[page 8]
Paigns on equal pay have attracted some publicity and have brought statements of apparent support from very varied sources (from the TUC, to Barbara Castle's bill on equal pay for equal work, to Tory statements ete.) This situation seems to have led to widespread belief that at the very least the trend towards equal pay must be underway in this country. let such a view go unquestioned for it is likely to mislead people into thinking that the battle has been won; and, more important than this, it simply isn't true. Here is an example from a pay offer recently made as part of a productivity deal proposed in the textile industry. Members of the newly formed Lancaster Socialist Woman Group, which is making an examination of the conditions under which working class women work a focus for its activities in the town, met three women shop steward» from the factory, Marjorie Haythornthwaite, Margaret Holden and Jean Mountain. in the discussion which took place, the shop stewards gave the following outline of the situation.
In the last 6 months, all the jobs in the factory (Lansil Ltd., a subsidiary of the Monsanto chemical empire), have been put into 7 grades.
itself; each grade includes jobs which men and women do. In the productivity deal proposals put by the management, revised rates of pay were offered. How would these effect women workers in the factory? There are 4 main points to be made:1. The new rates offered are not much above the present rates and som саве: would be less. 2. The present bonus scheme would disappear altogether so that the take home pay of some women would drop considerably in some cases. Besides this, work loads would be under constant review so that everyone would have to work harder, while no one would receive bonus for their efforts. We cannot be as follows: -Grade % *There must be more to life than 3d. off. beans..
5. Although the mens' and womeng! jobs have been put in the same grades male rates of pay are higher than female rates in each case. 4. But the offer actually discriminates against women to an even greater extent because the difference between male rates and female rates would in fact be greater than now, and greater than before the strike last year, which led to wage increases all round. The difference between male and female rates would nOw Male rate Female rate Difference New offer stage 2 Male rate Female rate Difference Over and above this, although the company say there will be no redundancies, 106 jobs are to "disappear". That will mean fewer jobs in this town, and will effect the chances of work for youngsters as well as adult workers.
[page 9]
The women shop stewards are calling on their members to reject these proposals; to say no to any increase in the difference in rates of pay between men and They are urging all women workers to demand equal pay out of company profits as part of any agreement which is signed, and to say no to any attempt to reduce the aumber of jobs in the factory and they call upon all trade unionists in the factory to support their demande. While the whole trade union movement is under attack from the Government, unity is vital. But this must be a unity which recognises and fights for the rights of all, and therefore can call upon the support of all sections of the memberahip. Margaret Coulson In trying to understand the position of women in any society we have to consider the social significance which is attached to certain facts of human biology, namely the biological differences between the sexes and the helplessness of human infants. But we are not simply concerned with the social interpretation of biology but with this in relation to the structure of a particular society at a particular time; that is with the way in which the bi logical characteristies are integrated with the economic and political structures of society.
In Britain women are in a position of economic subordination. There are three main aspects to this. Firetly most women are house workers doing vital work outside of the money economy, paid indirectly throuch their husbands! wages. Secondly in paid employment women are amongst the most exploited of workers, getting low rates of pay (in 1968 the average wage fos
----- pull-quotes -----
10, but on the got sat inch dan the