Janine's blog

An ETF Women’s Committee meeting consists of the elected Committee members, representatives of each sector (railways, civil aviation, etc), guests from affiliated trade unions, local women trade unionists (this time, from Antwerp port), and ETF staff. At the next meeting, we will be joined by the newly-elected young women’s representative. I have proposed that RMT arranges for our National Women’s Advisory Committee Chair, Becky Crocker, to attend the next meeting, in March 2015.

Women’s Health and Safety at Work

Women Working at Antwerp Port

Having begun working as a receptionist in 1975, Monique Verbeeck is the first female secretary of the Belgian port union, BTB. She is also the ITF and ETF women port workers’ representative. Monique introduced a deputation of women union activists from the Port of Antwerp, who addressed the meeting and took us on a visit to the port.

A DHL worker told us that port working is no longer entirely a “man’s world”, although it is still male-dominated.

Country Reports

Spain

From 2007, the socialist government introduced equality legislation and a framework to demand action against sexism and harassment. But since then, the situation has been worsened by economic crisis, with equalities driven off the agenda, curbs on collective bargaining, crèches closed, and equality plans dropped.

There has been a “dualisation of the labour market”, a split between secure workers and precarious workers, who are harder to unionise.

MORE STAFF FOR BANK GROUP? YOUR HELP REQUIRED!

RMT put the case for more staff on the group, in particular:

• more weekend staff at Bank
• an additional weekday middle-turn CSA at St. Paul’s
• adjusting staffing at Chancery Lane during the evening peak

If there are other specific times and locations which you would like to be considered, please let me know.

Management agreed to put together a ‘business case’ for these. But we need evidence!

This is the speech I gave to TUC Disabled Workers' Conference on 28 May.

Many of you will have your own experiences of both the freedom provided by public transport and the difficulty using it – be that the railway, buses, shipping, air travel, trams, riverboats, taxis, or other modes of transport.

Let’s look at some statistics and facts – mainly about the railways.

In a 2013 survey of disabled people, nearly 80% used the railways, half of them at least monthly, often weekly or more.

More from the ETF Women's Committee meeting on 19-20 March 2014

The ETF Women's Committee meeting on 19-20 March 2014 heard the following reports:

SECTION REPORTS

Civil aviation
Unions are campaigning for a non-punitive reporting system, and demanding consistency of workplace rules across all grades, from cabin crew (female-dominated) to pilots (male-dominated).

Dock/Ports

• Working in ports is very ‘women-unfriendly’. The unions are raising two main issues: the recruitment of women to port jobs; and improving working conditions for women.

On Wednesday 18 March, the ETF Women’s Committee attended a public hearing on Work-Life Balance and Gender Equality, held by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. Click this link for event information, including some of the speakers' presentations. The afternoon was divided into two sessions, each addressed by a panel of speakers followed by a question-and-answer session.

The meeting took place on the final day of our 48-hour strike on London Underground and TfL. The Committee agreed to send a message of support to RMT and TSSA, and Committee members held a brief protest (in the pouring rain!) outside Tottenham Court Road station after the meeting. Photos of the protest have been circulated widely on social media.

NASUWT and teachers are taking industrial action in National Autistic Society schools. You can read more about it here.

I have sent the following message of support to the NASUWT, and a similar one to the NUT. If you would like to send one too, please email Victor Aguera.

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I am writing to offer my full support to the NASUWT's industrial action in National Autistic Society schools.