Diversity, Identities and Strategies of Women Trade Union Activists

Abstract

Diversity among women trade union activists is explored with reference to feminism and the women's movement, and the social and civil rights movements of black, disabled and lesbian and gay groups. Relationships between this diversity and women's individual and group identities and priorities are traced through some of the women's own descriptions and reflections on their trade union activism. These are drawn from our research with the public service union UNISON, in particular, two questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. We draw on theories of social identity, the relations of out-group status and gender group consciousness to help to understand and explain the complexity of the social interactions involved. This frames our central analysis of the role of self-organization in the union in the construction of women's identities and consciousnesses, and the potential of self-organization as a site for collective action leading to organizational challenge, change and transformation.

Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women‐Only Trade Union Courses

“…Where women are union activists, they tend to be either younger, or older and child-free (Colgan and Ledwith 1996). The heterogeneity of the interviewees in the present study broadly reflects women course participants in the two unions and underlines the broad range of women who presently contribute to the life of the unions in a variety of different ways.…”

How Does Restructuring Contribute to Union Revitalization?

“…Women, black and gay and lesbian members are engaged in decision-making processes on a wider scale than hitherto and have developed new skills appropriate to this engagement (Humphrey 2002). Furthermore, alliances between different self-organized groups are now likely and present opportunities to extend the influence already secured (Colgan and Ledwith 2000). While the situation in ver.di is less developed because the merger was more recent, the point is that these approaches constitute a significant development beyond traditional approaches to equality.…”

From Grunwick to Gate Gourmet: South Asian Women’s Industrial Activism and the Role of Trade Unions

“…Please don't delay the Concorde, I will lose thousands of pounds'. (Satvinder, a sacked Gate Gourmet worker) 32 Such mechanisms of collective resistance and bargaining are part of the general repertoire of action available to trade union members, and are not new. The women workers who were informally accepted as "leaders" frequently initiated such action at Gate Gourmet and received the backing of other women in their unit, often bypassing the shop stewards, the majority of whom were men.…”

“…During this period, strategies of separate organising were explored in the context of the trade unions' neglect of issues of gender and the lack of representation of women in the union decision-making structures and practices in the UK. 32 An initial trade union position that special policies to address the needs of black workers would discriminate against white union members gave way from the 1980s to the recognition of racial discrimination as an issue that required specific action, although measures such as positive action to tackle discrimination took somewhat longer to materialise. 33 13 Since the 1990s, trade unions have taken a more engaged approach to questions of race and gender, 34 though they have encountered new problems in reaching out to recent migrants who often work in low paid and precarious jobs where unions have little in what has been termed "community unionism".…”