‘Year of the Sisters’

This year’s winner of the coveted TUC Women’s Gold Badge was Unite’s Jane Stewart.

A brilliant campaigner, Jane has played a leading role in developing collective bargaining approaches to women’s equality in manufacturing and negotiated a groundbreaking occupational maternity leave and pay policy at Unilever.

She also secured with Unite colleagues , sanitary facilities and products to be provided within factory welfare areas, and has successfully campaigned for gender-appropriate personal protective equipment and workplace risk assessments that properly considered women’s health and safety requirements.

Jane’s also been a passionate advocate for apprentices and young workers, worked to challenge occupational segregation, and negotiated workplace policies and procedures to address sexual harassment, domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.

Well done! (L-R) Unite EC chair Andy Green, Jane Stewart, GS Sharon Graham

Through mentoring, organising and campaigning, she has encouraged women not only to become Unite workplace reps and branch officers, but also councillors and parliamentary candidates.

The TUC said about Jane, “Jane is a truly outstanding trade unionist whose lifelong commitment to equality, justice, workplace organisation and collective action makes her an exceptionally deserving recipient of the Congress Award. Throughout her career, Jane has demonstrated unwavering dedication to improving the lives of working people, particularly women, both within Unite and across the wider trade union movement.”

Jane with TUC GS Paul Nowak

Catching up with an elated Jane Stewart after receiving her prestigious well deserved TUC Women’s award, she told Unite Live, “I am absolutely delighted to receive this award. This has been a fantastic year for me. Receiving this award after general secretary Sharon Graham’s decisive re-election, is just wonderful. It is most definitely the Year of the Sisters.

Compiled by Amanda Campbell

Photos by Mark Thomas