{"id":23699,"date":"2020-09-15T15:58:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T14:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=23699"},"modified":"2020-09-15T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T14:00:00","slug":"inspiring-the-young-and-women-to-find-their-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=23699","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring the young and women to find their voices"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

This Tuesday, September 15, will be an unforgettable moment in the life of Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail. Because on this date, at the close of this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s TUC conference, Gail will become the President of the TUC and hold the office until the close of next year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conference.<\/p>\n

Presiding over the Trades Union Congress is probably the greatest honour any active trade unionist can hope to achieve. But, like most from a working class background, it was not an easy path to the top.<\/p>\n

Gail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father was a postman and her mother was a refugee from the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands. Gail was proud of her father, a union member, like everyone working for the Post Office then.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bChristmas was great,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Post Office laid on a Christmas Party \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with presents \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was lovely.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 But Gail particularly remembers the union helping out during times of strike. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe had visits from union reps who came to our home, making sure we were all alright.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 But best of all were the strikers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 food parcels.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe food parcels were certainly something to remember \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we ate well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sometimes better than we normally did. We even had tinned salmon!\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she recalls.<\/p>\n

Gail grew up in a council house \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the issue of access to decent housing is close to her heart. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was post-war Britain and Labour had come into power, giving us the NHS and decent council homes, ending the misery of living in slums so many had had to endure. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the difference a Labour government made to an entire generation.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe still needed two shillings for the meter \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we had a tin bath we brought in and set down in front of the fire \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it was very much better than what had gone before. When my father was told that he could buy his council house he replied, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Whatever for? Another family could make good use of this house when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gone. No,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to carry me out feet first.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly what they did. Those were the values of his generation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s West End was the place to be in 1970 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and Gail got a job as an apprentice hair dresser and then worked in Debenhams department store in Wigmore Street, opposite Wigmore Hall.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe music from the Hall often wafted in while the orchestra was practising or performing. I met all kinds of people working there,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gail recalls. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe clientele were mostly the nouveau riche and also the faded, landed gentry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who were surprisingly dirty! The \u00c2\u01415 a week I earned did rankle alongside the privileges of the elite, but on the positive side I worked with a lovely Polish woman and a gay Czech man \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was all a wonderful mishmash of backgrounds and ethnicities.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThrough my Czech friend I developed a network of gay friends. I really learned a lot from my time there. Everyone was different, an individual, and that all seemed quite normal to me. It was no big deal.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

To earn more Gail left the hairdressing, working in pubs, all the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcrappy jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 as she puts it, behind her. Aged 20 she got a job in publishing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where something that would change her life happened.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll was going well and then I found out that the man working next to me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c doing the same work, was paid more than me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just because he had a wife.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Gail was mystified by this. It was 1975 and shortly before the Equal Pay Act of 1970 was supposed to be fully implemented. Gail in a brave move, went to ask HR if there had been some mistake in her pay. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHR said there had been no mistake \u00e2\u20ac\u201c my colleague was married and that qualified him for a higher rate. So I said what if I was married \u00e2\u20ac\u201c would I get a higher rate too? No, was the reply. Because you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a wife.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

There was a clear injustice going on against women throughout the country. Gail says there still is. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still different pay rates for millions of women \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite it being 50 years since the Equal Pay Act came in. The gender pay gap is still affecting lives.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Lightbulb moment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gail calls this, \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba lightbulb moment. I knew about racism, anti-semitism, homophobia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but a pay gap based on gender genuinely came as a complete shock.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

She turned to her father for advice. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t moan at me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c join a union!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she laughs. Gail joined one of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heritage unions and from that day to this, has never looked back.<\/p>\n

Through the Communist Party of Great Britain, Gail was to meet the man who became her inspiration and mentor, the legendary Solly Kaye. Solly died in 2005, but the anti-fascist leader who defeated Mosley in the Battle of Cable Street, 1936, taught Gail unequivocally that through collective action, lives could be changed for the better.<\/p>\n

And it was in her next job, in the graphical sector, that Gail found that being active in a union could bring about the sort of changes Solly spoke of, and which were desperately needed for workers throughout the UK.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI joined the National Graphical Association \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the NGA,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 (another Unite heritage union) \u00e2\u20ac\u015band it was my first big union experience. I met some brilliant people who had new ideas on what working should actually be like.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gail made friendships that have lasted a lifetime \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including with her friend and fellow union campaigner, Megan Dobney.<\/p>\n

