Trade unions have a woman problem. Excellent article by union NEC member Paul Embery

[Tarquinthecat]

https://www.paulembery.com/p/trade-unions-have-a-woman-problem

£230 per annum from January 2025 to be a union member paying for nice HQ and to have people focused on politics or matters that aren’t not directly related to supporting our roles and needs

@Mittens67 your post just shows RCN has lost the plot

Or, to put it another way, I was the only person in the room who wasn't a member of Militant.

Participation was low and that's the way they liked it. Not confined to that particular group of course, as we see in many unions.

I've been in one too - I was careful to say "almost" as I know at times there won't be one. And hardly surprising when we can see that reps (I am one) are viewed as political agitators by some! What I do most off is listening to people at the end of their tether with workload or stress.

“If you feel your union doesn't represent your views then you need to step up and become active. Get involved with Union meetings, consider becoming a rep or an even an officer yourself if you feel really passionate.”

The pp is right about this. The trade unions are adopting their TRSOH positions of TWAW because of who volunteers, who gets involved, who gets elected. Most union members are members because they want support if something goes wrong. They aren’t members because they want to volunteer to take on a lot of trade union activity in their spare time.

The result of that is that individuals who see trade union activism as a route to a political career, or a way of pursuing their personal hobbyhorses have free rein to use the trade union for that purpose.

Women tend to have less spare time because of the second shift so that’s a barrier to women getting involved, meaning there are fewer women activists than male activists, and it’s no fun being out numbered.

There are women trade unionists trying to do something about this but they are in a lonely position. The more GC women who get involved, the less lonely it will be.

So, before cancelling your membership, please do try getting involved in your local branch and find out what scope there is to have influence. You’ll need to tread carefully/ be discreet whilst you’re figuring out how it all works.

If you’re the newbie and out numbered by the “comrades” that’s a very draining and dispiriting situation to be in, and not many people would want to volunteer to deal with that nonsense, on top of working full time.

Which is exactly why union members end up with branch exec committees which don’t reflect their branch members’ interests and concerns.

If someone did have the energy and motivation and time to try and do something about it in that situation, then the way to go about it would be to volunteer for a committee role focused on liaison with branch members so you could get more “normies” involved by finding out what their interests are.

But the reason unions have ended up being this distant from their members’ interests is because getting involved takes time, effort and motivation and most people have more than enough on their plate juggling work and family.

Money talks. If vast swathes of members of captured unions all moved at once to new unions it would be interesting to see how long the'moral high ground' of their old unions lasted.

How about you stop lecturing people about what they should be doing in your ideal world? Posters here have explained to you why this just isn’t feasible if you don’t want to be ostracised, hounded out of your job, shouted down for being unenlightened etc etc.

Your “just try harder and then you’ll get the change you want” rhetoric is as tiresome as it is unrealistic.

Indeed. If every single one of Unison’s women members cancelled their membership for four months in protest, then the senior leadership would have to change their position.

However. How would such a campaign be co-ordinated?

Personal thanks from me for volunteering as a trade union rep and being focused on your members, daffie. It’s such an important aspect of the role. And under appreciated.

It’s ironic really isn’t it? The trade union movement is about workers supporting other workers, which - massive stereotype approaching - women tend to be more inclined to do. But the movement’s leadership is male dominated. Which I suppose could be linked to the perception of unions being all about industrial disputes.

When you put it like that, I can see why people leave and join a Union where they don't have to spend thankless hours trying to change the whole culture of the union. Honestly, most people join a union to be represented in pay negotiations and to represent them should they have issues at work. They don't join to turn a tanker of gender ideology sail full steam ahead towards oblivion. I hope Unison goes bust.

Except for women and men (as an example) concerned about schools being used as spring boards for adult trans lobby groups to promote sex change as a positive to children, that advice could be professionally dangerous. Or for a nurse wanting a single sex changing room - as seen by the RCN's refusing to support a member suspended for challenging a man in the women's changing room.
Until unions insist that their members understand democracy and free speech (which won't be soon judging by the Unison leader's tone deaf ramblings about TWAW etc) your suggestion could be career ending for many people.

If a union can not understand the actual law and can confidently state that trans people have to be allowed to use the facilities for their chosen gender then that union is a joke and not worth joining. No amount of fighting at the risk of losing your own job and livelihood will change it.

As I said in my post….“You’ll need to tread carefully/ be discreet whilst you’re figuring out how it all works.”

“Honestly, most people join a union to be represented in pay negotiations and to represent them should they have issues at work.”

And if they cancel their local union membership in order join one of the recently set-up unions which only offer personal representation and are not recognised in their workplace for collective bargaining purposes, they won’t be represented in pay negotiations.

But in order to even do that then you have to be sufficiently motivated to give up time and spend emotional energy trying to instigate change in an already captured organisation. How many people with families, jobs and other commitments have either the time or the inclination for that?

