Politicizing Motherhood

I think what stood out to me the most in Politicizing Motherhood, by Xiaolan Bao, was the last paragraph, which talks about how the 1982 strike was historic, an event in which "the union claimed a leading role" in the campaign for daycare. Although the article does give most of the credit to women workers for their contributions in leading the campaign, I think the references to the union and its role in helping with the day care campaign are just confusing in general. Maybe I'm just not understanding the material, but it sounds like initially, the Union leader, Jay Mazur, was against providing daycare to women workers, and kept searching for ways to avoid the issue. But then, the union called a strike and suddenly, all daycare problems were solved. I think I'm just confused by this sudden transition from dodging requests to the "strike, in which the union claimed a leading role." I understand the significance of the union's actions, but it sounds like the author champions the union's role. When I read this, I couldn't stop thinking about how the union leaders so thoroughly refused the requests of women workers and how the end of the essay contrasted with the earlier negative connotation of the union.