Giving women a voice at work

Collective bargaining is a key means of determining terms and conditions of employment in many countries. But often the particular interests and concerns of women are either overlooked in the various stages of collective bargaining or apart from maternity provisions, are treated the same as those of men. This so- called "gender-neutral" approach may reinforce existing discrimination or import new forms of discriminatory treatment. Since collective bargaining is usually based on past agreements, the absence of women's issues or the minimal inclusion of these issues is often perpetuated.

The number of women joining the work force is rapidly increasing. Their particular needs and interests at the workplace are becoming more apparent and it is imperative that their concerns and priorities be addressed.

Employers, unions and women all need to take steps to ensure that women are properly represented in the workplace and that their views are taken into account in the decision making processes.

I. Defending and improving rights

In order to articulate the issues of concern to women, the women should be involved in all of the various processes which deal with improving and defending workers' conditions and rights, including

· at the negotiating table

· on occupational health, safety and environment committees

· in grievance-handling procedures

· as shop stewards

· as works council/joint committee members

· on company boards where there is employee representation.

Regarding grievances, those concerning women at the workplace often go unnoticed or undressed because there are few or no women representatives. Special attention should be given to dealing with issues such as discrimination and harassment. Proper and sensitive complaints procedures are needed to ensure that women who are discriminated against can make formal complaints without fear of victimization. Employers and unions should take steps to monitor the working environment to prevent such incidents from occurring.

See booklet 5, Dignity at the workplace.

2. More and better jobs

Training and retraining is an important aspect in ensuring that women have a voice at work. In some cases women are denied access to positions because they lack seniority or because they are perceived as more likely to leave employment due to family responsibilities. This kind of attitude keeps women in lower pay/lower status jobs and limits their scope for career development. Stereotyped assumptions are often overcome (or at least rendered ineffective) where there is a gender balance at all levels of the workforce.

The union should press for greater training and richer task-assignment opportunities for women, including those in non-permanent and vulnerable positions, ensuring that this skill upgrading and job-enrichment are duly recognized in individual regrading procedures and for career progression. All selection and promotion procedures and machinery should therefore be rendered more transparent and subject to union participation.

Employers should be encouraged to employ women without discrimination on the basis of sex and persuaded to promote women at all levels of the establishment or enterprise.

The lack of women in senior positions in both management and in the ranks is often the result of societal attitudes as well as the lack of continuous employment which keep women from gaining sufficient seniority. Unions should negotiate for upward mobility of women to ensure that women are represented at all ranks of the establishment, which in turn would create an environment sensitive to women-related work issues.

I Regarding seniority, which often influences job security, promotion and training, it should be ensured that women receive credit for work-related experience and that they do not lose their seniority due to career breaks. In some cases, women are deterred from moving into non-traditional jobs because this would mean moving into another bargaining unit or classification, resulting in the loss of seniority. In some countries, women lose seniority if they take career breaks for family reasons, while men receive credit for time taken to undertake military service. Such discrimination can be tackled through collective bargaining.

Positive measures may be needed to address existing discrimination, but also to overcome the effects of past discrimination. A proactive approach requires:

· an analysis to identify the employment practices that discriminate against women

· the formulation of a policy and measures to address deficiencies that are found

· a monitoring and evaluation of the measures taken.'

Monitoring may be done through a joint ad hoc committee or as a function of a permanent equal opportunities/ employment equity committee.

See J.Faundee: Alternative action: International perspectives (ILO Geneva, I 9941, pp 41-46.

The objectives of positive measures are to

· diversify the jobs and posts held by women in the company

· balance the distribution of men and women in a maximum number of posts

· create conditions in which women, who have previously been held back, are able to demonstrate their skills, talents and potential abilities

· promote women to higher grades

· increase the number of women working in the company by introducing a recruitment policy that favours women at the levels where they are under-represented

· raise the awareness and increase the qualification level of women, mainly through training

· ensure th8t women are fully involved in technological progress

· institute a wage policy which does not disadvantage women improve the working conditions of women.1

1See E. Sullerot: How to create and run positive action programmes for women only, how to create and run positive action programmes to promote women inside companies: A practical manual (Commission of the European Communities, 1991), pp.40-41.

The union should ensure that the employer keeps statistics segregated by sex regarding pay levels (including overtime), recruitment, promotion, training and dismissal. These statistics should be made available to the union, as they can be useful in spot ting problem areas.

Some measures that can be adopted to assist in overcoming the constraints faced by women are to provide reserved places for women in training and retraining opportunities, and to set targets or quotas, with clear time tables, for recruitment or promotion. Unions must also be very vigilant in reviewing dismissals and their causes when women are laid off.

The International Union of Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied

Workers' Associations (IUF), Asia-Pacific, has prepared a charter of clauses relating to women workers' issues, including the following on "equality of employment opportunity for women employees through affirmative action":

Management agrees to establish a programme jointly with the union within 3 months ot the signing of this agreement to undertake a review ot the company's employment practices in order to remove discriminatory practices and to introduce positive measures to assist the disadvantaged group, i.e. female employees, to overcome past and current discrimination and to provide a written report of the de facto situation in the company with respect to gender equality as well as the remedial measures adopted.'

An employment equity clause is found in the agreement between the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada and Bell Canada for the craft and service employees:

To give effect to the principle that equal opportunity in employment for women ... means more than treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences, the parties agree that ... the Company may, in each twelve (12) month period ... fill up to two (2) job openings in each distr)ct of the Company, for the purpose of Employment Equity.

