- Conference
- 2011 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 29 September 2010
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is alarmed at Birmingham City Council’s threat to remove additional allowances, night shift enhance pay, car allowances and entitlement of meals which forms part of the employees terms and condition of employment, the most effected will be low paid and part time female workers as well as Black female workers who depend on this additional pay to make up their salary. Also a large proportion of their salary consists of weekend rate and the night shift allowance. Some of these women are the only income earners in the family and will therefore bear the brunt of any cuts. For example, a female worker in a school kitchen working fifteen hours per week may take home less than five thousand pounds per year and less than four hundred pounds per month, the proposed changes will mean that she loses one month salary annually plus her meal entitlement.
These proposals are as a direct result of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government’s attack on public sector spending, so it is of no surprise that an equality impact assessment has not been carried out to establish the potential negative impact this is likely to have on female workers, thus giving the impression that Birmingham City Council does not value the good work that is undertaken by its low paid female workers.
Conference therefore calls upon the National Women’s Committee to work with the NEC and other relevant bodies:
1)To raise awareness of the impact these changes will have on the lives of low paid female workers within the public sector.
2)Work with branches, regions and regional women’s groups, including the NEC and service groups to continue to gather information on the impact of the cuts as part of the campaign to defend public services
3)Lobby national and local government to prevent cuts in the public sector with recognition of its impact on low paid female workers.