#STUC16 UNISON’s Davena Rankin brought sororial greetings to the STUC Congress in her role as Chair of the STUC Women’s Committee.
Davena slammed the impact of the Tory austerity which have hit women and children the hardest.
“Since 2010, 86% of all of the austerity measures have been funded by women and children.
“The effect of Osborne’s failed fiscal policy is that there will be an additional 800,000 children and an additional 1.5 million working age adults living in poverty.”
She called on the Scottish Government to use its new powers to reverse Tory austerity.
“There is very little point in having additional powers if all that happens is we see a Tory-lite agenda, or as we have seen in terms of local government funding cuts a Tory-plus agenda.
“It’s shameful that the current Scottish Government has opted not only to pass on the cuts but has increased the level of funding cuts to Local government resulting in 40,000 job losses with services either stopped or dramatically reduced.
“As always, women bear the brunt of the cuts as we are more likely to be providing the public services as we well as accessing them on a more frequent basis.”
This means increasing work for the STUC Women Committee. From research on women in the workplace to abortion rights, the Women’s Committee continues to promote and safeguard women’s causes.
More information can be found at https://www.facebook.com/STUCWomen/
And the STUC website http://www.stuc.org.uk/about/equalities/women