RMT WOMEN MEET

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2015 :: RMTnews 19 RMT activists from across the country held a successful Women’s conference in Wigan in March, vowing to stand up for female carers in the rail industry and to stamp out sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. Held on International Women’s day and marking 100 years of women in the unions that merged to form the RMT – the National Union of Railwayman and National Union of Seaman, delegates urged transport employers to take their concerns seriously. Moving the successful motion, Wigan branch delegate Eileen Blackburn said: “As with large majority of families women are expected to be the primary caregivers and as a union we need to be hammering home this point to the employer when requesting the right to flexible working to assist our women members.” She pointed to new research showing 56 per cent of full time female workers with family caring responsibilities have considered resigning from their jobs because of difficulties at work. “Our branch finds this unacceptable,” said Ms Blackburn. “The branch therefore instructs the general secretary to write to all companies within the rail industry to request assurances that flexible working requests are given the utmost consideration when our female members have caring responsibilities.” Delegates also put pressure on employers and the British Transport police to address the serious issue of sexual assaults on the transport network. There has been a 21 per cent increase in reported sexual violence on the rail network and a 30 percent increase in sexual harassment offences on London transport. Seconding the motion, Chair of national women’s conference Becky Crocker said that the union should use its political channels such as the RMT Parliamentary group and London Assembly to apply pressure take serious action on the issue such as employing more frontline staff. Both motions will go to RMT AGM to be debate by the union. Other highlights of the weekend event included speeches from local Labour MP and RMT-backed candidate Lisa Nandy and RMT general secretary Mick Cash. Ms Nandy who has campaigned for public ownership of the railways, railed against the ConDem austerity “onslaught” which has made life unmanageable for many of her constituents. Addressing the conference, she said: “This is a town that was battered by the miners’ strike and it is a testament to those families and particularly the women in those families that this town wasn’t ripped apart. “Many don’t know if they will survive this onslaught. “We have a government committed to 1930’s levels of spending just to get a triple A credit rating from a handful of unaccountable financial institutions,” she said. Pointing to the fighting spirit of people in Wigan, Ms Nandy recalled a recent campaigning session with the RMT over driver only trains and cuts to staffing. “For the first time the interests of those who work on the railways and those who use the railways are exactly aligned. “People were coming to us saying how concerned they were for their safety at night travelling from Wigan Walgate. “We already know that the situation for women travelling alone at night and I travel to Manchester and come back quite late at night, it is really quite frightening if there are no staff around to support you,” she said. Mick Cash praised the union and its women members over the last 100 years but said pressure on wages had meant it would take women 70 years to reach pay equality across the UK workforce. “The past we inherit the future we build and shape. “That’s how we should celebrate 100 years of women in the union. The rank file leads the leadership and we get on with the job,” he said,. Concluding the conference, council of executives member Michelle Rodgers, told RMT News: “The key things members speak about is the abuse and violence that women are expected to take in the workplace and I think that is wrong. As a union we should be doing more to get the message out this unacceptable. “The union have dealt well with individual cases but we haven’t done enough to send the message out to the wider travelling public that any kind of violence is not acceptable and that we should be able to live in a society with no fear. “That is what equality is about – accepting people for who they are and what they are,” she said. RMT WOMEN MEET