Jody Conner learned this lesson firsthand. One night, when Conner had gone out with a friend from work, she came home to find her husband waiting for her. He threw me to the floor. Conner was 22 years old at the time and married two years. She had become one of the 4 million women each year who are physically abused by their husbands or boyfriends, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
Domestic violence exacts a toll on individual women and on American business and government.
Unions and employers can be a part of the solution. Unions are focusing their attention on domestic violence this October as part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Women in Conner's position don't leave the abuse behind when they go to work in the morning. Abusive husbands and lovers harass nearly three-fourths of battered women at work, either in person or over the telephone. However, Conner did not share her pain with any of her co-workers.