TASKS ON THE

WORKING WOMEN FRONT

The 12th Conference of CITU endorses the reports adopted in the 8th Convention of the All India Coordination Committee of Working Women held on 3-5 November 2006 in Visakhapatnam and calls upon the State committees and affiliated unions to ensure proper implementation of the tasks adopted in that Convention.

CITU believes that achieving working class unity requires bringing the large section of women workers into the mainstream trade union movement. It is the firm opinion of CITU that issues of working women are not the concern of women alone but form part of the concerns of the working class and need to be addressed by the trade union movement. It is with this understanding and with the objective of organising women workers and ensuring that they occupy their due place in the trade union movement, that the CITU has formed the All India Coordination Committee of Working Women (CITU) in 1979.

Today women workers constitute 22.72% of the membership of CITU, as per the annual returns. But considering that several unions do not show women membership while filing annual returns, the actual proportion of women members in the CITU membership would be around 25%. The number of women participating in the campaigns and struggles led by the CITU has also increased considerably. Many women workers, particularly the anganwadi workers, have been active not only in their unions but also help in organising other sections of workers as well. It is necessary to train and develop them further to take up more responsibilities in the CITU.

Today CITU has more women members in its decision-making bodies compared to a few years ago. While this is a welcome feature, we also have to note that this does not reflect the increasing proportion of women members in CITU. This 12th Conference of CITU declares that the CITU will continue with its endeavour to ensure more women in its leadership. Given the chance, women can and have proved themselves capable of leading not only unions with only women members but also other unions.

The 12th Conference of CITU endorses the following organisational tasks recommended by the 8th Convention of the AICCWW:

1. Organise a workshop at the national level with the central and State leadership of CITU and the CCWW to develop a clearer understanding of the role of the CCWWs at different levels.
2. Form State CCWWs in all states and district CCWWs wherever possible and ensure their effective functioning under the guidance of the respective committees of CITU.
3. Form women’s sub committees in all the CITU affiliated unions with considerable number of women members; discuss their functioning in State CCWW meetings and make efforts to ensure that they function regularly.
4. Organise wide campaigns on the demands of working women and make efforts to ensure that the State Committees of CITU discuss and plan campaigns and mobilisations of working women on their specific demands, at local/ district/ State level as possible.
5. Make serious efforts to organise different sections of women workers in the unorganised sector including home based workers. Identify areas/ sectors where women work in large numbers and decide priorities after discussing in the State Committees of CITU and prepare objective and concrete plans to organise them.
6. Make efforts to increase the representation of women in the decision making bodies of CITU and its affiliated unions at various levels.
7. Hold regular trade union classes separately for working women; ensure adequate participation of women trade union activists in the regular classes of CITU.