Promoting Gender Equality - A Resource Kit for Trade Unions

Promoting Gender Equality - A Resource Kit for Trade Unions

• Introduction
• Booklet 1 Promoting gender equality within unions
• Booklet 2 - Promoting gender equality through collective bargaining
• Booklet 3 - The issues and guidelines for gender equality bargaining
• Booklet 4. Organizing the unorganized: informal economy and other unprotected workers
• Booklet 5 - Organizing in Diversity - Organizing in Diversity
• Booklet 6 - Alliances and Solidarity to Promote Women Workers' Rights

Booklet 3 - The issues and guidelines for gender equality bargaining

Table of Contents

2. Bargaining checklists for key gender equality issues

2.1. Ending discrimination and promoting equal opportunities

a. Sex discrimination
b. Equal opportunities agreement
c. Training and Promotion
d. Sexual harassment

2.2. Wages and benefits

a. Equal pay
b. Job evaluation
c. Pensions

2.3. Family-friendly policies

a. Childcare
b. Maternity protection and benefits
c. Family leave

2.4. Hours of work

a. Flexible working time
b. Part-time work with benefits
c. Other types of alternative work schedules

2.5. Health and safety of workers

a. HIV /AIDS
b. Violence in the workplace

References and additional reading

Additional examples and case studies

1. The issues for gender equality bargaining

Unions are nearly unlimited in the types of issues which they might present for negotiations. Every worker, irrespective of sex, race, colour, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, age, sexual orientation, disability has the right to an equitable, fair and safe work environment as well as the right to be able to fulfil responsibilities relating to his/her personal and family life. As such, any issue which is identified as eliminating direct or indirect discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity and treatment or more effectively balancing work and family responsibilities is a legitimate issue for collective bargaining. Unions are only limited in practical terms by restrictions which are articulated through national or local legislation or by employer attitudes.

Gender equality bargaining can be a powerful mechanism through which unions can either reinforce existing rights under legislation or previous collective agreements through devising practical methods of implementation, or extend workplace rights on issues which have traditionally been ignored. Unions may strategically choose which issues they will present for negotiations. Their choice will depend on those factors which may affect their bargaining leverage and success, such as the state of the local or national economy, the current state of the labour market, the economic situation of the company, or the public image of the company. The list below of issues that a union may want to raise from a gender perspective is not set out in any particular order.

2. Bargaining checklists for key gender equality issues

2.1. Ending discrimination and promoting equal opportunities

a. Sex discrimination [ Olney et al. 1998, Booklet 5 ]

Just as trade unionists may be discriminated against merely for being trade unionists, some women face discrimination merely because they are women or because of their marital status or family responsibilities. Women may face discrimination in areas such as recruitment, promotion, training opportunities, job assignments, dismissal and lay-offs.

Sex discrimination can be overt or direct discrimination or more subtle, indirect discrimination. Employers may discriminate against women directly by limiting applications for certain jobs to only men or only women. Discrimination is indirect when employers impose criteria for applicants or specify characteristics which are not closely related to the inherent requirements of the job, as a screening device. The purpose of the screening is either to exclude women or to obtain workers of a certain type. Many jobs are still seen as exclusively 'male' jobs or 'female' jobs.

Relevant ILO Standard:

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111) and Recommendation, 1951 (No.111) .

ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111)

Unions can negotiate for provisions in collective agreements to protect women against direct and indirect discriminatory practices:

Checklist:

General equal opportunities clause, expressing the commitment of the union and the employer to promoting equal opportunities for women and men;

Opportunities for women, including those with non-permanent contracts, to apply for all positions and to benefit from training programmes;

Non-discrimination against workers with family responsibilities, in particular with respect to promotion and advancement;

Avoid informal systems of recruitment that often prejudice women;

Carefully determine what training, education or past experience is actually needed for a position, as well as whether age limits or mobility requirements are absolutely essential;

Job application forms should include only those questions relevant to the job;

If the candidate is successful, then questions such as marital status and number of children can be asked if linked to particular benefits;

Neutral job descriptions -- if they are gender-specific, stereotypes are enforced. Women may also feel excluded;

Gender-inclusive language in the collective agreement -- if possible avoid saying 'the worker, he shall.....'. Gender-inclusive language shows a commitment to equality;

Equality officer or women's committee to implement objectives and review progress;

Training in equal opportunities issues for all those involved in recruitment and negotiations;

Reversal of burden of proof -- once a worker can show she/he was disadvantaged, it is for the employer to prove that it was not on the basis of sex.

