August 22 - Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Labor History in 2:00 · Aug 22, 2026 · 1m

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 Timesdescribed 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…