- Conference
- 2004 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 13 October 2003
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference recognises that women who are active in the union have a commitment to supporting, encouraging and developing women members to enable them to deal with the many and varied problems arising from work.
Conference also recognises that in providing a quality service to members, women activists are often discriminated against at branch and regional level. This discrimination comes from a variety of sources inside the union, making the behaviour much harder to understand and deal with.
Many women active in UNISON are low paid, part-time or term time workers who are very much aware of the barriers and difficulties placed before women members at work. They commit a high proportion of their own time to the union, juggling work, home and family in the process.
UNISON is a member-led union. It consistently promotes equality and fairness and encourages us to challenge discrimination wherever and whenever it happens. It is therefore concerning that women in some branches and regions find themselves subjected to unacceptable behaviour from work colleagues as a result of their trade union activities; from branches and regions because of their status, age and their need to balance work and family life.
Without the hard work, commitment and development of women, UNISON could not deliver effectively to members. Local lay representatives are the union’s most valuable asset. They need to be listened to, and more importantly, heard at the highest level of the union structures. Conference is proud of UNISON’s rule book commitment to proportionality and fair representation. We must ensure that that commitment informs all UNISON’s activists.
Conference instructs National Women’s Committee to:
1)work with the National Executive Council and regional women’s groups to develop a strategy to ascertain the nature and extent of the problems within branches and regions;
2)liaise with the National Executive Council to review, update and reinforce UNISON policy guidelines on discrimination within the union in line with Rule A.3;
3)work with regional women’s groups in guiding and advising women on appropriate ways of dealing with discrimination, ensuring that they are not marginalised or excluded further;
4)Set in place a system for monitoring progress and change.