ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 11

Contents

1. ICEM’s Women’s Committee Meets in Early May
2. Australia – Women’s Pay Still Lags
3. Croatia – Move to Ratify ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Leave
4. Germany – Work-Life Balance
5. Oluchi Okoie and Miriam Mweshi from Nigeria and Zambia
6. Nobel Peace Laureates Launch Peace Bid
7. Peru – Violence in Family, to Women a Serious Threat
8. Serbia-Montenegro – EPS Trade Union Elects Women
9. United Kingdom – Women of Colour Face Discrimination
10. USA – Stay-at-Home Mothers Deserve $134,121 in Salary
11. Zimbabwe – NUMSA, COSATU Lend Help
12. Resources

1. ICEM Women’s Committee Meets

The ICEM Women’s Committee met on 2 May 2006 in Brussels to review progress on the women’s work plan and to prepare for upcoming ICEM events. The work plan, which consists of improving communications, working on gender aspects in Global Framework Agreements, equal pay work and improving gender balance in the offshore oil industry, is progressing, the women felt.

This bulletin, as well as the new ICEM website and women’s pages in ICEM’s magazine GlobalInfo, are part of improved communications on gender issues.

Regarding gender aspects in Global Agreements, most such agreements signed by ICEM with multinational companies contain only a one-line reference to ILO Conventions on women workers. It is felt that this needs to be broadened. The following clause was approved by the ICEM Executive Committee on 4 May 2006:

“Company X considers respect for workers’ rights, including equal opportunities, to be a crucial element in sustainable development. The signatories consider that this agreement is based on the joint commitment to respect equal opportunities.

All workers shall have equality of opportunity and treatment and shall receive equitable pay. The company commits itself to promoting equal opportunities by implementing the following, among other things:

• Increasing the number of women working in each of the Group’s companies;
• Diversifying the jobs done and functions performed by women;
• Promoting women workers’ participation in job training;
• Re-evaluating women workers’ skills and abilities to guarantee equal pay for work of;
• Making work more compatible with family responsibilities, both for women and men.

“The Group will strengthen its role by committing and advancing equal opportunities policies as part of its strategic plan, which will contribute to its future viability by making the objectives of competitiveness and employment more compatible. This will be achieved by:

• Managing human resources to avoid discrimination and to provide real equal opportunities, backed up by permanent social dialogue;
• Committing to the adoption of positive action programs, backed by efficient instruments and adequate funding;
• Promoting changes in attitude detrimental to the achievement of this objective;
• Projecting an image inside and outside of a company committed to equality.

“These equal opportunities provisions will be evaluated at the yearly implementation review meeting.”

The Executive Committee agreed to support this clause, although at the same time admitting that it may not be entirely achievable in negotiations with employers.

The Women’s Committee had a long debate on gender-related provisions in collective agreements, most of which have to do with improved work-life balance. The conclusion of the debate was that involving men more in children’s upbringing changes the atmosphere greatly. This has been seen most of all in the Nordic countries.

Equal pay continues to be a problem. In spite of 30 years of legislation in most countries, women’s pay still lags behind in nearly every country. Careers continue to be different for women and men, and this is where the issue should best be approached.

In connection with bans on women working in certain sectors, in Russia, for example, there is a list of some 430 jobs which are prohibited to women. The idea was to improve women’s reproductive capability. Trade unions claimed they wanted to protect women’s health. But women want to be able to choose any job. In the meantime, men live 15 years less than women. Now it is men who need dignified conditions at work

Lars Myhre, chair of ICEM’s Energy Section, made a presentation on women in the offshore oil industry, based from the Norwegian experience.

Norway started oil production in 1969. Women in the oil sector worked in land-based jobs until 1979, at which time they started working offshore. Women going offshore did mean a cultural change. Women’s employment stabilized in the 1990s, and now women make up about 10% of the workforce. The women in this sector are better educated than men.

In drilling, transport and shipping there are very few women. The construction and maintenance areas are the most male-dominated. The area with the most women is catering. Within oil companies and oil-service firms, most women work on-shore.

Statoil has an active equal opportunities policy. The goal is to have at least 30% women working. But the trouble is that it is not attractive for most women. Nevertheless, offshore wages are very good, and benefits for maternity and sick children are superior. Women are still not interested.

There is no heavy labor involved offshore. The work is controlled so that it is not physically demanding. The most physically demanding job is catering. Within the oil drilling companies, three women work offshore and there are four women who perform engineering work offshore. Few women geologists work offshore.

People work 12-hour shifts, two weeks non-stop, two weeks on, four weeks off. Cleaning is another tough job offshore because of the dirt. The cleaners and caterers were found to have the most physical problems as well as joint ailments and arthritis.

