Women’s TUC

27 RMT recognises that juggling work and family responsibilities is a major issue for many of our members. Therefore, the union submitted a motion to this year’s TUC women’s conference last month calling for existing flexible working laws to be made much tougher. RMT delegate Janine Booth, from Finsbury Park branch, proposed the motion. “We now have a flexible working law that allows workers with a child aged under six, or a disabled child aged under 18, to ask for their working hours or location to be changed to fit in with their childcare needs,” she told conference. “This law has enabled a woman like me to combine working on the railway with looking after my three young kids. “So, am I here to lead the celebrations? “No – I’m here to tell you that the flexible working law is weak, limited and divisive,” she said. Janine pointed out that it was weak because it is only the right to ask and employers have the absolute right to refuse. The law gives them a long list to choose from, and in case they are struggling, the last on the list is “any other reason”. She said that workers can complain to employment tribunals only about the process, not the decision. So long as the employer refuses in the correct way, there is nothing you can do about it legally. “The tribunal can not compel the employer to give you the hours and conditions you need – this resolution says that it should do. “The law is limited, because it only applies to parents of children under six – as if parenting suddenly becomes a piece of cake on the day your kid hits his or her sixth birthday. “We want this age raised to 16. I’d personally like it also to extend to carers of adult dependants, such as elderly parents or disabled partners. Again, the brunt of this care (but not all of it) is borne by women,” she argued. Delegates unanimously agreed that because this law is weak and limited, it is also divisive as some employers encourage workers to think that some staff are getting special treatment. “The law should compel employers to meet flexible working requests without disadvantaging other workers, so that management can not use it to divide us. The flexible working law is welcome, because some women and some men in some workplaces can get better working conditions – usually, where there is a union that is strong enough to win for workers,” Janine told conference. The weakness of the legislation puts workers in the role of Oliver Twist – “Please sir, can I have some more?” “It leaves workers with caring responsibilities forced to choose between a job and your kids, to give up a job you like for a job you don’t, or to go mad trying to juggle it all. “The weakness of this law flows from an ideology that having kids is a private matter that is not the responsibility of employers. “That comes from a capitalist system under which employers’ only responsibility is to their shareholders and their profits, not to wider society, not to the workers of today or tomorrow. “This ideology says that women are less reliable workers than men, and therefore lesser citizens”. It stands in the way of both women and men having a good job and a good relationship with our kids. It underpins the sexism that all working-class women experience, whether or not you have children. “It is time to reject this out- of-date, oppressive nonsense, and to demand laws with real teeth, that really benefit women workers, all workers, and our dependants,” Janine said. RMT delegate Janine Booth moved a motion arguing for flexible working laws to have more clout RMT news – Women RMT at the Women’s TUC FLEXIBLE?: RMT argued for flexible working laws with real teeth: Photo Duncan Phillips