A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #348 - Antipatriarchy, Feminized sectors: Struggles and victories of women at work (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A look back at a public meeting organized by UCL Grenoble on March 2 on 
the theme "struggles and victories of women at work" which included a 
round table with women trade unionists who came to talk to us about 
their struggles. ---- On March 6, 2023, we held a public meeting in the 
form of a conference to present the brochure "The challenges of 
unionization in feminized sectors". We had chosen to tell several 
stories of victorious struggles of women such as, among others, those of 
the Penn Sardins in 1924, or more recently of the workers of the Basque 
country in 2021. In the midst of the fight for pensions, the public's 
feedback reflected the faith in the feminist strike and hope in March 8. 
It is on this enthusiasm instilled by the stories of struggle of 
yesterday and today that we have focused this year.

Draw inspiration from two local experiences and make connections
Two CGT unionists were invited to the round table. One is a home helper 
at ADF38, the second an engineer at STMicroelectronics (ST). Among ADF38 
home helpers, a typical example of a feminized sector, there are 4 men 
(including the director) for every 200 employees. The comrade noted the 
injustices of the collective agreement in this branch. Among their 
demands: taking into account the kilometers between home and work and 
hidden working hours, a better training plan, premises, equipment, 
restaurant vouchers, the elimination of the three waiting days, an 
increase in wages and finally the reduction of working hours to 32 hours 
paid 35 hours. The STMicroelectronics comrade told us about the 
victorious legal action which led to the Grenoble industrial giant being 
accused of gender discrimination and pregnancy in 2023. The current 
challenges of ST activists are the facilitation of times partial 
compensation of female workers and the fight against career gaps: at the 
end of their career, the pay gap between men and women is still 20%.

In addition to the gendered hierarchy and the inertia imposed by the 
presence of reformist unions, the two contexts are different. If the 
employees of ADF38 - in fact, exclusively among women - - identify 
without problem the injustice they suffer, the engineers of ST, when 
they manage to realize that they are not spared by sexism, must still 
battle with their male colleagues and comrades. The discussion on modes 
of action addressed unionization. The pension reform allowed the CGT of 
ADF38 to recruit. Territorial anchoring via the local Union of Fontaine 
provided workers with the material support point they lacked: a space to 
talk and organize. At ST, the influx of young, highly feminized, foreign 
and racialized recruits confronts the union with its historical image 
and the responsibility that is now its own: to address these new 
comrades and join them in the struggle.

Adapt modes of action to business constraints
In feminized sectors, the strike remains an essential tool, but needs to 
be improved: "employees want to, but many cannot," underlines the home 
help comrade. Coordination with users' families currently allows them to 
free up activist time, provided they have a relationship of trust. The 
employees then think about new modes of action: strategic mini-blockages 
by all going at the same time to the only microwave or to the only two 
computers, strike of the reports expected at regular intervals by the 
department...

This public meeting takes place in a local context where feminized 
sectors are at the forefront of struggles. At the end of February, 
employees of Elior-Derichebourg (private cleaning company in charge of 
state administration premises in the Grenoble region) went on strike 
following the announcement, without consultation, of the forced transfer 
of thirteen employees from one week to the next. These discredited, 
poorly paid workers, sometimes suffering from health problems, would be 
sent to work in university hospitals or nursing homes without adequate 
training.

Their struggle was quickly linked to the case of the Grenoble Institute 
of Political Studies, whose cleaning is in the process of being 
outsourced. Staff and students are currently mobilized to prevent this 
project, because the privatization of the household contributes to the 
breakdown of the public service and the increased corveability of 
employees of which Elior-Derichebourg is the blatant result. This March 
8, Rachel Kéké - emblematic figure of the victorious struggle of the 
cleaning women of the Ibis Batignolles who became an LFI deputy - came 
to mediate, speak and parade with the striking cleaning workers in the 
colors of the CGT.

At the same time, the UD CGT of Isère organized a conference-debate on 
the intersections between the racist "Immigration" law and feminized 
sectors. The UD worked seriously on the slogan of the feminist strike, 
so much so that the CGT procession of March 8 in Grenoble had 
unprecedented visibility. UCL Grenoble continues to encourage the 
development of these feminist and anti-racist lines within the Isère CGT.

Billie and Artemis (UCL Grenoble)

Let's unionize the feminized sectors!
Home help, cleaning workers, nurses, educational assistants (AED), 
cashiers, accompanying students with disabilities (AESH), etc. Our jobs 
are essential to the functioning of the capitalist system, which gives 
us strength: if we stop, the world stops! Organizing collectively for 
better working conditions therefore appears necessary, via struggle, 
mass, and self-managing unions. A lot of work remains to be done to 
create these unions, sustain them, build them up and connect them.

Our campaign for the unionization of feminized sectors has different 
objectives: to convince of the relevance of displaying it as a political 
priority, but also to connect unionists from the same locality, because 
we believe that the links woven between the struggles and the people 
allow us to increase our strength. In Fougères, Rennes, Grenoble, Lyon...

Many local groups have organized events around the brochure, and many 
discussions have already taken place on the subject. We hope that they 
will be able to instill new determination and participate in 
strengthening the feminist union struggle within these sectors.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Secteurs-feminises-Luttes-et-victoires-des-femmes-au-travail
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