The trade union and the employers are keen to have women and men working together because the work environment improves. Many women reps work offshore. The challenge for the future is to get more women to work offshore, although no one can force them. The point is to know whether other things discourage women in spite of the good pay and benefits.

In the discussion it came out that there are systemic barriers. 25 years ago in Canada employers did not want women to work in such areas because there were no toilets for them. Now women would require 24-hour childcare. Offshore is both shift work and away from home. Best practices must be collected on 24-hour childcare.

Next the women’s working groups defined what they wanted to see at the ICEM Women’s Conference as well as at the industrial conferences and at the ICEM Congress. The Women’s Conference will be held on 17-18 November 2007 in Bangkok, to precede directly the ICEM Congress.

The theme of the conference will be Women – Work – 21st Century. Theme blocks were identified, which will include peace, fighting poverty, job security and employment. The women asked for the theme Work-Life Balance to be presented at the Congress. Women should also talk about their experiences in a male-dominated environment. As far as the industrial conferences and the Congress are concerned, the demand is for women’s participation to be boosted considerably.

Proposals are for women to be represented in delegations proportionate to the membership. In case of delegations with more than one person, the second person must be a woman. The practice of electing chairs of industrial sectors must be reviewed to allow for more sections to be chaired by women. At conferences and Congress, sessions should be chaired by women as well as men.

At the Women’s Conference and hopefully also at Congress a power-point type display will be run showing women workers over the last hundred years. Women are therefore asked to send in photographs of Working Women over the last 100 years.

This is important because ICEF/ICEM was founded in 1907, and the 2007 Congress marks the 100-year anniversary of our proud Global Union Federation. Please send us either your photographs or materials that you have scanned to [email protected]. We would like to have this material by 15 December 2006. Thank you in advance.

2. Australia – Women Still Lag in Pay

Women are still earning less than men for doing the same job 33 years after equal pay laws were introduced in Australia. Full-time working women are being paid up to $300 a week less than their male colleagues, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Employment experts say that opportunity discrimination contributed to women’s lower earnings.

Men usually hold more senior positions, and there is some discrimination against women for staff development and promotions. There is still some direct discrimination where women are doing the same job but have a different title and get less pay or bonuses than men. Equal Opportunities Commissioner Linda Matthews said under wage awards, there was no gender discrimination, but disparities could emerge with workplace contracts.

Women claim men negotiate better packages for the same job. Other considerations are involved in remuneration such as men’s profile in the business world. Unions warned the gap in earnings could grow in the wake of the recent law changes.

Award wages provide pay equality but under the new laws, casual and service jobs will be the most vulnerable in shifts to individual contracts with lower rates of pay. Australian business interests maintain that under the new laws, people will be paid a market rate in wages based on their qualifications.

3. Croatia – Ratify ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Leave!

The Women's Section of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia issued a special public release on the occasion of Workers’ Memorial Day and International Labour Day (28 April and 1 May), requesting the Croatian government to start the process toward ratification of ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Protection.

The Women’s Section stated that thousands of women in Europe do not yet enjoy the basic maternity protection guaranteed by the standards of the ILO since the legislation of several countries offers only partial and limited guarantees. The recent pressure on countries of southeastern Europe by international financial institutions aims to further cut maternity benefits, and to make dismissals more flexible.

Furthermore, many women in Croatia have lost their jobs, and hence no longer fulfill qualifying conditions for cash maternity benefits, following the deregulation of labour markets, and the erosion of social security and employment protection. There are even rumours that the government might recall some ILO conventions. Therefore, trade union women have requested the government take action on the following:

• Making it unlawful for an employer to dismiss a woman during pregnancy while on maternity leave or while nursing, unless grounds are unrelated to pregnancy or nursing;
• Placing the burden of proof on employers;
• Guaranteeing the right of return to the same position or an equivalent position at equal pay following maternity leave;
• Protection against discrimination in employment on the grounds of maternity in legislation and in collective agreements;
• Prohibiting pregnancy testing at recruitment;
• Right to one or more daily breaks for breastfeeding/lactation;
• Right to reduction in daily working hours for breastfeeding;
• Breaks or reduction in hours counted as working time and therefore paid;
• All married and unmarried women in employment, including those in atypical forms of dependent work, awarded not less than 24 weeks of maternity leave;
• Keeping the level of the achieved maternity protection, including the length of the maternity leave;
• Two-thirds of the women's previous earnings or an equivalent payment in the previous three months, on average;
• Benefits from social assistance funds for women who do not meet qualifying conditions;
• Benefits to be provided from social insurance or public funds as far as possible;
• Additional benefits to be negotiated with the employers and included in collective agreements;
• Women should not be employed in any work which might endanger their maternal functions or non-born child; and
• Ratification of the ILO Convention No 183.

