CWU Women’s Conference Saturday 15th September 2012

[motherhubbard]

No. I was summarizing what his argument appeared to be to me.
He appears to be against minority groups having their own conferences.

Remember Tom Robinson singing - the buggers are legal now, what more are they after?
Did it mean he had lost the argument?

And more men get prostate cancer than what?

[dvbuk55]

The 2012 Retired Members conference will be taking place on Thursday, 19th January 2012 at the offices of the:

Birmingham District Amal branch
46-48 Summer Lane
Birmingham, B19 3TH

I might go, wonder if I'll be able to get expenses and an overnight allowance (yes I did spot it was months ago)...................strange really, I didn't get an invite..............mind do I need to know how to grow cucumbers in the bath, put a brick in the toilet cistern, or invigorate a flagging libido.

[Lounge Lizard]

No. I was summarizing what his argument appeared to be to me.
He appears to be against minority groups having their own conferences.

Remember Tom Robinson singing - the buggers are legal now, what more are they after?
Did it mean he had lost the argument?

And more men get prostate cancer than what?

A Tom Robinson song about 'nig nogs', 'pakis', 'poofs' and 'lezzers' ? methinks not 2-4-6-8 Motorway, so which one was it ?

[dvbuk55]

So the argument for independent conferences would mean that an ethnic minority woman who was a lesbian would go to four conferences? Surely common sense must prevail eventually.

[Red Robbo]

Another jolly .

[fishtank]

If you did away with the other conferences DV minority issues would still have to be debated but rather than debate them amongst people who are interested in the subject matter the delegates would be staring out into a sea of disinterest and schoolboy smirking at the words pre-menstrual stress....main conference would last for 2 weeks and cost 5 times as much.
It would still achieve the square root of.....an unfinished sentence.

[motherhubbard]

While the upper echelons of the union do not fully reflect the make-up of the society they represent, there will always be a need for minority conferences.
Men (stupid arrogant men) deride the fact we have separate conferences while they don't.
Look at the top table of the CWU - white men - do you now see that you already have your own conference.

Funny you should mention "common sense" when you clearly don't have any.

And LL - Sing if you're glad to be gay.

[motherhubbard]

And more men get prostate cancer than what?

[fishtank]

And more men get prostate cancer than what?

Colorectal cancer

[dvbuk55]

While the upper echelons of the union do not fully reflect the make-up of the society they represent, there will always be a need for minority conferences.
Men (stupid arrogant men) deride the fact we have separate conferences while they don't.
Look at the top table of the CWU - white men - do you now see that you already have your own conference.

Funny you should mention "common sense" when you clearly don't have any.

And LL - Sing if you're glad to be gay.

Reflect the makeup of society? That's not the preserve of the union, it SHOULD reflect the paying members of the union in terms of pay and conditions, ALL members without pandering to a few minorities which obviously take out more than they contribute. Why not, if there are matters sooooooooo pressing could they not be discussed at conference in side rooms, sort of hidden away from the main agenda for those concerned and interested.

[Judgee]

Women working in RM want equal rights and pay?

Well they get equal pay as it should be.

Equal rights, ok give women two weeks off paid maternity leave that men get instead of the six months they get now that should balance it up!

Where is this inequality they are suffering from? Are they now not better off than the men?

In some sectors yes women are not treated the way they deserve but how can anyone say they are the down trodden few, persecuted by the evil men of RM. For Christ sake the head of RM is a woman!

[dvbuk55]

Women working in RM want equal rights and pay?

Well they get equal pay as it should be.

Equal rights, ok give women two weeks off paid maternity leave that men get instead of the six months they get now that should balance it up!

Where is this inequality they are suffering from? Are they now not better off than the men?

In some sectors yes women are not treated the way they deserve but how can anyone say they are the down trodden few, persecuted by the evil men of RM. For Christ sake the head of RM is a woman!

Will she be at the womens conference as well.................she seems to be amply qualified

[Lounge Lizard]

While the upper echelons of the union do not fully reflect the make-up of the society they represent, there will always be a need for minority conferences.
Men (stupid arrogant men) deride the fact we have separate conferences while they don't.
Look at the top table of the CWU - white men - do you now see that you already have your own conference.

Funny you should mention "common sense" when you clearly don't have any.

And LL - Sing if you're glad to be gay.

I shall sing when and where I wish, whether or not I'm gay - that's for you to guess. but "glad to be gay" isn't the best of songs for anyone of whatever gender or orientation to sing.
Surely language like "stupid arrogant men" doesn't help your argument, better you post here agenda items or worthwhile motions from the womens conference to try to persuade us that such a minority conferences merits funding from the CWU.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

- as a matter of interest more men die from prostate cancer

More men die from prostate cancer than what?
You appear to have missed off a bit of the sentence.......

And if you don't care, why bother posting in the thread?
It seems you are a bit upset because the nig nogs and the pakis have a conference.
The poofs and lezzers have a conference.
And the grumpy old men don't.
You come across as a bit of a bigot........
Not really in keeping with the spirit of trade unionism is it?

If you have to resort to language like 'nig nogs', 'pakis', 'poofs' and 'lezzers' then I think you've already lost the argument.

Although the choice of language is unfortunate, I think she was trying to be ironic rather than offensive.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Women working in RM want equal rights and pay?

Well they get equal pay as it should be.

Equal rights, ok give women two weeks off paid maternity leave that men get instead of the six months they get now that should balance it up!

Where is this inequality they are suffering from? Are they now not better off than the men?

In some sectors yes women are not treated the way they deserve but how can anyone say they are the down trodden few, persecuted by the evil men of RM. For Christ sake the head of RM is a woman!

No they don't want equal pay as they already get it. They, and I am not saying that there are inequalities within Royal Mail, or that they are persecuted by the evil men of Royal Mail, but some of the comments on this thread make it look that way. However, even if they were the point is missed when you realize that the CWU don't just represent people within Royal Mail, but represent members in a variety of Industries and Companies - and whilst Royal Mail may be our main focus its not the only focus, perhaps there are specfic issues within those other companies that still need to be addressed by these conferences.

What I am saying is that there are issues based on gender, race, sexual orientation that are better handled by those with direct experience of them ( I even provided examples) and allowing them to organise, inform and plan at a specific conference is a good idea.

I am sorry but some of the responses on here smack of "Women should know their place" and its frankly depressing in a modern Union. The one argument for having a Men Only conference appears based on the fact that minority groups get their own. The problem with that argument is that White Middle Aged men far outnumber all other groupings entirely, and therefore in effect they do get their own conference anyway.

Minority conferences will tend to feed major issues to the main conference but without them, and the fringe meetings a lot of specific issues cannot be discussed because of time constraints and other important issues taking precedence.

To my mind if you really support Unions and by default Socialism or Activism then you should support people who are activists for specific issues if you support diversity you have to allow it within your own oragnisations. The Unions in this country are part of the political landscape and they have helped make many improvements in our lives, if we dilute the diversity of that landscape by stopping specific issue conferences it will be a sad day. But then I see specific conferences as providing extra support to members, rather than as a drain on resources, it all depends on your approach I suppose.

If you check the general expenditure records of the Unions accounts - all of the conferences added together don't seem to be as much of a drain on funds as others.

cwu accounts sg1.png