The burden of proof is an important issue in the context of sex discrimination and should be discussed in negotiations. Especially since discrimination tends to be indirect, it may be important to negotiate for the reversal of the onus of proof. Once a worker can show that she/he was disadvantaged, it is for the employer to prove that it was not on the basis of sex.

b. Equal opportunities agreement

To protect workers from both overt and more subtle forms of discrimination and victimization, unions can negotiate an equal opportunities policy and agreement. Persuading employers to adopt a general statement of intent is the first step that unions can take towards negotiating a workable equal opportunities agreement. Equal opportunities is about the right of all workers to be treated fairly regardless of their sex, race, sexual orientation, marital status or other characteristics such as age, colour, religion, disability, political or other opinion, national or social origin. It is about getting rid of discrimination and prejudice at work and in the union, and about making sure that no workers are treated unjustly.

When preparing to negotiate or review an equal opportunities agreement with employers, union negotiators may find the following questions useful:

Checklist: ⁽¹⁾

Do you have an equal opportunities agreement?

Do all members and prospective members know about it?

Is it published or advertised?

Is it monitored?

Is it reviewed by management and union representatives? If so, how and how often?

Does it deal with job segregation, or lack of promotion for women?

Does it commit management to take positive action where the policy is not working? If so, what positive action has been taken and is it showing results?

Are management and employees trained on the policy? Is the training regularly updated?

Is there a joint union/employer equal opportunities committee? Does it meet on a regular basis?

Is there an agreed procedure for investigating complaints about recruitment, appointments and promotions?

Can staff get paid time off to attend union training on equal opportunities?

Does the agreement demand that all collective agreements are reviewed to eliminate any sex bias?

It may also be very useful for negotiators to bear in mind the following points about equal opportunities.

• Equal opportunity measures should have a focus which extends beyond women. Gender equality also concerns men. Men can also suffer discrimination;
• Some provisions which are often taken at face value to be equal opportunity provisions, in fact, may be double-edged, with negative as well as positive potential in terms of promoting true equality ⁽²⁾.

Example: Enhanced maternity or child care leave for women may facilitate their continued participation in wage work, but may reinforce the premise that women have, and should continue to have, primary responsibility for childcare (and other dependent care) with a consequent intermittent (and less `committed') attachment to the workforce than men. It would be better to have provisions targeted at men, such as paternity leave, to foster greater sharing of social responsibilities.

Example:The existence of part-time work or other flexible work arrangements may enable workers to combine domestic responsibilities and paid work. But gender equality is unlikely to be achieved where part-time work is ghettoised into low graded `women's jobs' or detached from a company's internal labour market and remuneration system. Negotiators need to know not simply that there is provision for part-time work but at what occupational levels such work exists, to whom it is available and on what conditions;

• `Women' and `men' are not homogeneous categories. Differences exist in terms of ethnicity, education, age, etc. Therefore, equal opportunity provisions may be concerned with a particular group of women rather than women in general.

The equal opportunities policy and agreement can cover four main types of measures:

1. Barrier elimination measures to remove or change policies and practices which cause a particular sex or group of workers to be excluded from certain occupations or which limit them to a small unrepresentative number. Such measures could include:

• posting or advertising jobs in a variety of media;

• restricting testing and other selection criteria to ‘bona fide’ job requirements;

• fair assessment of prior learning, foreign credentials, work/volunteer experience and skills;

• leave of absence provisions to accommodate needs of all workers;

• workplace documentation, notices provided in all workers’ languages and on tape for visually impaired workers

2. Positive or affirmative action measures or special efforts which are put in place over a period of time to offset imbalances due to past discrimination. These measures reflect the understanding that without temporary measures to alter past discriminatory structures, efforts to achieve equality will be unjustifiably slow, and also that economic efficiency is impaired by the under-utilization of the potential of a large segment of the workforce. There are normally four components:

• corrective action, such as setting numerical targets for women’s participation in activities from which they had been excluded;

• promotional measures, designed to redress the cause of discrimination, such as giving women wider access to opportunities for vocational training and employment in non-traditional sectors;

• a time table to attain set objectives and to apply measures;

• supervisory machinery to monitor progress, assess difficulties and make the necessary adjustments.

3. Supportive measures which are similar to positive measures, except that they also benefit all employees, whether or not they are a designated sex or group member. These measures could include:

• policies to address balancing of family and work responsibilities;

• anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, including provision of training and education for all workers;

• education and communication programmes to dispel myths and promote acceptance and understanding of equal opportunities;

• mentoring programmes.

