Untitled Document

The following is a record of decisions from the women members AGM 2006.
RECORD OF DECISIONS

MOTIONS CARRIED

This Women’s Annual General Meeting believes that the decision of Annual Conference 2004 which carried Resolution 58 and the decision of Annual Conference 2005 which carried a change to rule 25(3)(a), has proved detrimental to the Fire Brigades Union’s policy ‘All Different All Equal’. This AGM believes that to grant assistance to members who are accused of discrimination, bullying or harassment until a decision is made by the Regional Committee on whether the member has an arguable defence, is wrong. This AGM believes that this sends a negative message to the many FBU women members that are suffering at the hands of these bullies and will deter women members from making justifiable claims of harassment and bullying.

This AGM believes that the FBU should not afford representation to an FBU member who is accused of discrimination, bullying and/or harassment, until such time as an arguable defence is located by the relevant Regional Committee.

This AGM therefore demands that the Executive Council prepare a policy document to be put to the next Annual Conference which reflects the sentiments of this Resolution and to present the required rule changes to the next rule change Conference.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting has seen first hand problems surrounding facilities for women at many new build PFI Fire & Rescue Service workplaces.

This Women’s AGM believes that the finances required to provide adequate facilities for women at these workplaces are being sacrificed in order to maximise profit for the private companies who have gained the PFI contract.

This Women’s AGM believes that the above circumstances add further authority to the FBU policy of opposing PFI buildings within the UK Fire & Rescue Service and demands that the Executive Council produce an up to date record of all PFI buildings within the Service which lists the facilities provided for women at each.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting recognises that the NWC has the responsibility within the FBU of dealing with issues that ‘primarily concern women’. Women recognise that the issue contained within this Resolution may affect the other sections but it is being persistently raised by women through their structures at brigade, regional and national level.

This Annual General Meeting acknowledges that changes were made at Annual Conference 2002 which enabled the National Women’s Committee to submit 3 Resolutions to Annual Conference, however, currently the National Women’s Committee cannot amend their own Conference Resolutions, cannot amend any other Conference Resolutions or policy statements, cannot submit Emergency Resolutions, cannot submit rule changes or proposed amendments to Annual Conference Standing Orders.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting calls upon the Executive Council to formulate the relevant changes to the processes required to address this issue and for this to be reported back to the Women’s AGM 2007 and will include the required rule changes which shall be submitted to Annual Conference 2008.

4. REPS OR OFFICIALS?

This Women’s Annual General Meeting is concerned by the Fire Brigades Union adoption of the term representatives instead of officials when describing National Women’s Committee regional delegates. We note that this term is being used by some Chief Fire Officers to prevent National Women’s Committee members from taking trade union leave and to marginalise National Women’s Committee members during meetings where their input is essential.

This AGM calls upon the Executive Council to recognise the abuse of this terminology by some Chief Fire Officers and to submit the relevant rule changes to the appropriate Annual Conference in order to afford all National Women’s Committee members the status of Official.

REGION 5

5. CHILDCARE

Lack of Childcare provision is one of the many barriers to women’s active involvement within the FBU.

The National Women’s Committee demands that the Executive Council ensure that childcare provision forms an integral part of the planning and organisation of any school, course and/or seminar, which is being run by the Fire Brigades Union.

This would not only reassure women members by providing some continuity and familiarity of carers, but would also facilitate late substitution to attend those meetings when necessary.

REGION 6

6. FACILITIES

This Women’s Annual General Meeting is disappointed by the disgraceful standard of facilities available to women in the UK Fire Service.

These often include no separate shower or toilet facilities, no sanitary provisions on stations or at incidents, and no separate rest areas.

We urge the Executive Council of the Fire Brigades Union to formulate a “best practice or minimum standard policy on facilities” and use their influence to put pressure on the employers representatives at the NJC to adopt these policies as basic standards.

REGION 6

7. FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

This Women’s AGM supports current legislation that gives women employees (who meet the necessary criteria) the right to request flexible working arrangements.
However, with the exception of job share such working arrangements are not common for shift based workers within the UK Fire and Rescue Service. As a consequence there are no practical ideas about how to replace personnel whose absence, for even short periods of time, impacts on crewing/staffing levels.

Therefore; as this issue mainly affects women as the primary carers this Women’s AGM calls upon the Executive Council to investigate the situation in regard to flexible working to focus in particular on how to address the problem and potential safety issues around replacing firefighters/control staff who are working flexibly. This will ensure the formulation of FBU policy being produced that will be workable within Brigades.

REGION 7

8. EDUCATION – GRIEVANCE AND DISCIPLINE

This Women’s AGM notes that women members seeking support from FBU women’s Representatives and Officials in regard to harassment, bullying and discrimination cases are on the increase.

Therefore this women’s AGM requests Head Office funding to enable the National Women’s Committee to provide annual grievance and discipline training for all its women’s Representatives and Officials.

REGION 7
AS AMENDED BY REGION 5

9. STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

This Women’s Annual General Meeting notes that perpetrators of violence against women are rarely held accountable for their acts. Women who are victims of gender related violence often have little recourse because many state agencies are themselves guilty of gender bias and discriminatory practices. Many women opt not to report cases of violence to authorities because they fear being ostracised and shamed by communities that are too often quick to blame victims of violence for the abuses they have suffered. When women do challenge their abusers, it can often only be accomplished by long humiliating court battles with little sympathy from authorities or the media. Violence against women is so deeply embedded in society that it often fails to garner public censure and outrage.