I know - but that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the TU movement for women is it? Be careful and discreet before speaking out about not wanting men watching you while you undress at work or speak about child safeguarding.
🙄

If you have a look at my previous posts, you’ll see that I’ve made exactly that point.

I’ve also made the point that there are GC women trade unionists who are in a lonely position trying to change things, and that it would be less lonely if more GC women volunteered and got involved.

And the trade union more generally would be better if more women were involved. In my opinion anyway. But I fully understand how hard it is on top of work and family commitments. And how draining it can be.

Unions have grown thanks to our subscriptions. In my case I have paid for 20 years. Without outing myself I am not interested in what union does for Pride Month I am more interested in what it is doing for me as an individual and at the moment I am too scared to air my views in front of some my fellow union members. As a middle aged educator I am too scared to misspeak or to misthink which is a terrible state to be in. I am scared of unions, students, university administrators. I need my job to support my family.

Maybe it is time for a change and to move on from the misogynistic dinosaurs.

I understand your point - but so many Unions have been hotbeds of sexism, misogyny, failing to promote women's rights with scandal after scandal emerging - and it never changes. The lonely women in Unions rarely rise to the top unless they parrot the same misogyny their comrades do.
Just look at Unison's response to the Sandie Peggie case - why on earth would any woman join Unison knowing that their leader's campaigning for something to evidently dubious as men sharing changing rooms with women at work?
In a "pick your battle time" how many women have the energy to start trying to parent / persuade the toxic men running too many unions that sex matters?

We've been here before though with those of us who used to be Labour party members, but who left and then became disenfranchised and disillusioned by the Labour party's commitment to gender ideology ( and more so the politics of identity, generally). People, whose primary motivation/identification was Left leaning political activism, would harangue people and tell them that they should still vote for Labour and push for change from within.

Forget that, though.......I've been stood outside of two Labour party conferences in recent years and watched the union reps and MPs cheering on gender ideology and even joining when rabid mobs screamed and referred to women as bigots and fascists.

Who on earth, in their right mind, would want to stay in such an abusive situation.....you'd have to have your prime identity as being a Labour party person or Union activist to even want to consider it. I've, personally, done my years of Left wing type activism....and I've no appetite for it any more.

It also seems to be primarily women that are pushing gender ideology in the trade unions and the Labour Party.

If I’d advised women to rock up to their first ever branch meeting and introduce themselves by saying “Hey everyone, I’m a massive TERF and I’m here to take over your cosy little group and eventually overthrow the NEC, mwahahaha.”would my post have been hardline enough to have avoided the eye roll emoji?

On a less flippant note, can you name any mainstream organisation - other than the private company that calls itself Reform or Toby Young’s outfit - where it would be safe to adopt an openly TWANW position in the current climate?

And do you think the various groups of behind the scenes TRA campaigners achieved that current climate which we are all living in by walking away from the organisations they were trying to influence because they were out-numbered?

“you'd have to have your prime identity as being a Labour party person or Union activist to even want to consider it.”

As you’re an ex member of the Labour Party, I can see why you can only envisage a “party person” or a “union activist” as the motivation for being involved.

My motivation is my interest in women’s rights. I find party politics off-putting personally, am not and never have been a member of a political party, and I’m a floating voter and occasional non-voter.

As I’m still working, the workplace is where I can try to do something to support women’s rights.

I agree with the general consensus on here that most union members are members for the workplace protection, not to pursue political careers. I think that the more “normies”, as a pp phrased it, get involved in branch activity the better, as the more focus there will be on the things that matter to ordinary branch members.

I appreciate why it’s difficult and off-putting for ordinary union members to get involved, but the more of us who do that, the more member-friendly branch participation will become.

“In a "pick your battle time" how many women have the energy to start trying to parent / persuade the toxic men running too many unions that sex matters?”

To answer your question: not many.

It would make a huge difference if there were more.

But I understand how hard it is and I’m certainly not judging anyone who can’t face doing it. What I would say though is: if you find out your local rep supports women’s rights, s/he would appreciate your support, even if only behind the scenes.

I understand your points and I genuinely have huge respect for the numerous women challenging this in political parties and unions.

In response to your other question - 'can you name any mainstream organisation - other than the private company that calls itself Reform or Toby Young’s outfit - where it would be safe to adopt an openly TWANW position in the current climate?" I can only say thanks heavens for all the women's groups, Sex Matters, Safe Schools Alliance, Transgender Trend, FPFW and the rest, the Tories (never thought I'd say that) and the growing numbers of organisations suddenly discovering that following Stonewall's dodgy pronouncements is costing organisations a lot of money and reputational damage. The press (with the exception of much of the output from the Guardian & BBC) are starting to remember their job is to report the news, not manipulate it for their own prejudices etc and are exposing all this (including union behaviour). So it's not all doom and gloom.