4. Accommodation measures to ensure that jobs, tools and workplaces “fit” women or members of the designated group. They could include:

• work related assistive devices and access to updated and appropriate technology and software required to perform job duties;

• flexible hours, modified job duties;

• ensuring accessibility of buildings and all facilities and areas within buildings;

• accessible work areas appropriately equipped;

• dress codes which accommodate women and cultural minorities.

Source: Canadian Labour Congress. Bargaining for Equality. CLC Women’s Symposium November1-3 1998.

c. Training and Promotion

Women are often denied access to training and promotion which limits their ability to meet the challenges of changing technologies and to advance in their jobs.

Employers often perceive that women are more likely to leave employment because of family responsibilities and hence do not invest in upgrading their skills and fully developing their capacities. Women are also under-represented in senior positions both because of stereotyped assumptions and interrupted work histories. Without the opportunity to upgrade their skills and qualifications, women will continue to be denied the opportunity to move to higher paid jobs. Unions can negotiate to:

Checklist:

Press for greater training and richer task-assignment opportunities for women, including those in non-permanent positions;
Ensure that women workers have access to information on training opportunities;
Make company training programmes more flexible and responsive, so that women workers can be more adaptable and multi-skilled, rather than having traditional stereotyped vocational and sex-segregated skills. It is important that there are provisions to ensure that women are able to avail themselves of training opportunities, eg. through flexible training schedules and childcare facilities;
Where necessary, provide reserved places for women in training and retraining opportunities, and set targets or quotas, with clear timetables, for recruitment or promotion;
Ensure that training programmes have the following objectives:

• meeting the skills needs of new and growing occupations [Remember: occupations in information and communications technology];
• enhancing the skills of workers to cope with changes in equipment, job specification and work organization;
• multi-skilling to improve flexibility;
• retraining for workers whose jobs have been abolished or redesigned;

Ensure that skill upgrading and job-enrichment are duly recognized in individual evaluation procedures and calculation of pay and for career progression;
Make all selection and promotion systems transparent and establish union participation in procedures;
Ensure that women receive credit for work-related experience and that they do not lose their seniority due to career breaks.

Relevant ILO Standard:

Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No.142) and

Recommendation, 1975 (No.150)

ILO Human Resources Development Recommendation, 1975 (No.150)

d. Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is a serious, although often misunderstood, form of sex discrimination. It is also a safety and health issue at the workplace.

Legal definitions vary from country to country, but the one paramount principle is that sexual harassment refers to sexual conduct which is unwanted by the recipient. In the Collective Agreement on the Prevention and Resolution of Harassment-related Grievances between the International Labour Office and the ILO Staff Union, sexual harassment is defined as:

"any unwanted or unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, in a workplace or in connection with work, which makes a protected person feel humiliated, intimidated, discriminated against or offended. The distress caused by the act or series of acts may be intentional or unintentional. Sexual harassment can be coercive sexual behaviour used to control, influence or affect the job, career or status of a protected person. It can also be manifested when one or more persons submit a protected person, at any level, to offensive behaviour or humiliation on the basis of that protected person's sex or sexuality, even though there may be no apparent impact on the career or employment of the protected person concerned".

Sexual harassment can take many forms and may include:

• deliberate and unsolicited physical contact or unnecessarily close physical proximity;
• repeated sexually-oriented comments or gestures about the body, appearance or life-style of a protected person;
• offensive phone calls, letter or e-mail messages;
• stalking;
• showing or displaying sexually explicit graphics, cartoons, pictures, photographs or Internet images;
• questions or insinuations about a protected person's private life;
• persistent invitations to social activities after the protected person has made it clear they are not welcome; and
• sexually explicit jokes or propositions.

Men may be victims of sexual harassment, but most often it is women who suffer - because of societal attitudes and their often precarious employment position. Those in low-status jobs or with precarious employment contracts find it difficult to complain or seek support for fear of jeopardizing their job. Sometimes women who complain about being harassed are shunned, victimized or told they "cannot take a joke". Sexual harassment can result in:

• the victim leaving a job rather than face the harassment;
• biassed job evaluations or poor personal recommendations;
• demotion, transfer, dismissal and loss of opportunity for training or promotion prospects and job security;
• stressful and hostile working environment that can lead to mental and physical illness for the victim and an uncomfortable atmosphere for other workers. Victims of sexual harassment suffer tension, anger, anxiety, depression, insomnia, stress-related medical problems such as headaches, digestive disorders, etc.;
• victims often suffer loss of face and social rejection, leading to family hardship and even break-up;
• the harasser jeopardizes the victim's future job opportunities by giving the victim a bad reference or bad reputation.