4. Germany – Work-Life Balance

Up to now, Germany has been one of the countries where childrearing has had the most adverse effects on women’s employment situation, according to a recent study. The government is now planning to introduce parents’ pay independent of salary, as it exists in the Nordic countries.

Parents’ pay makes it easier for both parents to return to work, and especially for fathers to take advantage of paternity leave. In Finland and Denmark, some 10% of fathers take time off to be with their children, and in Sweden every one in three fathers takes advantage of parental leave. Up to now, it has only been 5% in Germany. In addition, more public childcare has to be made available. Otherwise, only those women with high incomes and private childcare arrangements are able to return to work.

5. From our Readers – Oluchi Okorie from Nigerian affiliate NUPENG writes (also on behalf of Miriam Mweshi from Zambia)

In carrying out the research on Technicians in the Electricity Industries in Zambia on equal pay for work of equal value among female and male counterparts, Comrade Miriam sent out questionnaires.

The result of Miriam’s research shows that there is equal pay for work of equal value for both sexes. It also revealed that given the same employment opportunity, most women in Zambia shun work underground and on night shifts, instead saying such jobs are for men. There is no proper plan on the ground to handle the issue of employing women and keeping them away from running night shifts or working underground. Some questionnaires were not returned.

The second report centres on engineers among oil and gas workers in Nigeria. Questionnaires and personal interviews were used in carrying out the research on equal pay for work of equal value among female and male counterparts in the industry.

The result shows that there is equal pay for work of equal value for both sexes. Most of the oil companies sampled showed that there are still a very low percentage of women in employment in the Oil and Gas Industry of Nigeria. Some of the oil companies sampled do not have a single woman in their employment.

It was found that reasons for this low rate include the stresses placed on women’s biological background. But few companies have included women issues in their collective bargaining.

It can be deduced from the foregoing that women do not have the same employment opportunity as men.

This goes a long way to affect the participation of women in trade union activities.

6. Nobel Peace Laureates Launch Peace Bid

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2003, has launched a campaign to promote a peaceful solution to US-Iran tensions. She has been joined by Jody Williams who won the Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban land mines.

The new Women Nobel Peace Laureates initiative also includes Betty Williams of Ireland, Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala and Wangari Maathai of Kenya. “No more military attacks. No more war,” they said in a statement. “We demand a non-violent world where human security is the basis of our common global security.”

Though they are still working out the details of their campaign, Williams said they want to use the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize to advance a new message. “We want to redefine peace as not just the absence of armed conflict,” said Williams. “If there is not equal and social justice in the world, it is not peace.”

7. Peru – Family Violence is a Serious Public Health Problem and Threats Citizens’ Security

Family violence and, in general, all violence against women is a very widespread problem in Peru. According to a 2002 study by the World Health Organisation carried out in ten countries in the world, Peru is the most violent against women. Sexual, physical and/or psychological violence not only has a negative impact on the health of those affected directly and indirectly, but it is also a serious problem involving public security.

The absence of adequate mechanisms to put a stop to this kind of violence harms women’s and girls’ ability to achieve justice. Researchers conclude that violence stems not only from learned conduct, but it is also part of how we construct masculinity. Men’s identity is based on his feeling of superiority over women and his right to dominate her. Violence is legitimate in keeping with this pattern of patriarchy and machismo.

Those men who do not have recourse to violence say they are happy in their democratic relationships with their partners and enjoy their healthy family life. The challenge is for this pattern to be turned into the dominant one, to take the place of the patriarchal and macho forms that predominate today in society.

8. Serbia-Montenegro – New Women’s Leadership Elected

EPS Trade Union held its women’s committee on 5 April 2006 and elected two new members of the union’s Presidium, Zorica Rajovic as President and Danijela Topcic as Vice-President. Members of the Presidium are representatives of each branch of EPS activities and one representative from Kosovo and Metohija.

9. UK – Black and Asian Women Face Two-fold Discrimination at Work

Black and Asian women are more likely to be out of work, have more problems finding a suitable job, and when they do, often have to settle for work for which they are over-qualified, according to a report published in April by the TUC.

The report, “Black Women and Employment,” says that the unemployment rate among black women (5.4%) is almost twice that of white women (2.9%), and it is only slightly lower among Asian women (4.8%). However, the TUC report says that young black and Asian women starting out in the world of work have the same career aspirations and hopes for promotion as their white friends.

The same research found that employer attitudes and presumptions about ethnic minority among women are also causing problems when prospective job candidates are called for interviews. While only 14% of white British women are asked about plans to get married or have children, the figures jumps to a fifth (21%) for Bangladeshi women, and around a quarter for black Caribbean (24%) women and Pakistani women (26%).

Black and Asian women are also more likely to be working in temporary, less secure forms of employment than white women. Official statistics show that 9.4% of black women and 8.3% of Asian women, compared to just 5.7% of white women, are on fixed-term contracts or working as temps with an employment agency.

