Making women's voices heard in the unions

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•Un) MARLEY Fighting the cuts: "In our union, the women are certainly more radical than the NEC"

man women get organi with a campaign for a fighting against the effects woman's right to work and of Tory economic policy in for a woman's right to Britain, but by women in choose. West Germany.

these are the conclusions. campaign for a woman's reached not by women right to work came from the Auch Frauer haben ein Recht out.

Wilkin spoke to Sue Lister, a member of the women's advisory com mittee in the white collar issues and exclude them from NEC discussions - and this is what the NEC hoped would happen. Fortunately they were proved wrong and the NAC has become an effective 'ginger group' to pressurise the NEC into activity.

Each division has a women's advisory committee just as each has a health service advisory committee, BL advisory committee, etc.

Delegates

All divisional advisory committees except the women's advisory committee elect their own delegates to the National Advisory Committee. The delegate to the Women's National Advisory Committee is elected by the ful divisional counci -clearly so that it can control So what's new? Well, the Women's Advisory Committee. This is just one example of the anomalous situation the Women's Advisory Committee has to contend with.

Une division, Yorkshire, has actually wound up its women's advisory committee on the grounds that the Women's National Advisory Committee deals with women's issues. The NAC is chaired by the only woman NEC member and the secretary is one of the few women full-time officials.

Are iccnes affecting women LIV IDDUVO тт и. taken up at a local level?

Most divisional advisory committees have regular day schools on specific bargainissues affecting women and 'combat schools on how to negotiate with management on health, low pay, sexual harassment or general The call for a national Americ matters about women's involvement in politics..

We hoped initially that the NAC would be able to initiate industrial campaigns on issues affecting women. This proved impossible because industrial campaigns are controlled by the industrial sections in the union, to which the NAC has no input except via the NEC.

We have had considerable success on other issues. We have been able to make childcare a union issue. Now conferences have creches and there ale QIU YU - tharo are child rare allowances for people attending union meetings. This was only achieved through NAC pressure.

On the question of abortion rights, the NAC was able to put pressure on the NEC to campaign against Corrie. This in turn meant ge women's workshop at the first national conference of unemployed workers' groups held in Frankfurt on December 2-5.

There are now nearly two million unemployed in that the TUC was pushed to organise action against the Bill.

Similarly the NAC was able to ask the Parliamentary Committee of ASTMS to support the Breast Cancer Clinic in London which is under threat of closure, without having to wait for the NEC.

The main role for the NAC is to pressurise the NEC to take up issues affecting women in the union. It is also able to make an input into the TUC women's committees, the EOC and other national bodies.

Do you think the Women's National Advisory Committee has improved the position of women in the union?

The problem is that the NAC is purely advisory. Power lies with the NEC. When the NAC makes proWest Germany. • Union leaders have accepted large scale redundancies over the past few months without fighting back. But while these waves of redundancies have only just begun to hit male German workers, immigrant and female workers have been experiencing redundancy for much longer - and are already well acquainted with union leaders' unwillingness to fight for their jobs.

Five The workshop felt the campaign should be based on five main demands:

1. A woman's right to a paid job.

-cut the working week with no loss of pay to get rid of unemployment.

- workers' control of working conditions. 2. No discrimination at work or on job applications.

3. Workers to fight redundancies.

4. Full unemployment benefit for women, regardless of family status or Women posals to the NEC they either get passed because the NEC doesn't want to be seen to oppose them, or the NEC refers them back to the NAC.

Example

To take one example, the last Annual Delegate Conference called for an inquiry into women's involvement in the union at all levels. Nothing was done until last November when the NEC called on the NAC to do the work. The NAC pushed it back to the NEC, arguing that it was the NEC's iob to make an inquiry and improve women's position in the union - and criticised the NEC for delaying, and ieaving insufficient time before the next ADC in May, to carry out the inquiry:

This situation will only be resolved when there are nationality. 5. Improved training for women, especially apprenticeships for young women.

It was generally agreed that these demands could not be won in a capitalist system. But there was a call for unemployed women's groups to be set up, to organise women to fight for these demands, with a national conference planned for the spring.

West German women are also organising for improved abortion rights. The Catholic Church has just officially launched a national anti-abortion (sorry, pro-life) campaign, with a series of local rallies, with some backing from the Protestant church. The Church is expecting support from the new CDU/FDP (Conservative/ Liberal) coalition government which looks likely to be returned at the Spring And of course, in campaigning against abortion, the Church is helping foster a climate of opinion more women on the NEC, through whom the NAC can have a direct input.

Are you trying to increase women's representation on the NEC?

Yes. At the moment only one member of the NEC of 24 is a woman - despite the fact that 20% of ASTMS members are women. I think only three women have ever stood for ine NEC - and one of them was me. But we have just won agreement in principle from the NEC to set up women's seats. Letters have gone out to divisions asking how this should be organised.

The NEC is proposing two national women's seats, elected by all the members. The women elected would have to represent all 16 divisions.

My Divisional Advisory Committee, on the other hand, is calling for four seats, each elected woman responsible for four divisions and thus answeral to a clear section of the numbers and ask to fight for their demands.

Nothing can change, however, until the 1984 Rules Revision Conference.

If we win women's seats on the NEC, the future will be much better. We will be able to exert more pressure on the NEC, and hopefully establish effective contact with the industrial sectors. The NAC will still be vital - possibly even more than now. Women NEC members will need the support of the NAC, and their work will be complementary. Do you think other unions should have a Women's National Advisory Committee?

Yes. In most unions, women members are under-represented on the leadership bodies. Until we get equal representation, NACS are the only way of pushing forward on women's issues. This means not only taking up questions which affect women, but making it more possible for women to be active in their union.

sed which will help the right be elected.

Pro-abortion rights campaigning in West Germany is done by the '218-groups', who held a national conference in Hanover on December 4-5. (Paragraph 218 is the anti-abortion clause in West Germany's constitution).

The fifty women from 17 different towns who attended discussed ways of campaigning against this attack, but also discussed the current campaigning around the Dortmund decision' This is the recent case where a court ruled in favour of a woman who protested that she was being forced to finance abortions by paying her 'National Insurance' contributions. The case has now gone to appeal.

The conference has called a national demonstration on February 26 for 'A Woman's Right to Choose' Jenny Fisher

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