Conference rejects Energy move to open reserved seats up to both men and women

Leadership in the Energy Service Group will highlight in the wider union the difficulties faced by Energy branches in trying to fill seats reserved for low paid women.

Despite delegates to the Energy Conference voting for these to be opened up to both men and women who are low paid, a National Conference rule change failed and the status quo will remain.

Scotland’s Elaine Duffy, a member of the Energy Service Group Executive, spoke against the motion. She told delegates that the Executive supports the spirit of the motion and acknowledges the good work of stewards in the Energy Sector in achieving equal pay and decent rates of pay for all members. She recognised that men too can be low paid and said that the Service Group would never seek to disenfranchise any of their members from becoming active in the union.

“However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that low paid women are consistently the most under-represented group within our union, despite having reserved seats at all levels.

She added, “We have over a million women members, over two thirds of our membership. We must make every effort to ensure these voices are heard and we should continue to encourage the involvement of these women at every level. After all, some of our best activists in our union have started out in reserved low paid women’s seats.”

She pointed out that there is an appeals mechanism for branches who cannot meet the requirements of proportionality and fair representation despite their best efforts. “We believe this process is sufficient to allow a branch to appoint a male low paid member if a woman is not able to fill this seat.”

A rule amendment on this issue, subsequently debated at National Delegate Conference, was overwhelmingly lost, so the status quo remains.

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