Longtime health-equality advocate named Union Woman of the Year
Maybe her "Viagra Lady" nickname was a joke and maybe it wasn't, but Kathy Black never let it get a rise out of her, as annoying as she found it.
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Maybe her "Viagra Lady" nickname was a joke and maybe it wasn't, but Kathy Black never let it get a rise out of her, as annoying as she found it.
After all, the underlying issue - women's equality in union health plans - mattered more than some gag about a male-enhancement drug.
"Viagra was on the market for six weeks, and 80 percent of health plans covered it," Black recalled. "Birth-control pills were on the market for 50 years, and only about 30 percent of health plans included them."
Now, most plans include contraceptives, and in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, Black's advocacy more than a decade ago made the difference.
It's also part of the reason Black, 66, will be honored Thursday evening as Union Woman of the Year by the Philadelphia chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
"It's way overdue," said Laura Wentz, a union stagehand who replaced Black as CLUW's president. "She's done so many things for women and workers."
Wentz ran down a list: advocacy for paid sick leave in Philadelphia, cervical-cancer awareness, contraception in health plans, fund-raising to help victims of domestic abuse.
"On a personal level, she's done so much to reach and empower women to become leaders in their unions," Wentz said.
"Historically," Black said, "the labor movement has been male-dominated, and the issues that are important to women aren't always the ones that matter most to the men."
These days, retired and living in Francisville with Arthur Sharon, Black can laugh about the "Viagra Lady" nickname.
In 2002, it wasn't quite as funny. The name came up at an executive meeting of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, the first being presided over by new president Patrick J. Eiding.
"There were about 75 people, at least 60 men. I stood up and talked about contraceptive equity," including the statistics about Viagra and birth-control pills, Black said.
That's when Patrick Gillespie, then the leader of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council, dubbed her "Viagra Lady," quipping, "We need our Viagra," Black recalled.
"If you get the ammunition, we should get the protection," Black said she replied.
Gillespie said Wednesday that Black "richly deserves" being honored for her work.
Black got started in unionism at age 23, while working as a secretary at the University of Oregon in Eugene. She learned that "the guys who worked in the motor pool, pumping gas and barely had to be literate," were earning $5,000 more a year than secretaries.
She and the union got pay parity for the secretaries, and "that made me a union loyalist," she said.
Black, who grew up in Logan and attended Cardinal Dougherty High School, wound up back in Philadelphia, eventually working as director of health and safety at AFSCME District Council 47, which represents the city's white-collar workers.
"I'm the person she's been paid to beat up all these years," said Barry Scott, risk manager for the City of Philadelphia.
"She's a professional," Scott said. "When I first met her, I was scared to death. She is ferocious. She will not let go. She is very determined and focused on doing what is right for her members and for the workplace."
In her 19 years on the job, Black became involved in and ultimately chaired PhilaPOSH, the Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health, a group that advocates to improve workplace safety.
"It turns out the Number One cause of death on the job for women is murder by domestic partners," Black said.
In 2014, homicides caused nearly one in five workplace deaths for women, compared to 8 percent for men, the U.S. Labor Department said. Relatives or domestic partners did the killing in a third of the cases involving women.
As a result, Black involved CLUW in domestic-violence programs.
"We've raised tens of thousands of dollars," she said.
Black also involved Philadelphia unions in U.S. Labor Against the War, an organization started in 2003.
"Philly CLUW was an affiliate from its formation and planned and participated in many antiwar actions," she said.
215-854-2769@JaneVonBergen