Violence against women is a violation of human rights that cannot be justified by any political, religious or cultural claim. A global culture of discrimination against women allows violence to occur daily and with impunity. This Women’s AGM calls upon the Executive Council to give its full backing to the Amnesty International campaign ‘Stop Violence against Women’ to help eradicate violence against women and help women to achieve lives of equality and human dignity.

This would include:

Signing Amnesty International’s petition to President Bush to urge him to take action to stop violence against women
Writing letters and sending e-mails to Government Authorities in Amnesty International targeted countries
Encouraging FBU members to take part in special events organised by Amnesty International
Signing up for the Amnesty International Women’s bulletin
Making a donation to Amnesty International specifically this campaign
Writing a feature article for Firefighter on violence against women

REGION 7

10. SHIFT CHANGES

This Annual General Meeting is appalled by the way some brigades are using ‘women’ and the ‘family friendly’ smoke screen as an excuse to introduce new shift systems. This Women’s AGM welcomes the independent research carried out by Dr. Dave Baigent of Anglian Ruskin University which showed that 96.9% of women firefighters who work the 2/2/4 shift system support it. The research also highlights that many women would be forced to leave the Fire Service if shift patterns were to change.

We call upon the Executive Council to ensure that Brigade Officials have access to the findings of Dr. Dave Baigent to ensure that the 2/2/4 shift pattern is maintained and as a consequence this AGM believes that this will help Fire & Rescue Services to retain women firefighters.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting notes the progress made by some Fire & Rescue Services in updating their maternity policies using the FBU Model Maternity policy as guidance. This AGM is concerned however that the issue of maternity uniform is still a big problem for our women members whilst pregnant.

This AGM believes that if the Fire & Rescue Service is serious about wanting to retain and recruit more women, then it needs to seriously look at the provisions of such uniform and ensure that where good policies are written that they are implemented correctly.

We therefore call upon the Executive Council to instruct Brigade Officials to revisit the Brigade’s Maternity policy with their management and when doing so to emphasise the importance of correct fitting maternity wear for our women members to be available through all stages of pregnancy. We further call upon the Executive Council to report progress of this issue back to the Women members AGM 2007.

This Annual General Meeting notes that many women members who are primary carers are being restricted from partaking in some Fire and Rescue Services training courses due to management’s lack of consideration for childcare. This Women’s AGM believes that all our members should be given the same opportunities for training without the individual incurring unnecessary childcare costs.

We therefore call upon the Executive Council to instruct all Brigade Officials to enter into negotiations with management to ensure that childcare is given serious consideration when planning and offering courses to employees. We further call upon the Executive Council to report this issue back to the women members AGM 2007.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting believes that in the interests of achieving the best for all FBU women members, the Grey Book Fairness at Work section should include a ‘best practice’ clause for Maternity and Breast feeding policies.

This Annual General Meeting notes that due to the Grey Book providing a set of minimum standards, women FBU members in different Brigades are being subjected to different arrangements. This AGM calls upon the Executive Council to negotiate, at the NJC, the provision of a ‘best practice’ clause within the Grey Book. This would encourage all Brigades to adopt the best negotiated policies, with a view to continual improvements for our members.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting notes that some brigades spend a lot of time and thought on encouraging women to become firefighters because of the Government’s targets, but very little work is done to ensure that women remain in their chosen profession. Complacency towards breaches of equalities policies is the normal response. Complaints are difficult to make, and when made are often dealt with poorly. Women leave rather than put up with an isolating and unfriendly environment.

Women have been full-time firefighters in the UK for more than 23 years. Many women have joined the Service, but numbers of women are still very low due to the Fire and Rescue Service being unable to retain women. Retention rates are not being made available to the Fire Brigades Union.

We therefore demand that the Executive Council negotiate within the NJC an effective strategy for brigades to create workplaces which women are happy to work and remain in.

This Annual General Meeting welcomes the Labour Government’s commitment to improving workplace provision of childcare, however; we do acknowledge that childcare remains an issue for many of our women members. Many FBU women work night shifts, start very early, finish very late and other ‘non-standard’ hours which make quality childcare harder to secure. This issue continues to exclude and isolate women in the Fire Service, a service that says it wants to recruit and retain women as workers.

This AGM calls upon the Executive Council to enter into negotiations with our employers at the NJC to ensure that policies are developed in UK Fire Services for affordable, quality childcare provision for FBU members.

This Women’s Annual General Meeting acknowledges that the National Women’s Committee has the responsibility within the Fire Brigades Union of dealing with issues that ‘primarily concern women’. Women members often need and seek advice and representation from National Women’s Committee officials and representatives that are specific to women.

In order that the Fire Brigades Union continues to serve its women members properly, this Annual General Meeting demands that the Executive Council provide Women Representatives and Officials with the appropriate training and education. This education would include such fundamental issues as: maternity legislation, grievance and Employment Law, understanding the Sex Discrimination Act and training where required, on other relevant ‘women specific’ and Trade Union issues.

This Women’s AGM notes that on November 10th, Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, was acquitted of charges of incitement to racial hatred in relation to speeches he made about Islam and Asian men. We also note the intention of the BNP to hold an annual conference in Blackpool on 25th/26th November. This is against a background of the BNP recently receiving the highest votes across the UK for a fascist party and having 49 councillors elected.

The rise of the BNP is a threat to all our members and we therefore call on the FBU nationally, regionally and at any other appropriate level to:

This Women’s AGM congratulates Merseyside FBU members for taking strike action in defence of fire cover. We note that many members have lost a lot of money. We therefore demand that branches, brigades and regions donate into the Hardship Fund.

We also demand that the EC investigate the feasibility of setting up a national Hardship Fund for future industrial action.

© Fire Brigades Union
Bradley House, 68 Coombe Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 7AE
Published by Fire Brigades Union National Women's Committee