[in 350 WOMEN packed into Kingsway Princeton college…]

Scan page 6

in 350 WOMEN packed into Kingsway Princeton college in London for the Women's Fightback 'Women in Trade Unions' conference on the 27th.

Chairing the conference, Anne Marie Sweeney pointed to the betrayals that women fighting for their rights have met time and again from leaders in the unions who were, in practically every case, well-heeled bureaucrats..

Rachel Lever, speaking for Fightback, explained, «We've called this conference because we want to accelerate and help to develop the women's movement that is growing in the trade unions.

"A recession, mass un. employment, and a hostile Tory government is a classic situation when women's rights get jettisoned and women are driven into the home and with it into political and industrial invisibility. We don't have all the time in the world. If we don't organise ourselves now, the opportunity may be lost.

"The bureaucrats will aave food ig we went of So the conference opened with an impressive and inspiring group of women militants.

Siobhan Lanigan from Foyles, sacked for organising workers into USDAW, then kicked in the teeth by that union leadership. Rita Maxim from St Mary's Hospital. Louise O'Connor from Barking teachers, on strike for several weeks.

Winnie Murphy, NUTGW shop steward, spoke on behalf of the Rulecan women. In the afternoon, Teresa Gunn from Edinburgh Unemployed Association spoke for the Plesseys occupation sold out only days before, and NUPE shop steward Anna Lunts outlined the fight hospital workers in ManThe 1980s have shown that women are by far the most determined and militant fighters in the trade unions. Perhaps not having been encouraged into full participation in the trade union network does have one positive aspect. They are not embroiled in a mesh of procedure and negotiation, have not been sucked close to the official leadership's deadly collaboration with management.

They. are not cushioned against the harsh problems of life, of speed-up, low pay, of knowing you'll never get another job if this one is lost, of not knowing what will do if the kids' you nursery is cut or an elderly relative can't get into an old people's home.

recourse Women workers are not sitting pretty, happy with the perks and privileges this system has to offer them.

Their only recourse is to fight, and fight they do, as this conference shows, against incredible odds, and always against their trade union leaders.

One thing that emerged from the conference was the dilemma for the trade union bureaucracy. On the one hand they have to give some chester were waging, pointing out that nurses were 'not angels _ but breadwinners' There were over 30 workshops, and it is impossible to report on them all here, though in future issues of Socialist Urganiser we wul -211 be covering the decisions and resolutions drafted by these workshops.

An important and illuminating contribution to the conference was made by women from Sisters Against Disablement.

A blind sister asked wnmen who wore classes or have back trouble or TIMAN difficulty hearing to put their hands up. Most women did.

And she pointed out that disabled or partially disabled women are far more numerous than is normally thought, and there is so little provision made at conferences and meetings to cater for disabilities. It doesn't cost much to provide them. Many women commented afterwards that they just hadn't thought about it before, but would in future.

After the conference, over 100 women stayed on to watch the brilliant film 'Rosie the Riveter' [which Fightback groups should hire and show in their areas]. Using old US newsreel propaganda and interviews with women, it graphically shows how women were implored to come into heavy industry (welding, fitting, rivetting, etel during the war and kicked out of their jobs when the men came back.

Then there was a short discussion with Women in Manual Trades.

A thoroughly enjoyable bop was held after that for those who could stand the pace!

Anne Marie Sweeney reports on some of the main trade union workshops kind of response to the pressure coming from the soaring increase in women's membership of trade unions in the late 1960s and early 1970s and also from the increasingly articulate women's movement.

Demanding action

But on the other hand the last thing they wanted was this challenging, militant majority actually fully participating in the union.

After all they were demanding action - not only on questions of equal pay, job losses and working conditions, but also on "social issues" like nursery provision, abortion and gay rights and so on.

Thus the bureaucracy in the TUC and in some individual unions (who couldn't adopt the ignore it and hope it will go away attitude took the easy road of token gestures.

We have the TUC Charter on Women - all fine sentiments but sweet FA in practice. We even had the odd handbook like the TGWU guidelines on getting women into the unions (having just betrayed the unionisation struggles al Trust Houses • Forte, the Randolph Hotel and Garners Steak Houses).

