[page 6]
Comrades, I'm hoping that it's not too late for the inclusion of a few lines in the next edition of Socialist Women about the National Women's Liberation Conference.
The Conference will be held on March 25/26th in Manchester. It will be informal with opportunity for everyone in the movement to discuss opinions with others during group discussions and small workshops.
People wanting more details about the Conference should contact me at the above address.
Best wishes, Maggie Mackay.
Flat 4, 372 Wellington Road North, Stockport, Cheshire. SK4 SAA.
Editor, We came across something pretty bad which I think should be made known. In the 1971-72 "NUS Discount Directory" are three large advertisements for abortion clinics which grossly overcharge, and all of which have names misleadingly similar to The Pregnancy Advisory Service which is a respectable non-profit organisation who charge E65 all in. I asked my researcher Georgie to phone each one saying she was pregnant and how much would an abortion cost? In each case she said she couldn't afford what they asked, could they do it for less? Here are the results: 1. PREGNANCY ADVISORY CENTRE (Kensington Laboratories), 124a Brompton Road, S.W.3. (581 0391). E150. Friendly, persuasive woman, lost interest when Georgie said she couldn't possibly afford that much. 2. PREGNANCY CONSULTATION SERVICES (Mortimer Laboratories), 40 Mortimer Street, W.1 (580 9001). E120; eventually came down to £90 which they said was their absolute minimum. 3. CENTRAL PREGNANCY ADVISORY CENTRE, 48a Wicklow Street, W.C.1 (278 5976). The man laughed when Georgie said she could only afford E70 and said as she was hard up she could have it done for E130.
A further warning is that these associated and other commercial pregnancy testing services recommend clients with positive results to expensive clinics, presumably on commission.
The best thing to do is fully covered in Alternative London, pages 195-197, but my best brief advice is to go to the FPA at 27 Mortimer Street, W.1 (636 7866) between 11 and 3. They do really reliable pregnancy tests while you wait for £1.50 and if it's positive there's someone to discuss it with who can put you in touch with good people to help you out, whether you decide to keep the baby, have it adopted or have an abortion.
Nicholas Saunders, Alternative London, 65 Edith Grove, London S.W.10.
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On anuery 5th, a mass meeting of 800 workers at the Fisher Bendix workr in Kikby, near Liverpool, voted unanimously to occupy their factory. This decision war taken after the threat of further redundancies and the proposed closure of the works in May 1972. The occupation lasted a month, after which the redundancy nations were withdrawn. A Socialist Woman representative spoke to Mrs, Melville, a woman shop steward and a member of the strike committee, in the third week of the occupation.
Cath Young: We understand that about 800 workers are involved in the occupation. How many of these are women? Mrs. Melville: There are about 50 assembly workers and cleaning staff. The catering is done on a contract basis, so there aren't any catering staff involved. Obviously, the wives of the men workers here play an important role. They are a bit apprehensive about the insecurity, but most of them are behind the action we are taking. Some of them come to the meetings, bringing their children. There are no nurseries in this area. — Are the women workers in the union?
Yes, we have 100% unionisation. They are either in the AUEW or the T&GWU. I've been in the union for 11 years now. It's often difficult to get women into unions, and so they suffer greatest from redundancies. -What are the conditions like for the women? All the women work on one shift. We don't have equal pay and work on a productivity basis, but the women are reasonably happy with their wages. Most women here are in their 40s-the youngest girl we have is 25-and they find it hard to get jobs around Merseyside. —What sort of support have you had? Is there any chance of a sell-out?
Oh, yes, we've had great support from the trade union movement-donations, and the blacking of goods. We've also been backed by our higher officials —we haven't had any financial assistance from them, but they've declared the strike official. I don't think there's any chance of a seli-out— Hugh Scanion is too perturbed about unemployment on Merseyside. —How has the day-to-day running of the occupation been carried out?
All decisions are made at the mass meetings, where the proposals must come from the floor. The women have taken over the catering-well, we all know how to cook and the men keep the place tidy; it's cleaner here now than it's ever been. We all muck in together there aren't any men and women here, only trade unionists.
Such solidarity of the workers at the plant, both male and female, is an essential prerequisite for a successful industrial action. It is for this reason that we must encourage and work towards full unionisation of women workers. As the most unorganised section of the working class is that of women workers, they have less security of employment and get paid, on average, half as much as men workers. While we recognise the limitations of working in these male-dominated, bureaucratic organisations, we must also recognise that to achieve advances in their working conditions, women need the support of the labour movement, whose only organisational expression is through those unions. In an article in Socialist Woman No. 1 1972, Nina Thomas made this very point: *It is then the nature of the present trade unions that is at fault, rather than the principle of unionisation." The successes of women who have made the unions work for them-such as the London and Lancaster cleaners have borne this point out. So, too, did the occupation of Fisher Bendix show that men and women working solidly as trade unionists form an irresistable force against the plans of the employing class to boost profits by lowering the living standards of men and women workers.
Cath Young