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Over the week-end of 23/24 March, 3,200 women trade-unionists representing 58 unions, met in Chicago for the founding conference of the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
They came to discuss how to fight, through their unions, the low wages, unemployment and dead-end jobs that American wotten face throughout the country Addie Wyatt, director of the Women's Affairs Department of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen, pointed out that wonen's wages, relative to men's have actually declined in the last 10 years, and that women remain in the lowest paying jobs. Many women are heads of families and millions have young children. She declared that, just as women were coming together to discuss their problems in other fields, so it was time for union women to do the same. Part of the fight was to get equality of representation in the decision-making in unions. anizers, was a clear sign that trade-union women do want to un to fight against their oppression. Large contingents came from such unions as the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, Ameri Federation of Teachers and American Federation of State, Col and Municipal Employees. Other unions represented included the Office and Professional Employees International Union, International Union of Electrical Workers, Steelworkers, Retail Clerks, Amalgamated Clothing Workers and Communications Workers of America.
There was also one whole contingent of striking office worke from New York, members of the Distributive Workers of Amc These women have been on strike for six months. Members of United Farm Workers attended, too, and hundreds of women ยป UFW boycott budges.
Participants at the conference were of all ages, from teens to
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Equal Pay Act Two factors in particular paved the way for the introduction of the Equal Pay Act by the Labour Government in 1970. First, at that time it was Labour Party policy to get into the European Economic Community, and Article 100 of the Rome Treaty specifies equal pay for equal work (but not for work of equal value).
Secondly, and more importantly, a real rank-and-file movement began to grow. In 1967 an equal pay committee was set up in Scotland, and in 1968 there was the famous Ford women's strike, which, while it was not nominally for equal pay, was certainly concerned with the principle of equal pay for work of oqual value.
Equal Rights Campaign One of the officials involved in the Ford strike realised that the tremendous interest aroused by it could lay a basis for a campaign. In October 1968 a meeting was held in the House of Commons attended by about two hundred women and men, most of them active trade unionists, and the National Joint Action Campaign Committee for Women's Equal Rights (NJACCWER)
was set up. This campaign rapidly gained support from both unions and women's organisations, including the newly emerging women's movement.
But the original committee set up at the House of Commons meeting consisted of volunteers, many of whom never took an active part in NJACCWER again and the committee rapidly became unrepresentative as new forces were drawn into the campaign. Local NJACCWER groups were set up, and local organisers were appointed from supporters. They were invited to attend the general meetings, usually held bi-monthly, but officially The Charter around which NJACCWER organised called for equal pay and opportunity for women in employment, in education and public life, and promised to 'keep on fighting until the women of this country have full rights in every sphere" In practice, throughout its 18 months of real activity, it campaigned only for On 18 May, 1969, the campaign's main activity took place: an equal pay demonstration in London, attended by two thousand women from all over Britain. By the end of the year, the equal pay bill had been introduced. It gave a lot less than NJACCWER was asking for, and should have been the focus for a tremendous sixties, and about 20 percent were black The conference produced a Statement of Purpose, which includes the fight for passage of the Equal Right Amendment, child-care legislation, maternity benefits, a livable minimum wage, full employment, organising of unorganised wonen workers, and democracy in the unions.
There was a debate around the UFWboycott of grapes, lettuces and Gallo wines. There was an overwhelming support for the farm workers' struggles and a tremendous oration for Dolores Huerta, vice-president of the UFW, when her name was read out as one of those who had helped build the conference.
Throughout the conference, the influence of the women's liberation movement was evident. Delegates expressed a feeling of confidence and pride in the fact that they were organising around issues of concern to women, issues that have long been neglected.
The evidence of rank-and -file participation in the conference was important and several rank-and-filers were elected onto the National Co-ordinating Committee. An unfortunate aspect of the conference discussion was the amount of time taken up with debates on structure and the general goals of the coalition, which campaign, exposing its inadequacies and pressing for equal pay for work of equal value, now, Instead, the campaign jerked unhappily to a standstill To a great extent, failure was almost inevitable. The campaign had caught on and been supported to a much greater extent than had been expected, and the org ansiation of the committee was inadequate to eithers its growth or its task. In particular, its completely undemocratic structure meant that decisions were taken by a small proportion of those active in the movement, and that frustrations built up among the unrepresented militants. Many of the members of the committee were small-time union bureaucrats, others, such as some of the Ford women who had come onto the committee, were much under their influence.
There were several reasons for the collapse of the campaign. Many of those on the committer were more interrights. By restricting the campaign in practice to the one issue of equal pay, much potential militancy was headed off by Barbara Castle's bill. Many committee members saw the campaign in purely propaganda lerms, and it was only after much argument that it was agreed that the committee's money should be used to help women on strike. and that the campaign should organise to support such struggles.
Of course, the passing of the Equal Pay ACt was a victory for NJACCWER and other organisations that had campaigned for equal pay ever the ycars, But, as subsequent events have shown, an organisation like NJACCWER was needed more than ever once the Act was passed.
Having conceeded the principle of equal pay, what was required was a massive and militant campaign to get it at once, to ensure that employers did not re-organise their work force as they are in the procuss of doing, to explain the Act's short-comings, and to campaign for full equality and opportunity.
