Beth Shulman, Advocate for Low-Wage Workers, Has Died
Lawyer, author and union leader Beth Shulman, who long fought for improving the conditions of low-wage workers, died Feb. 5 of complications from brain cancer at Georgetown University Medical Center. She was 60.
In 2003, Shulman, a former vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, authored The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans. In the book, she argued that society pays no attention to the people upon whom it depends every day, the Washington Post reports.
“She was one of the nation’s leading advocates for addressing low-wage workers’ issues, including minimum wage, paid sick days and paid family leave,” Phil Sparks, co-chair with Shulman of the Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work, a collaborative of more than 20 nonprofit and advocacy groups, told the Post.
Describing her as an “energetic and lively speaker,” the Post reports that, in addition to authoring many articles, Shulman appeared on national television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, PBS NewsHour, ABC’s World News Tonight, CNN and National Public Radio.
A native of Los Angeles, Shulman earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of California at Los Angeles and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, according to her website.