The TUC recommends granting black and Asian women more training opportunities and help with finding good childcare. The government should make use of public procurement policies so that companies that have positive records of tackling discrimination and promoting race quality are looked on favourably when public contracts are put out to tender.

10. United States – Mothers Deserve $134,121 in Salary

A full-time, stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top US executive, according to a recent study.

A mother who works outside the home would earn an extra $85,876 on top of her actual wages for the work she does at home.

To reach the projected pay figures, the survey calculated the earning power of the 10 jobs respondents said most closely comprise a mother’s role – housekeeper, day-care teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist.

Employed mothers reported spending, on average, 44 hours a week at their outside job and 49.8 hours at their home job, while the stay-at-home mother worked 91.6 hours a week. Both employed and stay-at-home mothers said the lowest paid job—housekeeper—was their most common role, with employed mothers working 7.2 hours a week as housekeeper and stay-at-home mothers working 22.1 hours in that role.

http://www.mom.salary.com is a website where mothers can calculate what they could be paid, based on how many children they have, where they live and other factors. The site will produce a printable document that looks like a paycheck.

US Lags in Family-friendly Policies

Inflexible work schedules, coupled with a lack of high-quality, accessible child care, make working-class families especially vulnerable when a crisis strikes, according to a recent report called “One Sick Child Away From Being Fired: When Opting Out Is Not An Option.”

The traditional breadwinner-homemaker model, where the husband has a blue-collar job and holds only a high school diploma and the wife handles the home front – describes only 16% of working-class families. For the rest, both parents have jobs and many tag-team or work opposite time shifts so there will always be one adult at home with the children.

But if one parent falls sick, is forbidden from leaving work, or is required to work mandatory overtime on short notice, and if childcare arrangements fall through for some reason, a caregiver who decides not to go to work to look after a child or parent is putting her job on the line.

The workers cited, drivers, nurses’ aids, telephone operators and typists, care for children, grandchildren, spouses or elderly parents. According to the Department of Labor, 87.5% of the US workforce was not unionized in 2005. These workers are not protected under a union contract, which generally stipulates a grievance procedure for unreasonable or unfair discharge. When they are fired or discharged, they usually have little legal recourse.

At least 37 countries have policies guaranteeing parents some type of paid leave specifically for when their children are ill; the United States does not. There are straightforward steps employers could take to improve working conditions without limiting productivity. One is to make leave time available in small increments, as brief as two hours. That would give caregivers enough time to attend school meetings or take a sick child to the doctor. What happens without these arrangements is absenteeism.

11. Zimbabwe – NUMSA Campaigns for Solidarity with Women

ICEM affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and COSATU, South Africa, have come together to organise delivery of thousands of sanitary pads to working-class and poor women of Zimbabwe. This benevolent deed is being done through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Such products in Zimbabwe have become so expensive that close to five million women could be resorting to the use of old newspapers or rags, while those in rural areas are using soft-fibre from trees or bark, which may cause infection.

Health experts have condemned the use of unsafe products by women because this may cause infertility. The shortage of sanitary towels does not only threaten women’s health, but their dignity as well. As the economic crisis deepens, basic goods such as these are becoming a luxury item.

Those who will benefit include trade union women and the unemployed, especially those in the informal employment sector who have been affected by the unpopular Operation Restore Order, which was launched by the repressive government of Robert Mugabe in May 2005.

All of this has become necessary because the US health supplying company Johnson & Johnson pulled out of Zimbabwe. The money for the sanitary pads has been raised by the UK trade union movement, together with COSATU of South Africa.

12. Resources

Labor Project for Working Families collects contract language: www.laborproject.org  

MisFortune500 is a new web-based resource that will expose how corporate activities violate women’s human rights, workers’ rights and the environment, and highlights what women are doing about it. www.misfortune500.org

The Spanish Instituto de la Mujer has published a study on sexual harassment which can be obtained at http://webs.uvigo.es/pmayobre/textos/varios/
1informe_acoso_sexual.pdf (in Spanish)

Gender Mainstreaming in HIV/AIDS – Seminar Proceedings. Proceedings from the Satellite Session on Gender Mainstreaming at the 7th AIDS Impact Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Available at: http://www.sahara.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=56

365 Days of Action to End Gender Violence http://www.genderlinks.org.za

The OECD’s Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base (GID) is a new tool for researchers and policy makers to determine and analyze obstacles to women’s economic development. See: http://www.oecd.org/document/23/
0,2340,fr_2649_33947_36225815_1_1_1_1,00

State of the World’s Mothers Report 2006 with the annual Mothers’ Index
http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/index.asp 

Promoting Gender Equality: A Resource kit for Trade Unions
Available on line at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/
eeo/tu/tu_toc.htm