City of Stoke On Trent Branch  - Womens Officer 

Sheila Sidley, Social Services, Burslem Day Centre - 01782 233850
[email protected]

The  role is to:

  1. Advise the branch and branch committee in respect of matters relating to women's issues.
  2. Advise the branch officers and committee on the development and monitoring of any action plan to achieve proportionality and fair representation in conjunction with the equality officer.
  3. Advise and support the development of a self organised women's group on behalf of the branch committee.
  4. Develop and promote training opportunities for women within the branch.
  5. Advise and where appropriate represent individual female members in liaison with the appropriate Convenor.

Hitting home at work about domestic violence

A quarter of all women in the UK experience some form of domestic abuse. And this affects their position in the workplace. Celestine Laporte looks at how employers can do much more to help

Domestic violence is often couched in euphemisms. "They’re having a domestic", "It’s a private matter" or "It’s family stuff", but the light-heartedness of the terms belies the serious nature of this often hidden crime.

A quarter of all women in the UK experience domestic violence either from a partner or ex-partner at some time in their lives and two women die every week at the hands of the perpetrator of this abuse. Scotland Yard recently launched an advertising campaign to highlight the extent of the problem.

Click here to read the full, interesting article.

A MILLION WOMEN STRONG
Yes, there are nearly a million women in UNISON - two thirds of its members. We've got a long way to go, though, before that two thirds is reflected in the number of stewards, branch officers and national committee members who are women.

But UNISON is committed to changing all that.  One of UNISON's founding principles is that "proportionality" and "fair representation" should be achieved at all levels of the union by the year 2000. And it will take the women in UNISON to make that work. 

Getting a Balance Getting Started
Proportionality means that your elected representatives at all levels of the union should reflect the numbers of women and men in the electorate.

So for example, if half the members of your branch are women, then half the stewards and branch officers should be too.

And if two thirds of your service group members are women, then two thirds of that service group's national executive should be women.

Fair representation is the same principle, but it means creating a balance between part time and full time workers, manual and non-manual, different occupations, skills, qualifications, responsibilities, race, sexuality and disability.

It looks complicated but it means that by the 21st century UNISON will be the most modern, democratic and representative union in the UK. 

Getting a Better Deal
All this work isn't just for its own sake. We all joined a union because we want a better deal. Demands vital to women's working lives are already high on UNISON's agenda, but it will take women to push them through - and to develop new ones. UNISON campaigns:
  • for equal pay for work of equal value
  • for full-time rights for part-time workers
  • for better childcare facilities
  • for fairer pensions
  • against low pay
  • against sexual harassment and domestic violence

 
If you're not active in your branch, now is the time.

Every branch should be developing a programme to achieve these aims, including an action plan to set targets.

It'll need a lot of work, plus a lot of advice on the things women know most about:

  • making meetings friendly and informal
  • helping with childcare and carers' support
  • ensuring that part-time and shift workers are able to play a full part in their union
  • encouraging more women to get involved, using the trade union training UNISON provides.

Getting Women Together
At the same time as giving women a bigger say in UNISON branches, regions, and service groups, the union has four self-organised groups:
  • women members
  • black members
  • disabled members
  • lesbian and gay members

There are women's groups at branch and regional levels, and there is a National Women's Committee, with reps from each region.

If you are not yet active in your branch women's group, why not join?

And if there isn't one already, why not get together with some friends and start one up?

Could be fun..........

Getting A Better World
It is women who are often hardest hit by cuts. As the largest public service union UNISON works to protect and improve the services our members provide and we all rely on. We campaign for:
  • proper funding for care in the community
  • better under-fives provision
  • a fair; high quality, patient-centred health service
  • decent housing for everyone

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TUC commits to a fair deal for women

(14/9/04) The trade union movement will campaign to make a fair deal for women a reality, thanks to an initiative from UNISON. The TUC in Brighton today overwhelmingly backed a UNISON motion calling for an end to pay discrimination faced by women in all sectors. Women working full time still earn, on average, 19 per cent less than men. Term-time and part-time working are areas where women are particularly at risk of discrimination and where pay is estimated to be at just 40% of the hourly pay of men working full-time.

UNISON's Jane Carolan, told delegates that women should not have to beg to be treated equally to men. "Women took industrial action to achieve equal pay and those efforts led to the Equal Pay Act of 1970," she said. "But nearly three generations later in 2004 while we’ve had 30 odd years of equal pay legislation we don’t have equal pay. So when Blair talks of eradicating the gender pay gap in another generation, there is only one answer – No. We’ve waited long enough."

Carolan also pointed out where the income gap exists the pensions gap follows. "Poor women workers become even poorer women pensioners." She ended by calling on congress to make the women’s agenda the bedrock and foundation of our work.
"We want progress. We want it now. Don’t just support the motion. Organise."

