RMT WOMEN FIGHT TO DERAIL CONDEM CUTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2011 :: RMTnews 14 RMT women will play their full role in the mushrooming movement to stop the government destroying jobs, pensions and public services, the union’s women’s conference resolved. It was imperative that working women fight together to derail cuts that will hit the most vulnerable hardest, the Cheltenham forum agreed. Analysis of the horrific catalogue of attacks by the millionaires’ government revealed that women had been targeted to pay the price for nearly three-quarters of the cuts, said Jo Parry, TfL. Two-thirds of the half- million public-sector jobs set to be axed were done by women, while single mothers stood to lose nearly 20 per cent of their income thanks to £18 billion of cuts to welfare and social security, said Jo. Delegates, who held brainstorming sessions on getting women into the union and active, agreed to support campaigns that highlighted the disproportionate impact of cuts on women. The thievery of the ConDem government made gangland scams look small, said general secretary Bob Crow, “but we can beat them if we stand together and say enough is enough.” Urging delegates to take part in the March 26 TUC demonstration, Bob accused ministers of robbing pensioners of billions by changing its inflation measure from the Retail Prices Index to the lower Consumer Prices index. The biggest attack on working people since the 1920s had been started by a government with an ideological hatred of the welfare state, he said. It was important to expose tax-dodging companies like Vodafone and Boots as well as oppose the cuts, said Ruth Strong, East Midlands Central. The importance of lobbying MPs as well as taking the road of union and campaigning action was stressed by Maggie Thompson, Sheffield. NO TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN SEAFARERS The global problem of violence against women seafarers was highlighted by delegates, who backed a campaign by the International Transport Workers’ Federation to help women in the shipping industry to find help in reporting and tackling it. Jo Parry, TFL1, pointed to ITF research underlining serious scale of the problem and the enormous difficulty faced by women isolated on ships, even finding cases of women who had ‘disappeared’ after reporting violence. MORE WOMEN’S REFUGES NEEDED The need for more refuges for women and children facing domestic violence was highlighted by delegates. With increasing reports of domestic violence it was a matter of grave concern that there were so few places of safety available, said Caroline RMT WOMEN FIGHT TO DERAIL CONDEM CUTS The need for solidarity against savage government cuts and to get more women active in the union were key messages from the biggest RMT women’s conference for many years