- Conference
- 2022 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2022
- Decision
- Carried
Our Women members are our greatest asset.
Conference welcomes the election of Christina McAnea as the first woman General Secretary of a major trade union. Representing more than a million women working across the range of public services, UNISON with its commitment to lay democracy and proportionality and fair representation enshrined within our rule book are in a unique position to ensure that women’s voices and experiences are heard at all levels of government as representatives, negotiators, and leaders.
The pandemic has clearly demonstrated the roles that women have had in the workplace. Whilst some were able to work from home, the jobs of others meant that these women had to go into workplaces, into schools, into people’s homes and were reliant on UNISON to ensure that they were safe, protected and appropriately rewarded. It became very clear that the experiences of women workers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were very different to those of England as restrictions differed in the four countries.
Conference recognises that employers continue to under value the work of our low paid women members. No service can exist without the cleaners, caters, clerical and care workers that are predominately women.
Additionally, the experiences of Black women, disabled women, LBGT+ women, young women and older women became more distinct as the impact of the pandemic illustrated the risks and dangers that women experience.
Conference believes that it remains vitally important that UNISON continues to reflect the diversity of its membership both within our internal structures and externally with our relationships with the TUC, Scottish TUC, Welsh TUC (WTUC) and Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), the Labour Party and our international trade union partners.
UNISON’s structures try to ensure that low paid women are represented at all levels of the union. However we recognise that organising in the sectors that are predominately low paid and female is challenging, that there remain barriers to low paid women’s involvement and that more work is needed to involve more low paid women in the union.
Many of our lowest paid women members are working for employers in contracted public services and are the hardest to reach and secure facility time for. Conference welcomes any proposals bought forward that can improve participation for this group of members.”
Conference is deeply saddened by the actions of the National Executive Council to fundamentally change the lay representatives on the TUC General Council so there are no longer any Black women on the UNISON delegation or the voices of anyone who does not live or work in England.
Conference welcomes the development of the Membership Engagement Project and the exploratory work that has been done with women who meet the earnings limit for UNISON’s reserved seats. These women are the backbone of our union and experience many barriers to get involved in our union. Some of these barriers are practical but others are very much cultural and there is a piece of work to be done to ensure that women are supported and empowered to challenge and change our union.
Conference believes that the views of and active involvement of low paid women in developing our bargaining and campaigning priorities is essential to ensure they are relevant and that they inspire these members to get active and to increase recruitment.
Conference therefore calls on the National Executive Council to work with the National Women’s Committee, Regions, Private Contractors Forum, Service Groups and the other self-organised groups to:
1) Conduct a review of low paid women’s involvement in the union;
2) Convene a seminar of all low paid women elected onto the National Executive Council and Service Group Executives to consider proposals for improving the involvement of low paid women and to review current bargaining priorities to ensure they are appropriate to this group of members;
3) Work towards developing a programme which will support and mentor women activists into leadership roles in branches and regions;
4) Work towards recognising that the different experiences of women in all 4 countries of the UK need to be reflected in all work plans at a UK level. However, sometimes there is the need for a specific piece of work which is only applicable in one country in which case it should be clearly highlighted which of the countries this applies to;
5) Develop a strategy for increased recruitment, organising and campaigning around issues relevant to low paid women (and) target work to increase the participation of women who meet the earnings criteria for the reserved seats in UNISON elections;
6) Consider setting up a commission to look at the barriers to low paid women’s involvement with our union and to find ways to address these.