and branches. District conferences have been encouraged to elect representatives to the Women's Conference.
NALGO has reputation as progressive union, often aligning itself with left such as MSF and the health workers NUM. But leadership is permeated by new realism'. So the leadership has tried to turn the proposed merger to its own ad. vantage. This affects the right of oppressed groups to self-organisation, with consuitation documents clearly aiming to undermine previous gains.
Far from reinforcing the self-organisation of women in the proposals attempt to replace this right with the notion of 'proportionalityreserved seats and quotas Proportionality itself should not be opposed, even if it is a tokenistic gesture if implementca lu isolation. But it would be a major defeat if it was allowed to replace self-organisation.
The leadershij • of NALGO, NUPE and CÓHSE clearly prefer their committees to 1o0k 800d' comes unions The new union will have over 400,000 women women's representation, rather than enable women members to organise an effective lobby in Attacks on workers in local government, the NHS and elsewhere in the public sector have had a disproportionate effect on whelmingly comprise the low-paid, part-time and temporary sectors of the workforce.
Improvements in conditions directly affecting women have proved almost impossible to win in the current econonac climate. Most concessions have been forms on emplovers by market factors and changes in the composition workforce.
Now more than ever, women in NALGU need a strons vone to challenge the employers' offensive and new realism in our
in Features cialist LOOK