“In South Africa they used to chant ‘when you strike a woman, you have struck a rock.’ David Cameron, you have struck a rock.” That was general secretary Dave Prentis’s message to the prime minister at UNISON’s women’s conference in Brighton today.
Mr Prentis praised UNISON’s women members, fighting against cuts that are hitting women three times harder than men.
“You women in UNISON,” he added, “are the rock that Clegg and Cameron will not break.”
Delegate after delegate spoke of the battle for decent pensions, cuts to jobs and hours, and attacks on terms and conditions.
Eleanor Gibbins from the young members forum warned that low pay, student debt and rising living costs would make it tough for young people to pay into pensions. And she urged delegates to get out and talk to young women about the value of a pension.
Natasha Nicholson from the Northern region added that activists had to dissuade young members from abandoning their pensions, making them recognise that “as hard as it may be to believe, one day they will get old.”
And speaking on the threatened increase in retirement age, Eileen Best from the national women’s committee warned of a world where paramedics will work till they’re 68 and “you might end up fighting them for the stretcher.”
Speaking of the impact of public service cuts on women at work, Sharon Williams of the West Midlands said: “If you haven’t got the message that we are being treated unfairly, then you are one of those from Mars.”
These cuts were part of a “triple attack” on women: job cuts, public service cuts and benefit cuts, the conference heard.
The number of women being thrown out of work was going up, public services relied on by women such as Sure Start, domestic violence support and school breakfast clubs were being chopped, and the qualifying hours for working tax credits would increase from 16 to 24 in April.
“Cuts hurt women more,” declared the Northern region’s Josie Bird. “And they don’t just want to cut our public services – their ambition is far loftier,” she said, warning of the government’s real aim to privatise and fragment public services.
Kate Groucutt of the Daycare Trust spoke of the organisation’s joint campaign with UNISON to protect the “vital lifeline” of Sure Start children’s centres. She spoke of “a fantastic response from parents around the country, who are willing to fight for their local services.”
Delegates warned that the government was using jargon to mask the truth, and that talk of “3.5 full-time equivalents” jobs being lost could equal “15 part-time, low-paid women” losing their hours.
UNISON’s charity There for You was praised and branch welfare officers namechecked by the East Midlands’ Lorraine Avery, as “the first and last line of defence in protecting our members’ dignity.”
Women are in fighting spirit, as one delegate from the South East region warned David Cameron. “There are 1.4 million of us, and one day you’re going to walk round the corner and bump into one of us.”