With increasing recognition that sexual harassment needs to be tackled as a labour-management issue, it is being included more and more on the collective bargaining agenda. Provisions in collective agreements could include measures, such as:

Checklist:

The issuing and publicizing of strong policies against sexual harassment. Many companies now have a "zero tolerance" message that sexual harassment is not only an affront to equitable treatment but also a serious form of misconduct that will not be tolerated:

Information and education campaigns drawing attention to the various forms of sexual harassment and the fact that it will not be tolerated;
The provision of information, education and training for all employees and management on what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. Awareness raising and sensitization is often the single most important preventive measure that can be taken against sexual harassment in the workplace
The establishment of specific measures to deal appropriately with sexual harassment complaints:

• The complaints procedure should enable and encourage the victim to raise the issue of harassment in a supportive, expeditious and confidential context;
• All information concerning harassment related grievances should be handled in such manner as to protect the privacy of all concerned;
• There should be rapid, thorough and confidential treatment of all complaints, and a clear disciplinary procedure concerning proven sexual harassment;
• Where harassment is proven, the harasser must be dealt with seriously and the victim should not be prejudiced in any way in an attempt to separate the two workers from the same working environment (eg. transferring the harasser not the complainant).

2.2. Wages and benefits

In the survey of trade unions, equal pay was the second most common gender matter (after maternity protection) included in collective agreements. Worldwide, women continue to earn 20-30 per cent less than men. In the recent ICFTU Ask a Working Woman Survey, equal pay ranked eighth and higher pay ranked first among the respondent's priorities [ Booklet 2, p. 14].

Relevant ILO Standard:

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No.100) and Recommendation, 1951 (No.90) .

ILO Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)

To bargain for equal pay for work of equal value, unions could:

Checklist:

As a first step, gather information to establish a general picture of gender and pay. For example, the Commission of the European Communities has issued a Code of Practice on the Implementation of Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value ⁽³⁾. The code sets out a list of key indicators of potential sex bias. Unions could use this code to review their workplace to determine if:

• Women have lower average earnings than men with the same job title;
• Women have lower average earnings than men in the same grade;
• Women in female-dominated jobs are paid less than the lowest male-dominated job;
• Jobs predominantly occupied by women are graded or evaluated lower than jobs predominantly occupied by men at similar levels of effort, skill or responsibility;
• Women are paid less than men with equivalent entry qualifications and length of service;
• Where separate bargaining arrangements prevail within one organization, those dominated by men receive higher pay than other bargaining groups dominated by women;
• The majority of men and women are segregated by different grading, classification and evaluation systems;
• Part-time or temporary workers, who are mainly women, have lower average hourly earnings than full-time or permanent employees in the same job or grade;
• Part-time or temporary workers, who are mainly women, have access to fewer pay and other contractual benefits;
• Different bonus arrangements, piece rate and other "payment by result" systems, apply in different areas of production, disproportionately affecting one gender;
• Different overtime rates apply in different departments, disproportionately affecting one gender;
• Holiday entitlements vary between jobs in the same grade disproportionately affecting one gender.

Ensure that job evaluation systems are gender neutral [ Section below]

The price of unequal pay

Working families pay a steep price for unequal pay: America's working families lose a staggering $200 billion of income annually to the wage gap -- an average loss of more than $4,000 each for working women's families every year because of unequal pay, even after accounting for differences in education, age, location and the number of hours worked; If married women were paid the same as comparable men, their family incomes would rise by nearly 6 per cent, and their families' poverty rates would fall from 2.1 per cent to 0.8 per cent; If single working mothers earned as much as comparable men, their family incomes would increase by nearly 17 per cent, and their poverty rates would be cut in half, from 25.3 per cent to 12.6 per cent; If single women earn as much as comparable men, their incomes would rise by 13.4 per cent, and their poverty rates would be reduced from 6.3 per cent to 1 per cent. Unequal pay hurts men too: Both women and men pay a steep price for unequal pay when they do "women's work". The 25.6 million women who work in these jobs lose an average of $3,446 each per year; the 4 million men who work in predominantly female occupations lose an average of $6,259 each per year -- for a whopping $114 billion loss for men and women in predominantly female jobs; For men in female dominated jobs, state average increases would range from $3,533 annually in the district of Columbia to $8,958 in Delaware if pay inequality was eliminated. Union representation is a proven and powerful tool for raising workers' wages, particularly for those most subject to labour market discrimination: women and minorities: The typical female union member earns 38 per cent more per week - $157 - than a woman who does not belong to a union; Women represented by unions earn almost 84 per cent as much as union men. Source: Equal pay for working families; national and state data on the pay gap and its costs. AFL-CIO Website: http://www.aflcio.org/women/exec99.

