Women Work and Trade Unions

This study focuses on working-class women, catering and cleaning workers, and the way their interests were presented in trade unions. It argues that there is an institutional bias within trade unions which precludes the full representation of women's interests. Based on empirical research into two trade unions in the National Health Service, the book stresses the importance of how women's work is structured, in order to investigate the role of trade unions in challenging or reproducing inequalities. Part 1 The context: women in trade unions - the debates and literature; divisions in the labour market and trade unionism; working in the health service - hospital work/hospital unions. Part 2 Women's ancillary work: catering and cleaning; gender and the construction of work; race and the construction of work. Part 3 Ancillary workers: trade unions; workplace stewards; union meetings; representation in local union structures; participation in local union structures; conclusions - continuity and change.