In fact Gail was to become the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top rep in her workplace \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or Mother of Chapel as they say in the print trade. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBecoming Mother of Chapel in an almost entirely male workforce was an exceptional honour for me,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 says Gail.<\/p>\n

Speaking out \u00e2\u20ac\u201c TUC 1983<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And she was not to let her members down. She represented the NGA at the TUC conference in 1983 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the first woman from her union ever to do so. Speaking from the rostrum was an incredibly proud moment for Gail \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially as Solly, a leading internationalist, had advised her on her speech.<\/p>\n

Gail spoke against the electricians\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 union attempt to reverse the support for a Palestinian State alongside Israel that the 1982 Congress had agreed. She told the conference that in 1982 the world was appalled by the massacre of Palestinians \u00e2\u20ac\u201c men, women and children in the Sabra Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that the TUC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision must stand.<\/p>\n

The conference supported her and the electricians had been defeated. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur collective actions defeated that motion. It was an incredible moment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I felt it was Solly who had made that speech.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

During the apartheid regime, Gail\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chapel triggered the expulsion of the South African Typographical Union from the International Graphical Federation. Her deep commitment to equalities, collectivism and internationalism has seen her work in the West Bank and Gaza during the first Intifada and also share platforms with democracy campaigners in Iraq, Iran, Palestine and Turkey.<\/p>\n

Gail has always been a courageous speaker for those whose voices are not heard. She visited a Colombian women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prison to meet with jailed women trade union leaders in what was the most dangerous of nations to be in a trade unionist.<\/p>\n

She was a key contributor to the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disability champions\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 scheme and most recently has been involved in the fight to stop violence against women \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a hideous and overlooked side effect of the Covid-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n

As for her year of TUC presidency Gail says she wants to focus on two key themes. First to encourage more women to become active in their trade unions and secondly to protect and promote the importance of young people in the workplace and help them become active in their unions.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Imposter syndrome\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gail says her favourite quote is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Sisters lift as you rise,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from the African American activist, Angela Davis. She believes that many women who have become leaders or who have done well in their careers suffer from what she calls the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098imposter syndrome\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

Many of you reading this will understand exactly what that means, what that does to your confidence and self-belief. Because many women in leadership roles are always looking over their shoulders, waiting for someone to say \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0098why are you here?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or \u00e2\u20ac\u0098shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t this job be done by a man? Feeling like a fraud waiting to be found out; judged only on your appearance \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the list goes on. Gail wants to end this and give women the hope and confidence to be the leaders they were born to be.<\/p>\n

I ask Gail what she would say to a young person starting out at work. Echoing her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words to her she says, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bJoin a union. Talk to your work mates.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 She recognises that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not always that easy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she was threatened with the sack herself. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she stresses, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bin a unionised workplace it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that easy just to sack someone. Join a union because the union has got your back.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou might think that management has power over you because they are the employers \u00e2\u20ac\u201cbut they need a workforce, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why they employed you. Unions have power too. Unions have the power of collective organisation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that is a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI would say to young people look at the campaigns you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re interested in \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Me Too, Black Lives Matter, climate change campaigns \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they work because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re collectively organised. We need to get across to young people that we need them to use this energy and determination in the workplace.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany young people are being exploited at work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we have to get them to see that they can be part of the change they want to see happen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to get decent jobs, good pay, proper pensions. By young people joining in with the collective dynamism of a union we can achieve this and so much more.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Gail is truly inspirational proof that women can achieve their goals, to the benefit of many.<\/p>\n

I am sure that Gail will achieve her goals as TUC president \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the Unite Live team wishes her every success.<\/p>\n

I asked Gail one final question \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on hearing of her presidency what did she think Solly would have said?<\/p>\n

She laughs. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMazel tov!\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she says.<\/p>\n

By Amanda Campbell\u00c2\u00a0 @amanda_unite <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Tuesday, September 15, will be an unforgettable moment in the life of Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail. Because on this date, at the close of this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s TUC conference, Gail will become the President of the TUC and hold the office until the close of next year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1321,1419],"wps_subtitle":"This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s TUC President 2020\/21 will be Unite AGS Gail Cartmail. UNITElive spoke to her about her hopes and aims for her term at the top","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23699"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23709,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23699\/revisions\/23709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}