Forms are now online for the Women’s Conference/AGM on 10 October in Dundee. Deadline is 14 September. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/women/index.htmlRead more…
Minority report
Two reports out today (Monday July 27) both point to the budget and austerity cuts to public services having a greater impact on black and ethnic minorities and women. Up to four million…Read more…
Unite Rules Conference – day three
The main excitement on Wednesday was motion 2/1 from the Executive Council, which removed “so far as may be lawful from rule “2.1 The objects of the Union shall, as far as may be lawful, be:”. Len McCluskey gave a great speech arguing why it was …Read more…
Caring for Carers
This week is Carers Week and 2015 has been the year of the carer for ATL, and whether we are talking about adult carers or young carers, many of the same issues have been brought to the fore. At all…Read more…
Celebrating 30 years of Women in the Fire Service
This year we celebrate 30 years of women in the fire service. It is also time to say farewell to Paddington, London, White Watch manager Sian Griffiths, who is retiring after 30 years. One of the…Read more…
Change society so women can live free from violence
#stuc15 Gender equality is at the root of violence against women and girls and the STUC will campaign to keep this issue at the heart of the agenda for all public bodies in Scotland. Delegates commended the Scottish Government’s “Equally Safe” strategy and the STUC pledged to lend its full support to groups campaigning to build a Scotland free from violence against women and girls.
SupportingRead more…
We ignore gender at our peril when creating a working future for young women
Trade unions have been at the forefront of fighting for women and men to be treated fairly and to avoid discrimination in the workplace. As Chief Executive of a charity working with and on behalf of young women as they enter employment for the first time I wouldn’t, of course, argue that this isn’t…Read more…
More men called John run big companies than all women
Not that there is anything wrong with being called John but this blatant sexism and inequality is a nonsense. It is also simply bad for business if you exclude half the world from the the potential pool of talent to recruit from. The picture above is f…Read more…
We’re not a soft option
An inspiring tale of worker solidarity and canny campaigning had women on their feet and clapping on the first day (March 18) of the Unite women’s conference in the Floral Hall, Eastbourne. They rose from their chairs after delegate Sara Kasab told how worker solidarity triumphed over zero hours contracts – when Unite […]
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After the crisis: is gender equality back on track?
Women’s employment is at a record high and the full-time gender pay gap is narrowing. But is the steady progress towards greater gender equality in the UK’s workplaces really back on track? The headlines mask some significant labour market changes for women in the years since the financial crash…Read more…
No muck and bullets
‘Quality and equality’ were the recurring themes during the launch of Thinking about an apprenticeship, Unite’s guide for young women considering a career in engineering and science. The booklet sparked a debate around gender, jobs and education when it was unveiled this week (March 10) at Solihull College. Currently just seven per cent of […]
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Pay gap revelations?
Despite the enormous strides women have made in gaining gender equality, the dream of equal pay for equal work is still far from becoming a reality. The pay gap between men and women remains stubbornly high at almost 20 per cent. And this average figure obscures more alarming gender pay gap trends among different […]
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Women apprenticeships call
A new Unite guide aimed at encouraging women into engineering and science apprenticeships, Women apprentices, has been launched today (March 10) with the help of Labour MP, Gloria de Piero. As part of the pink bus ‘woman to woman’ tour of 70 key constituencies Labour’s shadow minister for women and equalities took time to speak […]
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Struggling to survive
The so-called “record numbers” in which women are in work obscures an inconvenient truth – that women are hurting now more than ever. A new TUC report published today (March 9) has found that women have been overwhelmingly funnelled into part-time, low-paid jobs over the past year, with less than half of women’s net […]
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The ‘un-statued’ women
Female figures from history are virtually invisible. Think of the statues in London alone — where are the women? Not in Trafalgar Square, nor in Parliament Square. In fact, of the 640 listed statues in Britain, only 15 per cent are of women. In London it’s a measly 7 per cent. One such “un-statued” […]
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Women – we got the power
In water cooler moments up and down the land everyone agrees that the fast approaching general election will be ‘the closest ever’. All political parties are now scrambling to maximise their vote on May 7. But on what will the result hinge? Might it be the expected meltdown of the Lib Dems, the […]
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Union women can defeat the Con Dems
#unwc15 UNISON NEC member Jane Carolan writes in the Morning Star on the potential influence of the union’s women members on the outcome of the upcoming General Election: ‘The country can afford the…Read more…
Scrap plans for new women’s prison, urges UNISON Scotland
Tuesday 13 January 2015
UNISON Scotland, the public services union with many members working in Criminal Justice services has urged the Scottish Government to scrap their plans to build a new Women’s prison.
The union has written to Justice Secretary Michael Matheson saying that a tendering exercise for the construction of a new jail near Greenock should be halted.
The plans go against expertRead more…
#DecentJobsWeek: “I’m the last mother standing”
If you listen to the government, you could be forgiven for believing that women’s labour market position is better than ever before. It’s certainly true that women’s employment rate is up, and women’s unemployment rate is down. But what this positive picture of women at work doesn’t show us…Read more…
Guilty of being pregnant, and telling truth at job interview
WHEN we were young it was considered a feature unique to faraway totalitarian regimes, and unimaginable in Britain, that the state should dictate to couples whether they could have children, or…Read more…