in UNISON

As a result of the ensuing debates two
employers have responded with agreement
to draw up specific policies on supporting
women and the menopause.
The other two sessions that attract high
attendance are on sickness absence and
supporting Black workers.
Many women workers with conditions that
are probably disabilities feel unjustly
penalised by their employer’s absences
procedures. The lunch and learn session
provides information that may help in tackling
women’s situations.
Supporting Black workers lunch and learn
discussed Challenging Racism in the
Workplace and was attended by many Black
women workers.
The 2015 regional plan had a separate section
on discrimination focussing on harassment
and bullying and on sickness absence. The
women’s network participated in the
discussions that resulted in these two issues
being prioritised. Two surveys on the issues
were circulated to members during
September 2015 and a report of the results is
currently being drafted. The aim is to see
which branches have issues which should be
raised at collective bargaining meetings. This
will include women’s experiences of
harassment and bullying and of sickness
absence procedures. This will involve asking
employers for relevant statistics on the
women they employ to enable analysis that
shows where sex discrimination is occurring.
Scrub the TUB! Protect women’s employment
rights is the regional women’s network’s
response to the Trade Union Bill. The
network feels that campaigning against the
bill should focus on worker’s rights as
opposed to defending trade unions.
The network has produced a flyer explaining
that the bill would severely restrict women
workers’ rights to organise together to defend
their employment rights. Women workers
have organised at work for nearly 150 years
to improve their working conditions. The TU
Bill could take us back to when women were
scrubbing in tubs – leaving us unable to
adequately protect maternity, equal pay, child
care support and other rights. Women
workers fought long and hard for their right
to join trade unions.
Women from the network were involved in
the health and safety committee’s briefing
event for stewards on domestic abuse. The
guest speaker at the event was UNISON’s
national women’s officer Sharon Greene.
Material from national women’s organisations
(Women’s Aid, National Abortion Campaign,
Fawcett Society) has been regularly circulated to
all members of the women’s network. This has
also helped with local organising and campaigning
and has supported women in branches to set up
local UNISON women groups.
Two equality network meetings have been held
this year which the network have been actively
involved with. These have provided opportunities
for networking and joint working with the other
regional SOGs. Conference skills sessions
continue to be held for new delegates to national
women’s conference.
Greater London
A lot of work was done at the beginning of
the year and subsequently things have been
quieter due to the cancellation of our July
meeting because of the tube strike!
We held our AGM in October; all the key
positions have been filled via an election
process. We have made a decision to extend
the AGM to 3 hours to enable us to have a
guest speaker. Attendance at the AGM was
higher this year than previous years. The
guest speaker was Anne Field from
Britain@work Oral History Group; she gave a
very informative presentation about the
Wapping Dispute and how interviews with
workers are being used to capture what really
happened and not just a media view of what
happened.
Work centred around two key aims this year:
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