And then, as in NUPE, PHOTO: JOANNE O'BRIEN we have the reserved women's seats, (don't get too excited, these are for hardened female bureaucrats far better placed than their male counterparts to respond to militant women - "Don't bleat at me about your problems, I'm a woman too, you know. I brought up two kids when times were much worse. If I can cope, so can you")

Then there's the different variations on Women's Advisory Committees - all allowed to churn out reports on this and that so long as they don't actually try to advise women members how to take action, ensuring that certain "troublemaking" women are in an advisory and not a policy-making role.

So the problem that we were faced with in the trade union workshops was how 1o best organise ourselves to fight for women's fullest participation in the unions. and for women to remove the present leadership that was stopping us. How to choose methods that weren't easily assimilated or hived off or invalidated by the present leadership. In each of the trade union workshops this discussion took a different form.

In NALGO, far and away the biggest workshop with 60 present, discussion shared experiences of the different openings for women in NALGO. On the surface it would seem that NALGO women have been given the machinery, NALGO has plenty of good literature, a women's subcommittee in Haringey has had hundreds of pounds in grants from the local branch, NALGO nationally has done impres sive research on sexual harassment at work and on childcare provision. The workshop set up a "Women in NALGO" network.

In the NUPE workshop about 20 women discussed the cosmetic gestures this left-sounding union with its Charter on the Under Fives and on School Meals, have made. They heard of the first and only meeting so far of the National Women's Working Party, which sat for an hour listening to the pearls of wisdom of Alan Fisher, who as we all know did so much for NUPE's women members, selling them out on low pay, cuts, pay beds, nurseries, etc.

The word is going around that yes, NUPE may have a full time women's officer to deal with "women's issues".

Ah, but they could appoint a male, because as they say, they • can't have discrimination.

Everyone the workshop was agreed that a dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrat was a dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrat regardless of sex. That did not mean that we did not want positive discrimination for accountable, elected officials on the average wage of NUPE members. Where there are women members in a union they need women to represent them. It was generally agreed that the most effective way to get women involved in the trade unions was a really open democratic structure with union meetings during working time.

One sister from a Sheffield hospital said that they had resolved the question of inactive stewards or those acting against the membership's will by having regular mass meetings in the hospital and throwing out a lot of stewards who just wanted a safe number.

And affiliate your women's group,

women's section, or trade union branch. £5 for a year: write to 41 Ellington St, London N In the COHSE, NUP: and UCW workshops, ther was discussion on the broar left. In the NUPE worksho! it was generally agreed tha there was a clear need for broad left. Activists had hel back from forming on because of the so-called lef image of the union.

The women in the work shop felt that it was imper ațive to begin to form broad left but they wer clear that they didn't war one along the lines of th male-dominated broad left of other unions.

Splintering

In the COHSE worksho] there was a discussio! between a sister from Sout Wales who thought that si! ters there should form socialist-feminist caucus i the union. But Andre Campbell, the founder an chairperson of Group 81 the broad left in COHSE opposed a caucus on thes lines, arguing that sociali: women had set up and don inated the broad left i COHSE and that a separat caucus would be seen as welcome splintering off c these women by Spanswic and the COHSE leadership.

In the NUT workshol many of the sisters wel part of Women in the NU which was engaged in a ver positive fight against th bureaucracy. This worksho discussed the situation Barking and Dagenhar inter-union committees ar the anti-union law's guid lines on picketing.

Tebbit

The morning worksho covered some 30 topics. T biggest covered the fig against Tebbits in the NI women, cuts and cuts in local authori spending.

The workshop on Tebl discussed the effects of t Bill on women and agre to participate in the lobby the TUC Executives on April.

The NH$ worksh discussed the strong mo for joint shop stewards co mittees in the health serv and passed a motion ci ing among other things !

occupations and support striké action, the blacking private medicine, agen work and bonus schemes.

The workshop on une ployed women and benel passed a model resoluti and drew attention to lit publicised attacks on won claimants in the Rayi Report and agreed to ask :

a speaker at the natio Unemployed Workers Mo ment Rally.

The entire confere was very stimulating a exciting with a clear orl tation to challenging existing leadership and h to take action against attacks of the Tories, bosses and local councils.

Scan page 7

Socialist Organiser. Thursday I April 198: Page?