27/02/2021
The United Kingdom’s largest single trade union has its first female General Secretary. Christine McAnea took over from the long serving Dave Prentis, after winning a ballot of the two million people who make up the UNISON membership. The trade union is strong in the NHS, in the public and care sectors, and around seventy per cent of its membership are female because of the areas of the economy in which it is active. Ms McAnea said “We know that the majority of UNISON members have continued to work during the pandemic. Going into their workplaces and doing the jobs they do, many of which are public-facing and client-facing jobs as health or care workers with direct contact”. Ms McAnea also paid tribute to those working from home and balancing the demands of raising children or caring for older people. UNISON has a lively website if you have yet to see it, and current front page features include LGBTQ History Month and how to encourage people to take part in the coronavirus vaccine roll out. Trade Unions are an important organizing tool for LGBTQ liberation and have since the seventies, championed the rights of LGBTQ workers.
