TUC Women's Conference Report

WOMEN FIGHTING AGAINST THE CUTS
Cuts in childcare benefits; cuts to welfare services, cuts to the National Health Service; cuts to our social services; cuts to jobs in the public sector; cuts to the Equality budget; public sector pay freeze and why not accelerate women’s retirement age and reform public sector pension at the same time. By George what a budget!

Delegates attending the 81st TUC Women’s Conference were united in condemning the Coalition’s budget. Unite; the union kicking off with Composite No. 1 said they had never known before “such vicious attacks on our terms and conditions”. Delegates heard how the cuts were aimed at the working class; it was an attack on the poor, women in low paid low status employment and the most vulnerable in our society. Linda Roy, CWU National Equality Officer, said: “the scale of the cuts and the timeframe in which the cuts came into force was unprecedented”. Apparently, the Coalition’s big society is one where women: “should be marginalised and their participation limited to that of unpaid carer; unpaid social worker, unpaid nurse and everything that is unpaid”, she continued. Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary proved through statistics how ‘deeply and unfair’ the budget was to women when compared to men.

In the year marking the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, unequal pay still persists despite legislation. Maria Exall, National Executive Committee member speaking on Composite 3 said: “the disappointment to us in the CWU is that the Equality Act 2010 did not include mandatory pay audits for private sector employers”. Continuing she said: “we have to follow through the minimalist procedures in the Equality Act for voluntary gender pay gap reporting in the private sector…” It was fitting therefore when one delegate said: “The price of progress is eternal vigilance” Despite the shortcomings of the 2010 Equality Act, delegates were determined to make the Act work “for us”. In doing so, they were cognisance of the importance to ‘engage’, ‘corporate’, ‘unite’ and provide robust ‘data’ to influence intended outcome.

The debate around public sector pension was highly charged, particularly coming on the morning of the release of the Hutton Report. Vera Kesley, CWU drew conference’s attention to the unfair and disproportionate impact the changes will have on women’s pension when she said: “women born between 6th March 1954 and 5th April 1954 would have been due to get their state pension on 6th March 2018….they will now have to wait until 6th March 2020”. Continuing the theme the National Assembly of Women circulated a factsheet showing women who were born between 6th April 1953 and 6th April 1955 will work an extra 8 to 52 weeks and have a shortfall of £817.20 to £5,311.80 on their full basic state pension under the Pensions Bill.

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary mindful of the anger against the cuts, told conference that unions can expect the TUC’s full support if they decide to take industrial action. Already Saturday 26th March is on the calendar for a March against the cuts.

Other emotive debates were around mental health services; child poverty; young people; university fees and proposed cuts to the local maternity services. Showing unity and solidarity, delegates expressed sympathy and support to their Japanese sisters who had within the last 24 hours experienced one of the biggest tsunami of the last century. For as women we know that what happens in one part of the world affects another part of the world. And as one delegate reminded conference: “women are extraordinary, but we have never been brought up to value ourselves”. Altogether the 81st TUC Women’s conference was in unison and agreed the motions on the agenda.

14th March 2011