Monica Badillo late last month was awarded the Mother Jones Award for Excellence in Leadership. United Steelworkers Local 937 proudly nominated her for this honor.

Monica Badillo

Monica is currently the treasurer and the Women of Steel Chairperson for USW Local 886. She has served on the Town of Hayden Council for 14 years and eight years as mayor.

She grew up in a Union home and, as the daughter of the local fire chief, she was told from a young age that gender would dictate her career choices. But Monica challenged that stereotype, becoming a volunteer firefighter then a forklift operator at Asarco. “Always working in male dominated industry,” her nomination reads, “she rises at every occasion to protect all workers’ rights and safety no matter what obstacle she faces.”

The nomination goes on to list her accomplishments:

• Motivating members who have never participated in any type of campaign work.

• Leading Women of Steel members to campaign in the Steelworker Obama campaign.

• Fighting for female restrooms at every department within the Asarco mine.

• Organizing internally at a USW represented casino hotel in Nevada.

“We all are honored to have a trail blazer like Monica Badillo representing our members and copper mining community,” the nomination says.

Monica received her award Feb. 28 at the Third Annual Celebration of International Women’s Day.