March for women's jobs!

Scan page 7

FIGHTBAC WOMEN'S FIGHTBACK started in 1980 to work for a national response to the Tory attacks on women; and to help women to organise in the Labour and We helped to plan and organise the National Festival for Women's Rights on May 9th this year, and have been campaigning for the Labour Party and TUC to hold a national demonstration for a woman's right to work: this now looks like happening, provisionally In the Labour Party and trade unions we have organised around demands for positive discrimination, greater policy-making powers for women, and for women's committees and sections at rank and file level to act as a base for women to organise from. We publish a monthly paper with lots of labour mov news and comment as well as features on health and fertility control, fighting sexism, international news WOMEN'S FIGHTBACK also organises local groups fighting the cuts and supporting women's struggles Women's groups and labour movement branches affiliate to the Campaign, and many also take a regular order for the newspaper. Affiliation is £5 THE LABOUR Party NEC has now approved the date for a major women's rights event - June 5, 1982.

The idea came from Labour women's sections, via the Festival for Women's Rights Against: the Tories.

• So far, the plan is to have an open-air rally, together with music, entertain. ments, and kids" events. In addition, there is very strong backing for a dem. onstration march to the rally, so as to attract more people and to make it a stronger protest.

The demonstration is being backed by the Action Committee for a Woman's Right to Work, which has amassed hundreds of sponsors including a clutch of trade union leaders and members of the Labour Party NEC.

Campaign

As important as the event itself will be the campaign leading up to it.

Already, the Labour Party and TUC have together published an excellent pamphlet which deserves very wide circulation. The Action Committee is planntrade union movement.

set for June 5th. etc.

at work and in the community.

year.

›y Rachel Lever

ing a barrage of leaflets and information kits, and a big organising conference London on February 20. • At local levels, several Action Committees have been set up with the idea of holding • local: conterences to highlight women's unemployment.

One thing the Action Committee hopes to see is a much closer working relationship between the women's movement and the Labour Party and TUC.

To kick off the new stage of the campaign, now that we all have a date to work for, there will be a public meeting in London. Labour Party women's organiser Joyce Gould will be speaking, together with Judith Hunt TASS], " Frances O'Grady [Islington Action Group on Unemployment], and Susan Shell, who was sacked by Barking Borough Council because she is gay.

The meeting is on Deeember 9 at 7.30, at South Bank Poly Students' Union, Rotary St, SEI. conference for women active in trades councils and in trade union equal opportunities and women's committees, which was held ir Sheffield on November 21st That such a conference should have taken place at all was remarkable. As Ann Gibson, secretary to the TUC Women's Advisory Committee, said in her opening presentation, it is not strictly constitutional under the structure of the TUC for one Trades Council to communicate with another!

Explain

Ann Gibson explained the role that women play in the TUC. Only ten of the 24 members of the Women's Advisory are elected directly by the women's conference: All communication from the General Council is directly to the General Secretaries of the affiliated unions - which may explain why questions affecting women's rights are not always given the prominence they deserve.

Many women wanted to know how you got delegated to the Women's TUC conference, as it never came through their branches. Ann Gibson gave an example of a woman in IPCS who had contacted her to ask for a supply of leaflets produced by the Women's Advisory on positive action for women in the unions -although this issue has been supported by IPCS at the Women's TUC, it had not yet percolated down to the membership.

A number of women from various trades councils told Women's Fightback is planning ference of rank and file women for March 27th 1982.

to tackle them.

invited other women's ideas.

don N7.

Name …..

Address Branch ......... Phone ..... the conference what they had been doing.

Jo de Groot from York described their Women's Newsletter: between 1974 and 1977 it was covered many important topics unemployment, taxauvil, tauntien benefits and so on - but eventually folded when the numbers involved dwindled It had proved difficult to broaden the base of participation in the newsletter, especially from women in jobs other than white collar, and persuading people to have the confidence to put their ideas on paper.

Newcastle A delegate from the women's committee of Newcastle TC reported on a conference of 150 women from the North East region, which they hoped would be followed by a series of others running in parallel to the North East region TUC.

Education

Jenny Tizard from Bradfurd said they had opted against producing a newsletter and had concentrated on education and discussion groups, and Emma Morgan from Sheffield reported their use of interviews to get women's views into their newsletter, overcoming the reluctance of women to write for it.

A delegate from Coventry reported on how they had raised support among women for the strike called by NUPE against the cuts.

In the afternoon, four separate workshops were held on unemployment, training and positive action, health, and violence against women:

In the reports back, the following points were made.

Women and Health -several TCs where health and safety committee had been set up had liaised with women's committees over questions of women's health, use of tetragenic substances at work, anteand perinatal care, etc.

Training

Positive Action and Training - Equal Opportunity classes on local authority and company practice are not enough on their own ition of sexual harassm as unwelcome sexual vances.

Unemployment - eve one was urged to raise s port for the national Wr en's Right to Work dem stration planned for Ji 5th and make sure t unions and trades coun sponsored and . mobili for it.

Many sisters also pressed concern at the striction of unemplo centres to non-campaigi work.

The women at the con ence all shared a t degree of commitment, the conference was a us exchange of views and perience. Several deleg felt that their trades cou was . more sympathetic women's rights than t union branch. So tre councils are obvious!: fruitful area for wome pioneer new ideas approaches.

WOMEN FIGHTBAG SUPPORT ST. MAI nadi Ia lsw vis.t ila New issue of Women's Fightbe - 10p plus posta from 41 Ellingto London N7