 

b. Job evaluation

Job evaluation (also called job appraisal or job assessment) is important to ensure equal pay, particularly in situations where women and men do not normally work alongside each other. Job evaluation is a comparison of the relative value of different jobs in terms of the level of demand the work makes on the average worker. The abilities of the individual workers are not measured. Where sex stereotypes are used in the process of evaluation, this can result in the undervaluation of the jobs mainly held by women. For example, traditional schemes tend to measure only the physical and mental aspects of work and do not include factors that adequately measure dexterity, caring functions, organizing or coordinating activities of people. Or where market rates are used to establish the relative weight of factors, these may simply reflect historical discrimination in the labour market.

Unions should, therefore, bargain for the use of gender neutral job evaluation criteria that define and value factors in an objective manner -- taking into account only those aspects required to perform the work to the expected level of accuracy and efficiency, without being influenced by feminine stereotypes or bound by traditional criteria; and that conceptualize work as having human relations skills and emotional aspects, as well as mental and physical aspects.

Gender neutral job evaluation criteria

I. Objective job evaluation criteria: 1. Knowledge and Skills 2. Physical Skills 3. Mental Skills 4. Communication Skills 5. Human Relation Skills II. Effort: 1. Physical demands 2. Mental demands 3. Emotional demands III. Responsibility (for): 1. Information and material sources 2. Direct supervision over other employees 3. Direct responsibility for the well-being including health and safety of other people 4. Planning, organisation and development IV. Working Conditions: 1. Hazards - exposure, risk of injury, diseases 2. Environment exposure to disagreeable working environment etc Source: Equity at Work: An Approach to Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation, States Services Commission, New Zealand

c. Pensions

Pensions are deferred pay - pay a worker gets after he/she retires. So the right to a decent pension is important for women. It is another aspect of equal pay. The social security offered by pensions is also important because women are making up the majority of the over 60 years population in almost every country of the world. In addition, more and more women in the world today can expect to be single, separated, divorced or widowed and need a pension in their own right.

But women are often disadvantaged regarding pension schemes because:

• The types of work women are involved in often do not have pension plans;
• Many women work on a part-time basis and tend to be excluded from employer pension plans;
• Even when they are covered by pension plans, women's lower wages result in lower pension benefits;
• More women than men have interrupted work histories due to family responsibilities or women enter the workforce later having had their families;
• Pension schemes are often designed assuming contributions based on continuous full time working life, so that those who have interrupted employment or delayed entry may not receive an adequate pension upon retirement.

Unions need to monitor and counter these trends through collective bargaining to ensure that older women workers have financial security upon retirement. They should also take into account that more and more workers are changing employment over the course of their lives. Portability of pensions is extremely important, and unions need to ensure that pensions are valued fairly at the time of transfer from one employer to another. In negotiating a pension scheme, unions should:

Checklist:

Start off by ensuring that women receive equal pay and equal opportunities;

Ensure that employer pension schemes are available to all employees, including part-time workers

Ensure that women can be given pension credits to allow for the fact that they are likely to have periods outside paid employment;

Reduce the theoretical working life of women to allow for likely interruptions. Thus fewer but greater pension payments can be paid for women workers to ensure that women receive the same pension on retirement as their male colleagues

Link pension contributions to maternity leave to ensure continuity of provision(Remember, however, that this is harder with longer periods of absence);

Allow for voluntary contributions enabling workers to make up any shortfall in their pension. (But again, this may not be an ideal solution as women are literally forced to pay for any interruption in their employment history).

2.3. Family-friendly policies

Harmonising working life and family responsibilities is a challenge for both women and men. Yet it is often women who bear the biggest burden of earning an income while still assuming the care of children and other family members and taking care of domestic chores. This double burden is acutely felt in many countries where domestic roles are perceived as entirely feminine yet the need for cash income is forcing more and more women to seek paid work. Changing economic, demographic, social and migration patterns also mean that women are increasingly becoming heads of households, solely responsible for income generation and running their homes.

