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A weehend school on Women & Industry was held in London on 11th-12th September. It was organised for the WNCC by Socialist Woman, who are the consenors for the WNCC: "Industrial campaign". centred around the WNCC's demand for "Equal pay and job opportunities."
The "Industrial Campaign" school provided a good indication of the extent of the campaign and the attitude of the Women's Liberation movemenL towards it. Judging by the few practical experiences which we could draw upon, it became very apparent that the campaign has not yet been Launcled nationally. The poor attendance of W.L. дгоин at this school revealed the lack of interest which exists in the movement for the "Equal Pay and Job Opportunity" demand. On the whole how ever the school was a useful starting-point in initiating a discussion of the theory and practice of an industrial campaign.
The two main discussions were based on 'Why an Industrial Campaign' and the Strategy of an Industrial Campaign, Linda Smith's introduction to the firal session centred-around the objective situation of women workers and the imediate needs of the w.L.N. Certain factors such as a large majority of women working part-time in small units, and the hostile attitudes of trade anions, have contributed to women workers being the least organised section of the labour force with the consequences of low pay and bad conditions. the same time, women workers still have a role to play in the home. The Industrial Campaign can provide a link between the contradictions of home and work. If the movement focused on this camsign, It vuld also focus on the central conNEWS IN BRIEF MONTEVIDEO: On 30 July, 38 women members of the Tupamarosthe popular Uruguayan left-wing guerrilla organisation-escaped from jail through a tunnel into the city sewers. The mass escape left the maximum security prison almost empty: rumours circulated that the Minister of the Interior intended to resign. Guards discovered the escape when they changed shifts at dawn and found bunks padded with sheets and blankets. The escape was made despite security measures taken after an escape by 13 women guerrillas last year. At that time, the number of guards was doubled and floors were reinforced to prevent tunnelling.
* * " • DONEGAL: Fourteen girl workers at the Starlite Handbag factory at Fal Carrach are holding a sit-in and sleep-in, in protest against the closure of the factory. The factory, which was taken over by Starlite less than a year ago, has been declared bankrupt; the directors have left the area and some of the machinery was removed in the early hours of the morning. Meetings with officials have so far proved fruitless.
- tradictions of society which cause working-class women to be doubly oppressed. The general discussion centred round the question of women's right to work and a living wage and the implications of this in the present economic system. The sort of unions which women should join was discussed with general agreement on women participating in women's sections of established In 'Strategy for an Industrial Campaign' it became very clear that our involvement in this field has so far mainly been limited to the Cleaners' Campaigns and some work in the Post Office Strike. However, even this limited experience can give us a useful guide as tó how to proceed with future action in this field. The local situation of any group of women workers has to be related to the current political and economic situation. Long-term and short-term aims need to be carefully thought out. There are immediate issues such as unemployment, equal pay and unionization around which action can be centred in launching a national campaign.
Other sessions such as the one on the Industrial delations Bill and the Equal Pay Act, gave a great deal of factual information on which we can base our future theory and practice in industrial work.
Socialist Woman is hoping to produce the papers presented at the school as a "Socialist Woman Special". -A member of Leicester Socialist Woman Group BURGOS: On 28 July. Franco's military prosecutor demanded 30 years jail for Basque nationalist Maria Teresa Arevalo, 21, charged with taking part in an armed robbery of E24,000 last year. Maria, who is a member of the Basque nationalist movement, the ETA, said she intended to "return the money to the people"-including the families of workers killed by police in clashes in Granada last July.
LONDON: Commander Mrs. Shirley Becke, head of the women's section in the Metropolitan Police, champions equality of opportunity for her "girls". "My girls do everything that is police duty." she says. The "girls" are in the Special Branch; two handle "drug" dogs: others ride police horses on patrol in London streets. Sisterhood is powerful for who?
LONDON: An unemployed nurse in North London was recently accused of trying to obtain E5 from a plain-clothes police sergeant in Soho. In court the nurse claimed she was not a prostitute and had no intention of sleeping with the police sergeant. The magistrate's comment: *1 hope this will be your only lapse of this kind. This is a low-down swindle and if you had not picked on a police officer you might have defrauded a man with a pack of lies." H'mm.