The TUC agreed to campaign for:

effective equal pay legislation;
mandatory pay audits and full funding to tackle the gender pay gap across the economy, in particular the public sector;
a requirement on private contractors to carry out pay audits;
a requirement on employers to promote equal treatment for part-time workers;
investment in training and career development;
flexible arrangements for all women workers who have care responsibilities for children, elders and other dependants;
action to ensure equal access to pension schemes and their benefits;
funded initiatives to encourage work/life balance.

The campaign will also ensure that:

A 'fair deal for women' becomes a political reality;
Initiatives to close the gender pay gap are fully funded, legally enforceable, and address past inequalities, as a matter of urgency.

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Action Demanded Over Failure To Protect Pregnant Workers

06/09/04 - The Equal Opportunities commission called on the government to act after revealing that around a thousand women in England and Wales take legal action every year because they say they were sacked for getting pregnant.  Click here to read more.
11/08/04 - An in-depth survey of 450 English Workplaces has found gaps in employers knowledge of what they need to be offering their pregnant staff. Click here to read more.

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Women more at risk of poverty in retirement

(9/9/04) A large number of women could face poverty in retirement because of a "gender pensions gap", according to research from the Association of British Insurers. Its results show that up to 4.5 million working women do not save enough for retirement; and another 4.5 million women are not saving at all. The report states that 35% of women do not belong to a pension scheme compared to 25% of men and, even when they do save, more than half of women contribute less than £100 per month to their pension.

Women are also less likely to benefit from employer contributions with only 9% of women receiving an employer contribution of more than 5% of wages, compared to 15% of men; and 83% of retired women have a total personal income of less then £1,000 per month compared with just 58% of men.

Women struggle to save because they tend to work in low paid jobs and their work is more likely to be disrupted by childcare. They are also more likely to face poverty in old age because they tend to retire earlier and live longer than men.

UNISON senior pensions officer Glyn Jenkins said that one option would be to force employers to contribute at least 10% of pay to a pension fund.

"Many women are employed in low-paid jobs and, as a result, are not offered good final salary schemes," he explained.
"They have no choice but to join stakeholder and money purchase schemes which have totally inadequate employer contributions."

The report suggests that women also need more education and information to encourage them to save but Jenkins does not believe this to be one of the core problems. "While some women may be ill-informed about pensions, many choose not to make contributions because they see little value in it if they will not end up with a decent pension at the end of it."

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NEW MATERNITY REGULATIONS IN A NUTSHELL!!
Note: Maternity Leave Always Starts Week Commencing Sunday!!
  Ordinary Maternity Leave (OMN) Additional Maternity Leave (AML)
Qualifying Week Entitled to 26 weeks OML regardless of service At least 26 weeks continuous service by the end of the 15th week before EWC
Earliest Start Date of Maternity Leave 11 weeks before EWC 11 weeks before EWC
Compulsory Maternity Leave (CML) 2 weeks after childbirth or 4 weeks if the mother is a factory worker 2 weeks after childbirth of 4 weeks if the mother is a factory worker 
Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) 26 weeks 26 weeks
Additional Maternity Leave (AML)  Not applicable UP to 26 weeks from the end of the OML
Council Initiated Maternity Leave Start Date Starts automatically at birth, of if absent for pregnancy related reasons on or after the beginning of the 4th week of EWC Starts automatically at birth, or if absent for pregnancy related reasons on or after the beginning of the 4th week before EWC
SMP Payment Qualification Maternity allowance is made by the Benefits Agency at the current DSS rate Not applicable
SMP at higher rate DSS rules apply 6 weeks
SMP at lower rate DSS rules apply 20 weeks
Normal Company Deductions (eg Pension etc) Not applicable Normal council deductions continue for the first 6 weeks
Notification to Council of date on which Maternity Leave Commences Not applicable Normal Council deductions continue for the first 6 weeks
Employers response to notification The Council must respond in writing within 28 days of receipt of notification, stating expected date of return The Council must respond in writing within 28 days of receipt of notification stating expected date of return
Notice required to return to work Nil if returning after statutory OML period Nil if returning after statutory OML and AML period
Notification of intention to Return before end of Normal Maternity Leave 28 days written notification 28 days written notification
Employers right to delay return to work Employer can postpone return to work until 28 days from the date the employee informs the Council that she would like to return early Employer can postpone return to work until 28 days from the date the employee informs the Council that she would like to return early
Failure to return from Maternity Leave due to Sickness Needs to be covered by a medical certificate, then normal sickness procedure applies Needs to be covered by a medical certificate, then normal sickness procedure applies 
Employee's role on return from Maternity Leave Return to same position Return to same position if possible, but dependant on business needs, a suitable alternative position may be offered (Legal definition)
Health cover  (if applicable) Yes Yes
Holiday entitlement accrued during maternity leave 26 weeks entitlement Normal entitlement during maternity leave period up to a maximum of 20 days