Trade unions have a crucial role in easing this burden through bargaining for 'family-friendly' polices at the workplace, benefiting both men and women workers, their families and communities. There is a broad range of family-friendly measures which trade unions can include in collective agreements, such as childcare, elder care, maternity protection and benefits, family leave and alternative work schedules.

Advantages of family friendly policies

Relevant ILO standard:

Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No.156) and

Recommendation, 1981 (No. 165) .

ILO Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156)

Parental Rights Agreement

a. Childcare

Childcare is a necessity for working parents. Childcare provisions are not only about full-time daycare for pre-school children. Working parents also need care for school-age children before and after school; back-up for sick children or in emergencies; and care for children during evenings, weekends, holidays and when parents are working non-standard hours. Unions can negotiate for various options to solve these child care problems:

• day care
• creche
• after school care
• child care allowance
• holiday pay scheme
• child care information services.

Allocations or facilities may be provided by the employer, the State or in some cases co-sponsored by unions and employers. Unions are finding innovative solutions to provide child care for their members through bargaining. Childcare bargaining strategies could include:

[ Website: http://laborproject.berkeley.edu/bargcld.html ]:

Resource and referral: finding high quality, reliable and affordable care can be very difficult for working parents. Resource and referral services can help employees with appropriate and available child care providers, taking into consideration the special needs of each family. An employer may contract with an outside agency or handle referrals in-house. Resource and referral services also can help develop child care resources in an area if no appropriate child care exists.

Child care tax programmes and funds: Such programmes or funds can be in the form of tax programmes, such as a dependent care assistance plan or flexible spending account, a child care fund or a direct financial assistance arrangement.

Providing child care (centres, networks of family day care homes and subsidized slots): Setting up a child care centre is a costly and time-consuming process. Before negotiating for a child care centre, the union needs to consider the needs of members: do they prefer in-home or centre care, what shifts do they work, are their children pre-school age? If the union decides to set up a centre, some important questions are: 

• will the centre be profit or non-profit,
• will the centre be funded through employer contributions, parent fees or other sources,
• who will manage and operate the centre and how will the standards be monitored,
• what will the terms and conditions of work of the child care workers in the centre?

Backup and sick child care: Backup care can be provided for mildly sick children, on days when normal care arrangements fall through or in other unusual situations. Parents of school-age children may need child care during summer vacations and on holidays. Backup care can be provided through a special programme, such as employer subsidies for in-home care or a backup centre, or by allowing parents to use their sick time to care for sick children.

Extended hours/before and after school care: Many working parents need child care before 9am and after 5pm, including before and after school hours and during extended hours when parents are working shifts.

b. Maternity protection and benefits

Maternity protection and benefits represent the gender equality issue most frequently included in collective agreements [ Booklet 6 on the ICFTU campaign on maternity protection]. Although pregnancy and maternity are uniquely biologically specific to women, reproduction itself is a social function which should be protected for both women and men. Pregnancy and maternity should not restrict women from their right to work and should not constitute grounds for discrimination against them. Collective bargaining should therefore ensure that:

Statutory rights to maternity protection are observed;
Improvements are made to the protection and benefits provided by law;
Maternity protection is covered in the collective agreement in those countries where there are still no legal provisions.

Maternity protection and benefits should be viewed as a package including non-discrimination, job security, maternity leave, cash benefits, health protection measures and nursing breaks. Unions can bargain to ensure:

Checklist:

Prohibition of pregnancy testing for recruitment or while on the job;
No victimization or loss of job due to pregnancy;
All women employees receive sufficient maternity leave to ensure the recovery of the mother and development of the child;
Any illness related to maternity will warrant extra leave as well as in the case of multiple births such as twins, or other exceptional deliveries such as caesarean delivery;
Maternity leave does not result in decreased job security;
The right to return to the same or similar job after maternity leave, parental or extended leave;
Leave for miscarriage or still birth.

Unions can use collective bargaining to also ensure that pregnant and nursing women are able to continue to work and to cope with their pregnancy and meet family responsibilities by ensuring that they have:

The right to lighter and non-hazardous work, especially where chemicals are used or heavy weight lifted by workers manually;
Flexible working hours so that they can avoid travelling during peak hours, particularly when public transportation is inadequate;
Shorter working hours;
Additional rest breaks;
The ability to move from night work to day work;
The right to nursing breaks without reduction in pay.