IUF: Women's education manual (Sydney, 1905), pp.51-52.

 See also booklet 2, working conditions, and booklet 4, Defending rights of non-permanent and vulnerable workers.

Giving women a voice in the union

As increasing numbers of women join the formal work-force, more and more women are joining trade unions or are potential members. Women are approximately 33 per cent of the global trade union membership yet they represent a mere one per cent of the governing bodies of unions clearly women have not achieved equal status with men within the trade union movement. If trade unions are to be credible to women regarding their commitment to promoting equality through collective bargaining, 4hey must be able to show that equality is an integral part of their own policies and structures.

The lack of women's participation in trade unions is due to a number of fundamental barriers:

In some developing countries, high rates of illiteracy amongst women in particular further hamper their involvement in union activities.

The high cost of child care often makes attendance at union meetings particularly difficult for women.

Women are often concentrated in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs and as such are less likely to be appointed to union leadership positions.

Unions must take steps to overcome these barriers and to promote women's involvement in both union structures and business.

Lack of adequate union representation carries with it the inherent risk that little or no attention is given to women's concerns in the trade unions. Without significant female involvement it is likely that unions will lack much of the information necessary or the motivation to persuade the employers to provide fair working conditions for women and for workers with family responsibilities.

It is vital that unions take action to strengthen women's participation in trade union activities. Union discussions increase awareness of matters of importance to women and also reveal areas in which resistance may be encountered from employers and other union members. A policy statement on women's participation should be formulated and serve as a benchmark for future union action.

Unions should consider the following measures to encourage women to participate in trade union activities:

Many unions are already taking steps to promote the participation of women at all levels of the union structure.

Some unions appoint women or sup port the election of women at local, regional, national and congress levels. Others have also elected or appointed women to the education and training divisions, organization, negotiation and occupational health, safety and environment committees and have seen the impact women are able to make on a wide range of work issues.

Social justice is an essential part of the union's mandate. This is vitally important to the many women entering the workforce who face numerous obstacles due to discrimination and other factors. The unions have a role to ensure that women and their interests are represented both within the union system and at the workplace.

Unions should consider the following steps to assist women in overcoming obstacles to their involvement in union activities and to ensure their proportional representation in the union structure:

Women's committees and women's departments

Unions all over the world are appreciating the need to set up women's committees and departments in order togive women effective representa tion within the union and to create awareness of their special needs at work. Women's committees and departments also promote issues of interest to women, awareness- raising, open discussions and the training of women members.

Women's committees and women's departments in unions are comple mentary to each other. Women's committees are usually elected within the union and deal with women's affairs and equal opportunity issues such as:

problem identification

advocacy on women's issues

training needs assessment

representation of women members in all trade union activities and at work.

In order to be effective, the committee must have adequate funding and be closely linked to the decision-making structures of the union. Women's committees provide a forum for women's issues and serve as a vehicle for future developments, but care must be taken to ensure that they remain in direct contact with core decision-making bodies at all levels and do not become marginalized.

The existence of a committee in and of itself is not enough - women's issues must not be relegated to the committee so women can discuss them among themselves, and then the rest of the union structure can forget about them.

The women's department or an equal opportunities department is equally important in a union. In order for the women's committee's ideas and aspirations to be realized, the union should consider setting up a department which will act as a clearing house for women's interests at the workplace and in the union.

The head of department will automatically be an ex officio of the women's committee. She may keep all records on the activities of the women's committee, coordinate women's meetings and educational activities, manage the women's newsletter and any other activities which may be approved by the women's committee.

Women's departments are often most necessary in trade union movements which are male-dominated and in which women's interests and per spectives would otherwise be over looked. In other instances their role can be performed equally successfully by equal opportunities departments which reflect the ideal that both men and women members have a stake in bettering the lot of women workers.

Building solidarity 

To effectively give women a voice, efforts to exchange information, provide technical cooperation between North and South as well as South-South are important forms of solidarity. Unions do not always recognize equality issues as priority areas, and such exchanges are important at national, regional and international levels to promote such awareness.

Such networks are provided through national, regional and international women's committees which provide a forum for women workers' representation on issues affecting them. The women's committees at the inter national level may be linked to the international confederations or inter national trade secretariats.

These organizations often meet together, particularly on important issues and can give support to projects which strengthen equality issues at the national level.

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)

Women's Committee

On equality issues, the lCFTU Women's Committee, composed of 39 members, is the driving force behind the trade union response. Charged with nominating the five women (one per region) who sit on the ICFTU Executive Board, the Women's Committee prepares all policy decisions relating to women and draws up new strategies. Recently, the Women's Committee organized an international campaign on women's rights and an action programme on violence against women. It is also closely monitoring the implementation of a Positive Action Programme for the integration of women into trade union organizations. Finally, an important part of its work consists of lobbying the ILO to obtain Recommendations and Conventions on matters such as part-time or home work.

To ensure its representativeness and effectiveness in the field, the Women's Committee works close ly with the ICFTU's regional Women's Committees. The ICFTU Equality and Youth Department ensures the preparation and follow-up of the Women's Committee decisions. 1 

1 N. David: Worlds apart: Women and the global economy (ICFTU, Brussels, Mar 1996), p.46.