Women's Conference 2017

At the start of November, GMB Women were proud to get together for the first GMB Women's Conference. And what a cracker it was!

Women from every GMB region made the trip to Liverpool (albeit a very long trip for some with huge train delays - we laughed about it after!), with Margaret Gregg (GMB CEC) from our host region chairing. We opened with remarks from conference organiser Ann Lafferty and a tribute to Mary Turner and the work all of our GMB women do in regions throughout the year.

The agenda was made up of the broad spectrum of work we do as a union, with and for women. We discussed how to tackle domestic violence and how that impacts women in work (with the fabulous Taranjit Chana from London Region and Sarah James from Birmingham and West Midlands), we looked at maternity rights - what they are and how to exercise them (with our fantastic Health and Safety Officer Lindsey Mann and Taranjit) - and broke down the structures of the union to show how everyone can get involved (with the GMB Equality institution that is the fabulous Sue Hackett).

Tim spoke at the evening meal, be remarked on how great it was to be one of the only men in the room! He reiterated his support for Women's Conference and for making the equality agenda mainstream within GMB. Equality isn't something that only concerns Equality Activists, it's at the very heart of what we do and what we stand for. After some karaoke, we ended the night with some quality dance moves from the sisters - North West and Irish (and GMB Young Members') Ruth Pitchford and partner in crime Mel Bartlett definitely won the prize for best routine (a Beyonce classic, Single Ladies).

Day 2 was focused on the workplace. Led by Ruth Bennett from Wales and South West, and Nadine Houghton and Nikki Dancey from Southern Region, we looked at barriers to women getting involved in branched and active in their workplaces, and how we can overcome them. We covered GMB@work and how to practically make a difference in the workplace.

After Sue ran a quiz to wrap up the event (with hotly contested prizes), I was proud to be able to say a few words to wrap up the conference. In the coming year, we're going to be launching more training, materials and resources on the equality bargaining agenda, working with our fantastic GMB women and regions. The conference highlighted the great work our sisters do each and every day - everyone there did themselves and regions proud.

If you'd like to see some photos from the event, you can check out #GMBWomen17 on Twitter.

#EQUALITIES