'We demand that employers make policy and provision for issues affecting women'
FBU members took part in the women's TUC and women's Labour Party conferences in March.
Emergency motions on Ukraine figured at both the Labour Party and TUC women's conferences. They highlighted the impact of war on Ukrainian women and girls and called for protection of women fleeing the conflict, which starts with making asylum routes more accessible.
Motions on flexible working, workplace sexual harassment and femicide were carried at TUC conference.
UNISON brought a motion on equal pay, and Usdaw spoke of the disproportionate impact on women’s work of automation.
FBU delegates to the women’s TUC conference were Diane Critchlow, Kathryn Duncan and Rosa Crowley-Bennett of the FBU’s national women’s committee (NWC).
NWC secretary Kathryn spoke on the need for fair workplace policies: “We demand that employers make policy and provision for issues affecting women…this should include standalone polices on menopause, domestic abuse, female illnesses such as endometriosis… with the change in retirement age for firefighters it will soon be apparent just how detrimental it is for women to continue to respond to fires, road traffic collisions, flooding and many other incidents whilst turning sixty years old.”
The Trade Union Co-ordinating Group (TUCG) alliance of unions, of which the FBU is a member, organised a fringe event on the cost of living crisis, at which panellists drew attention to the impact on women as heads of households, managing family budgets.
Labour women’s conference held policy debates on women’s healthcare, violence against women, women and the economy, food poverty, rights following pregnancy loss, social care, and women refugees.
Senior Labour frontbench figures gave speeches or appeared on fringe panels reiterating support for closing the inequality gap, including Party Chair Anneliese Dodds, leader Keir Starmer, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Lisa Nandy. Starmer highlighted that gender inequality has worsened under 12 years of Tory rule.
FBU delegates were Kathryn Duncan and Emily Hollands. Kathryn addressed conference on maternity unfairness across brigades:
“Firefighters up and down this country face the real dilemma of choosing when to go back to work after pregnancy.
"There is a postcode lottery on maternity pay…the repercussions of returning to work too early for firefighters causes long term health problems,” due to the physical nature of the job.
She added: “Across one region – the north east – the difference in maternity pay is more than £15,000.”
Duncan also touched on the impact of climate change on firefighting, concluding: “We ask that there’s a re-commitment to the Socialist Green New Deal,” which has been previous Labour policy.
Delegates voted to take two motions to the party’s annual conference in September: violence against women and girls, and women and the economy.
