9TO5, NATIONAL ASSN. OF WORKING WOMEN, with 25 local chapters, representatives in 200 cities, and headquarters in Cleveland from 1977-93, advocates equal pay and rights for WOMEN in the workplace. It has worked closely with its research and training arm, the 9to5 Working Women Education Fund. 9to5 was founded in Boston in 1972 as a newsletter, 9to5 News, and merged in 1977 with Cleveland Women Working (est. 1975 primarily by Helen Williams) to create the Cleveland-based Working Women Organizing Project, headed by its founder Karen Nussbaum. After another name change (to Working Women, National Assn. of Office Workers in 1982), the group took its present name in 1983. When Pres. Clinton appointed Nussbaum to the U.S. Department of Labor, the national organization moved to Milwaukee, with Ellen Bravo as executive director, but maintained a national office in Cleveland.
9to5 has combined documented research with direct action: testifying before Congress; counseling women on its 9to5 Job Problem Hotline; educating about legal rights through publications such as The 9to5 Guide to Sexual Harassment (1992); and attempting to increase public awareness of the problems women face in the workplace. 9to5 also helped organize District 925 of the Service Employees Intl. Union (1981); initiated a federal investigation of employment practices in Cleveland banks; held government hearings to document discrimination; published class-action charges against employers; and campaigned to increase office security and equipment safety. Membership in the organization, at 614 Superior Rd., is open to women and men.
Finding aid for the Cleveland Women Working Records. WRHS.