Relevant ILO standard:

Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No.183)

ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No.183)

c. Family Leave

Family leave allows employees to take time off work to care for their families or recuperate from serious illnesses with a guaranteed job when they return. Unions can bargain for [ Website: http://laborproject.berkeley.edu/bargfam.html ]:

Paternity Leave: A male worker whose spouse/partner has a baby requires time off from work to attend to the pressing family needs surrounding birth. Paternity leave also gives an opportunity for the father to bond with the new child and to accept family responsibilities. This might entail taking the woman to and from hospital, attending to the other children during her absence and giving emotional support to the new mother. The union can negotiate for paternity leave (perhaps one to two weeks). It is important that the rate of pay for such leave is considered. Rather than calculating paid leave on the basis of basic pay, average earnings (including average overtime pay) could be used. Paternity leave can be negotiated not just in the event of birth but also to cover the adoption of a child. Leave might also be given in the case of miscarriage or a stillbirth.
Parental leave (paid and unpaid): Parental leave is taken by mothers and fathers to care for newborn, newly adopted or foster care children. It is very effective in reducing turnover, training costs and absenteeism. The best parental leave language provides for paid leave, but many contracts offer unpaid leave as well.

Family Leave: Family leave is broader in scope than parental leave in that it gives an employee the right to take time off from work not only to care for a newborn or newly adopted child but also to care for a family member who is seriously ill or for other family related reasons.

Part-time return to work: Many new parents want to work part-time after children are born or adopted. Unions have bargained for part-time return to work for new parents. Unions can also negotiate for a parent to work part-time for a defined period, for example, up to two years at the end of which time the worker decides whether he or she wants to remain permanently part-time or to return to full-time.

Short-term leave: Working families often need the flexibility to take short periods of time off from work, such as a day or two, a half day or just a few hours. Unions can bargain contracts allowing members to take time off for various personal reasons, including school-related activities and adoption proceedings.

Donated leave and leave banks: Some union contracts allow employees to donate their own leave directly to another employee who has used all of his or her own leave or to a leave bank. Donated leave and leave banks usually are reserved for employees experiencing serious family or personal crises.

Expanded definition of "family": The traditional idea of "family" as composed of a mother, father and several children does not describe many of today's working families. The definition of family in leave clauses is being broadened to include many different kinds of relationships.

2.4. Hours of work [ Olney et. al. 1998, Booklet 2 ]

a. Flexible working time

Flexible working time agreements allow employees to start and end work during some range of hours. Management could be persuaded to be flexible on working hours, for example, core working hours of six hours per day with flexible working hours on either side, as long as a certain number of hours are covered per week. In other cases, there is an averaging of annual hours. Working only during the school term is also becoming a trend in some countries. The benefits of flexibility for both management and workers should be identified. The union can negotiate the terms and methods of monitoring flexi-time.

Checklist:

Bargain for flexible working hours, including the terms and methods of monitoring flexi-time;
Ensure that management arranges the workload so that work is evenly distributed throughout the "flexible" workday;
Negotiate compressed work weeks where employees work extra time over a certain number of days and have a day off;
Negotiate salary deferral and personal leave plan whereby workers bank a proportion of their salary in preparation for a paid leave;
Negotiate sabbaticals for those who require regular updating in their fields. While sabbaticals are not designed to address family responsibilities, they could be scheduled to coincide with a family event;
Conduct educational sessions with members about work and family issues that address co-worker resentments about those working non-standard days;
Give workers with heavy family responsibilities preference in the selection of hours and holiday schedules.

b. Part-time work with benefits [ Booklet 4 ]

The majority of part-time workers tend to be women. For some women, part-time work is a necessity because of their family responsibilities and the lack of dependent care facilities. But many women have no choice because there are no full-time jobs available. All too often, part-time workers are disadvantaged in terms of:

• earning lower hourly rates of pay (this is contrary to the principle of equal pay for equal work);
• ineligibility for pensions and other benefit schemes;
• ineligibility for various forms of leave;
• limited training and promotion possibilities;
• the perception that they are less committed workers, thus affecting career development.
 

Bargaining can be used to ensure that:

Checklist:

Various types of part-time work arrangements (not just 50 per cent of full-time) are possible;
There is equal treatment for part-time and full-time workers, including the same basic hourly and overtime pay rates;
Part-time employees receive the same benefits and have the same conditions as full-time employees;
Where benefits, such as medical care and access to welfare facilities, are not appropriate for pro-rating, part-time workers are entitled to full benefits (Transport benefits and other cash benefits which are unsuitable for systematic pro-rating may be more appropriately awarded to all workers on a needs basis);
Part-time workers have rights with respect to lay-off, including severance pay;
Avoid thresholds built into eligibility requirements and qualifying conditions, such as minimum number of hours worked or earnings.

