and other materials from conferences and meetings, flyers, pamphlets, press cards, from NWU and IFJ, in addition to other documents.