Unions & Equalities

Fighting fire in the class struggle

In 2018 the Fire Brigades Union, which organises operational firefighters, fire control staff, fire brigade officers and others in the UK fire and rescue service, celebrated its hundredth anniversary as an independent union. For its centenary the FBU has published a book, Fighting Fire , about the last thirty years of its history. (For centenary resources on the FBU website, see www.fbu.org.uk/centenary . For an interview focused on this that FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack did with The Clarion in May, see 'One hundred years of the Fire Brigades Union' .) The FBU is a fairly small union...

RMT elects first woman president

Michelle Rodgers has been elected president of the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers (RMT), becoming the first woman president in the union’s history. She won a comprehensive victory, with 7,198 votes; her two opponents, Steve Shaw and Jamie Nickles, took 4,598 and 443 votes respectively. Michelle works for Arriva Rail North at Manchester Piccadilly, where she is a local union rep, and has previously served on the union’s National Executive Committee. She is also the secretary of her RMT branch, Manchester South. The national presidential position is the RMT’s most senior...

The issues behind the Glasgow equal pay strike

Up to 8,000 Glasgow City Council workers, members of the GMB and Unison, took part in last week’s two-day equal pay strike. For 48 hours only emergency cover was available in home care services. Primary schools and nursery schools were closed. Secondary schools were open, but without a school-meals service. Workers in Glasgow’s four refuse and recycling centres refused to cross picket lines, bringing refuse collection to a halt for the duration of the strike. Some parking attendants and museum and libraries staff also refused to cross picket lines. The strike – the largest equal pay strike in...

Industrial news in brief

GMB and Unison picket lines covered Glasgow on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 October in a two-day strike by City Council employees. A lunchtime demonstration on the first day of the strike also saw four thousand people march through Glasgow to a rally in front of the City Chambers. It was the biggest strike for equal pay in British history. The target was years of pay discrimination against City Council women employees, resulting from the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR) which was introduced and defended by successive Labour administrations The then Labour-controlled Council rejected the...

Harassment on the Tube

With a recent reported rise in sexual assault and harassment on public transport, we publish an abridged version of a speech made by Janine Booth at an event organised by Islington Labour Party women’s forum. I have worked on London Underground for twenty-one-and-a-half years. Throughout that time, sexual assault and harassment against women passengers and staff have been a constant presence. And now we have Night Tube. It’s a great job, and mostly passengers are great – mostly they’ve had a night out, had a great time, maybe had one too many, and we help them get home. However, a minority of...

Industrial news in brief

Last week we reported the wildcat strike by workers at the “community owned” Ivy House pub in South London, members of the Bakers’ Union. In this case “community owned” meant more “Big Society” than “workers’ control”. Shortly after the last Solidarity went to press on Tuesday 2 October, the Ivy House workers, who had kept the pub shut down completely for three days, won completely. The union is recognised, zero hours contracts will be replaced by fixed hours ones, and the four sacked workers are reinstated with back pay until a disciplinary process has ended. The nature of the Ivy House and...

Tesco equal pay fight

Tesco faces an equal pay claim over pay gaps between its mainly female shop floor staff and its mainly male warehouse and distribution staff. Law firm Leigh Day has submitted claims through Acas on behalf of 100 shop workers, This is likely to be followed by a submission to an employment tribunal. Similar cases are currently in the employment tribunal process against Asda and Sainsbury′s. In the Asda case the latest ruling from the employment tribunal was that shop workers have the right to compare their jobs to workers in distribution centres. The legal case has argued that the jobs contain a...

The “perks” of the old boy networks

Revelations by Financial Times undercover journalists, about the sexual harassment which took place at an event held by the men-only fundraising charity the Presidents Club, will come as little surprise to women who have worked in the hospitality industry. Many of the guests were quick to promote their “good boys who left by nine and didn’t see any funny business” credentials, yet seem to see no problem in the concept of an all-male event with all-female waiting staff who had been told to wear short, tight, dresses. It was obvious from the set up that these women were meant to be objects of...

Weinstein case exposes reality of work-related sexual assaults

Dozens of women have come forward accusing the famous Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, of sexual harassment, assault and rape, with some cases dating back to the 1980s. Many women detail how he would corner them asking for sexual favours with the clear implication that he could make or break their careers. Mainstream media, celebrities, and even politicians are condemning the actions of Weinstein and sending messages of solidarity to the survivors of Weinstein’s assaults. And now the hashtag #Metoo is trending, where women from all over the world share their stories of sexual harassment...

Industrial news in brief

National Union of Teachers (NUT) members at Forest Hill School in Lewisham will strike again on 20, 25 and 26 April in their campaign against vicious cuts being imposed by management to fulfil conditions of repayment of loan to Lewisham council. There is a demonstration on Saturday 22 April. The proposed restructure at the school is in response to a £1.3m deficit. Lewisham council has given the school a “loan” however they are demanding that the school cuts £800,000 from their wage bill. This would mean a loss of 15 teaching jobs, an escalation in teachers’ workload and a greatly diminished...

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