The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • C2

MEMORY STREAM Many teachers fumed over not just their lack of pay raises but a letter from the Public Employees Insurance Agency saying be penalized $500 if they download a health app called Go365 and earn points by wearing a Fitbit in part because some live in isolated communities where cell service is still spotty to nonexistent. As part of the pro- cess, the educators were also asked to fill out a questionnaire that then told some of them they ate or drank too much. The Face- book rage caused Gov. Jim Justice to make the app optional, but by then an anger-fueled movement had too much momentum. Said Barnette: think that people just woke But the other truly remarkable thing about West Virginia is that the people who woke up there were mostly women.

Nationally, about 79 percent of classroom educators are female and the Mountaineer State is no differ- ent. If wondering if a coincidence that this sudden tsu- nami of female power in orga- nized labor comes at the exact same moment that the so-called movement is reinvent- ing workplace dynamics while a record number of women candi- dates is rocking the 2018 mid- term elections, the short answer is no, not at all a coinci- dence. Not at all. Indeed, you can tie together the simmering rage over the confessed p-word grabber and alleged porn-star-provider in the White House, the powerful pushback over sexual harass- ment, assault, and unchecked patriarchy from Hollywood to Madison Avenue, and now the rising up of underpaid and dis- respected schoolteachers with one simple word. Enough! And the implications of the big win in West Virgin- ia are huge.

In the short term, there is a slew of other states and smaller jurisdictions in the same boat where teachers have seen their paychecks stuck and their benefits shrinking thanks to budget-cutting, pro- business politicos and so the likelihood of similar strikes is rising in places like Oklahoma, where some 80 percent of teach- ers have voiced support for a proposed walkout over GOP-fed austerity. This comes after a decade in which labor leadership has in- creasingly fallen to outfits like the SEIU representing clean- ers, home health-care work- ers, and the like and teach- ers and other public-sector em- ployees. New, unconventional movements like the pro-living- wage Fight for $15 and fast- food protests reflect the new realities that Kati Sipp a Philadelphia-based veteran union organizer, now a consultant said the rise of unions and groups with more women members and with female leadership also means more willingness to experiment in areas like smarter use of social media or other new tactics for a labor movement that had been steadily losing ground with the stodgy old ways. tions led by said Sipp, more willing to col- laborate and to In West Virginia, there was also a striking difference in style. Despite thousands off the job, there was no violence and no arrests.

The strikers scored a major PR coup by making sure that kids in the Appalachian state with its high rate of poverty continued to get free lunches. Public sup- port soared to a level that re- calcitrant conservative law- makers saw little choice politi- cally but to meet the main de- mands for a 5 percent pay raise and a study of ways to improve insurance. That work- rights could claim a near- total victory in a state that in 2016 went gaga for the nation- alism and culture wars of Donald Trump (who got 69 per- cent of the vote) raises the pos- sibility of a stunning swift re- versal in American politics. In little Ripley, W.Va., where Barnette lives and teaches lieve it or she adds), the 36-year-old educator and now labor activist said the next focus will be consolidating big win with action at the ballot box in November, to get support for a county tax that subsidizes schools and for new legislators regardless of party who will support the middle class. won a Bar- nette said, we have not won the Continued from C1 By Patrick Glennon his year marks the 115th anniver-sary of the birth of Anne Branca-to, among the most accomplished and fascinating Philadelphians from 20th-century political history.

Overcom- ing social and political barriers during the Great Depression, Brancato became the first-ever woman elected as a Demo- crat in the Pennsylvania legislature. She fought passionately for the rights of the poor and dispossessed while chal- lenging machine politics and advocat- ing for empowerment long be- fore the feminist movement of the 1960s. Brancato was born on Jan. 17, 1903, to Italian immigrant parents and exhibited precociousness throughout her youth. She studied at Banks Business College, the Academy of the Sis- ters of Mercy, and took classes at Temple University, studying a variety of languages including Italian, French, and Japanese.

She found her calling in politics. After cutting her teeth in a Demo- cratic club in South Philadelphia in the late 1920s, Brancato aimed her sights on a seat in the General Assembly. Living in a district dominated by Republican political machine, Brancato a 29-year-old unmarried Demo- cratic woman of Italian descent faced tough odds. Only one other Italian Ameri- can Democrat had ever held a General As- sembly seat, and no woman had ever been elected to the legislature as a Democrat. Without a large-scale organizational in- frastructure, Brancato walked door-to- door, personally disseminating campaign literature and even presenting speeches in flawless Italian to enthusiastic Italian American voters.

Her efforts paid off. For the 1933 term, the young Brancato went to Harrisburg as a representative for the Fifth District. party needs women, and I am the best vote-getter that they Branca- to reportedly said during the 1932 cam- paign. Her edge over Republi- can Joseph Argentieri may very well have been the result of a female elector- ate eager to see women in power. The Great Depression bore on as Brancato commenced her political ca- reer.

Part of a larger national move- ment for poverty relief, Brancato pur- sued a host of social- welfare laws designed to support the most vul- nerable of her constitu- ents. She sponsored the Assistance Fund Law, which aided impoverished mothers, and advocated for short- form birth certificates, which eliminated the word illegitimate from the birth certificates of children born out of wedlock. Her appropria- tions bills benefited poor people with vision and hearing impair- ments and she spon- sored legislation that curtailed predatory loan-shark behavior. must make our women conscious of their responsibilities in Brancato once said. She lived this mantra through her political career, demonstrating that politically ac- tive women could bring about positive change on behalf of their communi- ties.

She sponsored legisla- tion that raised wages for women and limited abu- sive workplace practices. Brancato not only fought for pro-women policies, but proudly broadcast her political priorities, refer- encing them on campaign materials. In a political and cultural climate that permitted her colleagues in the legislature to openly ridicule her as a woman on the floor of the General Assembly, this was no small gesture. After four successful terms, Brancato relin- quished her seat in 1940 before briefly returning to the legisla- ture in 1944. After her last term, she started a successful business the Anne Brancato Telephone Answering Secretarial Service and married Au- gustus Wood, adopting the name Anne Brancato Wood.

In 1956, she attempted one last foray into politics with a failed campaign for a state Senate seat. During the final 15 years of her life, chronic laryngitis greatly diminished ability to speak. Despite her ailment, she continued to write pleas to prominent national political figures to support young upstarts and worked on behalf of a staggering number of civic organizations, including the Navy League, the Philadelphia Housing Author- ity, the Pennsylvania Constitution Com- memoration Committee, the Alliance of Catholic Women, St. Home of the Aged and Convalescent, among scores of others. She passed away on Aug.

22, 1972. Patrick Glennon is a communications officer at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Strike After her groundbreaking years in the legislature, Anne Brancato Wood started an answering service and secretarial business. HSP On the picket line, teacher Adena Barnette (left) with her colleagues Annie Hancock (center) and Mia Leone. Barnette says the next focus in West Virginia will be consolidating victory with action at the ballot box in November.

It is a model likely to resonate in other areas of the country. WILL BUNCH A Phila. woman who would not be held back Brancato served five House terms before a Senate bid in the www.hsp.org C2 THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2018 PHILLY.COM.