The Working Women's Charter, started by the trade union movement and taken up by left and women's groups covers much of the ground which NJACCWER did, but goes far beyond it. Let us learn from the lessons of the past, in particular, from the transport workers, and the Ford women- only when women organise themselves and struggle will any real advances be made. As the Charter gains support, those who campaign around it msut place support for women in struggle in. the forefront of their activity left little time to talk about the forms of discrimination faced by working women, and concrete activities to tackle them. A All the resolutions on these subjects were referred to the new National Co-ordinating Committtee.
This conference was only a first step. The test for the new Coalition of Labor Union Women lies in its ability to bring its resolutions to life. If the momentum of this first meeting is to be maintained, local branches of the CLUW will be needed round the country, involving rank-and-file women in activity around the important issues Informarion for the shove article came from Militant, paper of the American Socialist Workers' Party. The origindi articie was written SUBCRIBE TO THE MILITANT Weekly paper of the Socinlist Workers' Party. USA. For a full coverage of the American Woman's Movement, Black struggles, etc Introductory offer: o ne dollar for three months Send to: 14 Charles Lane, New York, NY 10014
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A campaign has been launched in over ten Lowns up and down the country to fight for the demands in the Working Women's Charter. In March of this year, the London Trades Council circulated the Charter throughout the London labour movement and later called a conference.
At the conference, attended by over 200 women, many of them delegated from their union branches. there was a split between those who saw the conference as a talk-shop to share experiences, and others who wanted to defer discussion on the detailed demands of the Charter in favour of a discussion on how to use the document to initiate action in the labour movement around the problems of women workers.
This disagreement was not resolved by the conference. No clear decision was adopted for lack of time*. However, since the conference it is being resolved in practice by union branches, trades councils. women's groups, and individual trade unionists which are now promoting the Charter. It is being used as the basis for a campaign among workers, taking up many aspects of women's oppression and exploitation as workers.
FIRST STAGE To most women in the women's movement. the actual demands of the Charter will seem unexceptionable Although the sum total of the demands do not equal liberation or an end to oppression, this is an extremely important document. It represents a first stage in bringing together the ideas and analysis of the women's movement - particularly on the relationship between the oppression of women in the family and their exploitation as workers- with the strength and organisation of the labour movement.
The labour movement generally accepts the unwritten rule that there is a definite sphere of influence for the trade unions; they deal with problems of wages ON THE JOB. Men see a relatively clear divide between problems of home and problems of work, so this unwritten rule seems to be adequate for them.
Bills, household budgets, babysitters, and another baby on the way are all individual problems - not ones to be tackled by the unions. But for women workers, especially for those who are married with children, that kind of separation is rarely possible. Never before has the trade union movement acknowledged this impossibility in such a clear way as it does in the Charter. Alongside demands for equal pay, opporuntiy, and training are listed ones for contraception and abortion, for nurseries, for changes in the laws relating to passports and hp agreements.
This is neither a haphazard development, nor an isolated one. Only a couple of weeks prior to the London Trades Council conference, the National Council for Civil Liberties held a conference for women trade unionists in London - followed up recently with others ouside of London - on the question of women's rights. Over 500 women attended this conference and again many were union delegates. The discussion broadened from the strict trade union issues to one on the interrelated nature of the problems of women workers. Many women idstified themselves a s helonging to both a trade lisa branch and a women's liberation group. AFTER NJACCWER cord since the famous Ford 68. One of the results of that strike following aims:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. over equal pay and grading was the formation of a national organisation of trade union women to campaign for equal rights. Increasingly, the campaign centred on the equal pay demand. This organisation, NIACCWER. (see pp. 9-10) attracted women from many unions up and down the country. But with the introduction of the Equal Pay Bill, the campaign lost all impetus. If faded away ... just as the new women's movement By the time of the first conference of the women's movement, held at Ruskin College, Oxford, the NJACCWER had more or less died. As there was little overlap between the membership in the two groups, the possibility of a structured relationship between them was stillborn.
Groups within the women's movement wanting to work with working women supported local strikes as they happened, or campaigned with working class women on issues such as nurseries, mainly outside the job situation But with the death of NACCWER there was no We pledge ourselves to agitate and organise to achieve the The rate for the job, regardless of sex, at rates negotia by the unions, with a national minimumwage below w no wages should fall.
Equal opportunity of entry into occupations and in p motion, regardless of sex and marital status.
Equal education and training for all occupations and pulsory day-release for all 16-19 year olds in employr Working conditions to be, without deterioration of P ious conditions, the same for women as for men. The removal of all legal and burcaucratic impediment equality, eg. with regard to tenancies, mortgages, PC schemes, taxation, passports, control over children, s security payments, hire-purchase agreements, etc.
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roblems...and between what is the responsibility ry of the politicians, must be broken down. en could begin this process." These ideas could be severely ruptured by systematic work and significant struggles over the coming months. MAXIMUM GAINS The importance of a document like the Charter in this situation is that it can be used NOW as the basis for campaigning among the entire labour movement -but specifically aimed at women workers - to lay the groundwork for the maximum possible gains out of any future struggles involving women. The equal pay struggle at Lentheric's perfume factury in North Lon-
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ested in increasing their power within their own little union kingdoms than building a big, militant campaign for women's
The division between social and economic The Charter camp: LINDA SMITH on 1