Relevant ILO standard:

Part-time Work Convention, 1994 (No.175)

 

Part-time Work Convention, 1994 (No.175) Article 4 Measures shall be taken to ensure that part-time workers receive the same protection as that accorded to comparable full-time workers in respect of: (a) the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively and the right to act as workers' representatives; (b) occupational safety and health; (c) discrimination in employment and occupation. Article 5 Measures appropriate to national law and practice shall be taken to ensure that part-time workers do not, solely because they work part-time, receive a basic wage which, calculated proportionately on an hourly, performance-related, or piece-rate basis, is lower than the basic wage of comparable full-time workers, calculated according to the same method. Article 7 Measures shall be taken to ensure that part-time workers receive conditions equivalent to those of comparable full-time workers in the fields of: (a) maternity protection; (b) termination of employment; (c) paid annual leave and paid public holidays; and (d) sick leave It being understood that pecuniary entitlements may be determined in proportion to hours of work or earnings.

 

c. Other types of alternative work schedules

[ Website: http://laborproject.berkeley.edu/bargalt.html ]

Alternative work schedules allow men and women to balance the responsibilities of working life and family life. Women especially may have difficulties keeping to fixed schedules because of family responsibilities. Unions can develop many creative strategies to give workers, especially women, greater control over their work lives, and bargain for a broad range of alternative work schedules:

Checklist:

Telecommuting: is working from a site other than the central worksite, usually home. Unions have traditionally opposed telecommuting because work at home is difficult to regulate and could easily become "sweatshop" labour. Another union objection is that workers who telecommute become isolated from each other and difficult to organise. However, telecommuting can offer workers a great deal of flexibility. Women are much more likely than men to be engaged in telecommuting

[ Booklet 5 on homeworkers ]

Job sharing: is increasingly a solution for certain kinds of work to allow the combining of work and family responsibilities. Under a job-sharing arrangement, two part-time employees share one full-time job, taking responsibility for the tasks to be done. The two employees divide the full-time salary between them according to hours worked. Benefits and seniority often are pro-rated according to hours worked, although in some job-sharing situations both may receive full benefits and/or seniority. Job sharers may be in the same legal position as employees who work part-time. Unions can negotiate to ensure that:

• employee's right to enter into a job share arrangement is protected. Job sharing should be available to those who want it and at all levels of employment, not just in low-grade jobs;
• standards are established for job sharing. Job sharers should have the same conditions and access to pay and benefits as full-time workers.

Compressed work week: Compressed work schedules allow full-time workers to work all their hours in fewer than five days per week. Common examples of this are schedules allowing workers to work four 10-hour days for an extra day off per week, or eight 9-hour days and one 8-hour day for an extra day off every two weeks.
Making overtime voluntary : For many working families, being forced to stay at work past the regularly scheduled end time can be very stressful, particularly for working mothers who do not have backup arrangements for child care. Unions can negotiate to make overtime voluntary and thereby protect employees from this loss of power over their daily schedules.
Shift swaps: A shift swap provision in a collective bargaining agreement allows workers to exchange shifts or workdays voluntarily to accommodate family needs, such as attending school events or medical appointments.
Voluntary reduced time: allows an employee to reduce the number of hours she or he works in a week in order to have extra time to take care of personal or family needs.

2.5. Health and safety of workers

Historically, occupational safety and health concerns have focussed on male dominated occupations, a practice established before the influx of women into the paid labour force. Women's work was assumed to be safe because the more obvious dangers inherent in many male occupations do not exist. However, women are exposed to health and safety hazards in the work place. For example, female industrial workers in highly competitive export-oriented industries, tend to be exposed to a range of physical safety and health problems in the work environment, as well as psychological stress. Women are also more likely than men to work in smaller establishments where occupational safety and health standards are often poor.

Unions need to negotiate health and safety processes and procedures which take women into account and which include access to information and training, workplace joint committees in which women are members, and special provisions for women who are pregnant or nursing. Relying on legislation and labour inspections is not sufficient. Unions should negotiate to ensure:

Checklist:

Access to information regarding what chemicals or dangerous substances workers are using, and proper instructions, information, labelling and disposal procedures are provided;
Adequate protective equipment and clothing and training on safety procedures are provided;
Adequate ventilation and lighting are provided;
Workers are protected from exposure to extreme temperatures;