eventually bring the women's rate up to the men's rate by giving the men no pay increase. "Equal pay in reverse" was the union's response to this proposal, and the suggestion of an effective wage cut led the five male operators to join the strike immediately it began on 24 May.
The women needed no encouragement. We had to hold them aown while negotiations were going on, says a shop steward Eileen Ward.
Betty Humphreys recalled at a public meeting organised by Hammersmith Working Women's The strike at Trico has added greater force to the need to fight for the Working Women's Charter. Although the issue of equal pay is the focus of the struggle, the other demands of the Charter have become immediately relevant in the course of the strike.
The traditional isolation of women from the trade union movement, fed by wages should fall. available.
The strike bulletin put it only too well: "Trico's mercenaries break picket, it said, reporting a military style convoy of lorries which forced its way through the picket with the assistance of the police — who also turned a blind eye to the fact that the number plates were illegally covered up, and the lorries drove through red lights.
The firm also has plans to take the dispute to a Tribunal. In the meantime they have made an offer of an average increase of £2.40, which was unanimously rejected by a mass meeting. the idea that trade union business is "men's work' means that many women lack the confidence or the experience to take the leadership in the strike - leaving this firmly in the hands of the male-dominated district committee of the AUEW. Ninety-six of the women were not even in the union before the strike, and were therefore denied official strike pay Although blacking is being carried out by the car industry, there are also problems here - about its effectiveness. It has been reported to the strikers that over 300 unmarked the importance of the tenth demand of the Working Women's Charter.
are privileged to "pin money' has also found expressers scabbing find shelter in this misconception, and the women have "man behind them'.
for a while. These problems highlight The idea that women should not be financially independent of men but work for second-rate ion during the strike. The male workDAM crates were recently unloaded at Heathrow from America en-route to Leyland's, and apparently there are more on the way. In order to counter this, the AUEW district committee been denied social security money be cause it is assumed that they have a BARRIER Regular picketing and meetings have upset the regular routine of cooking and cleaning for their husbands and children. One shop stew ard remarked to a local newspaper that she leaves the cooking to her husband - who's now better at it. Other women aren't as fortunate. Their husbands' insistence that they belong behind the kitchen sink has been a barr ier to full involvement in the strike.
-FOR should militantly organise for blacking of all wipers throughout the car industry, so that immediate pressure will be brought to bear on Trico's Likewise, a stint in the picket line is extremely difficult when nursery facilities are almost non-existent, wl baby minders cost E9 and when school holidays have just begun and there are no council-run play schem One problem has been that the w men's sister workers at the Northam ton Trico works have continued to work during the strike. They earn as little as £23 for a 40-hour week, be cause they have no men with whom compare their work - no men woul touch the pay and the Dickensian conditions in the factory.
PLIGHT This highlights the plight of the two-thirds of women workers who are not covered by the Equal Pay Act and have to survive on poverty wages. The demand of the Working Women's Charter for a minimum wag is immediately relevant to these low-paid women workers.
In other cases where direct comparison between men and women wo ers is not possible, the Equal Pay Act argues that job evaluation schemes should be used. But management gen erally try to wriggle out of this by citing criteria like "flexibility", 'responsibility, level of education and training', and 'length of experience on the job'.
At Trico the women deny the claim that they are not as flexible as the men. However, in many cases it is true that child-care responsibilities, inequality in education and train ing, inadequate maternity leave, and the two jobs under which women labour prevent them from competing for the jobs which are highly graded.
Without a fight for the demands o the Working Women's Charter, the workers movement is fighting for equality with a blindfold on and one hand tied behind its back. For the sake of the women at Trico, and the millions like them, there should be a fight at the forthcoming TUC and Labour Party conferences for the ado tion of the Working Women's Charter as the basis for an effective fight for women's rights
This has been made worse by problems of procedure in the women's
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We pledge ourselves to agitate and organise to achieve the following aims: taxation. passports, control over children, social security payments, hire purchase agreements. of nursery classes in day nurseries. More nursery schools. 9. Family allowances to be increased to £2.50 per child including the first child.